Independent industry task force recommends tighter dam oversight
The Mining Association of Canada says it will implement beefed up oversight of earth-and-rock dams that hold back mining waste as recommended in an independent report it commissioned after the Mount Polley mine dam failure last year.
That means its members — which include some of B.C.’s largest mining companies — will have to have independent reviews of all stages of dam development, from site investigation and selection to design, operation and closure.
The 29 recommendations released in the report on Tuesday also call for more transparency and communication with communities on safety risks and monitoring. It also calls for high-risk closed mine facilities to be part of the industry association’s oversight program.
Until now, only operating mines were included in the program.
Mining Association of Canada president and CEO Pierre Gratton said they will be working “expeditiously” to implement the recommendations.
The association’s board is meeting next week to develop a plan. “The recommendations tell us what, not how, so we have work to do,” Gratton said in an interview.
The companies in British Columbia that belong to the mining association and will be affected by the tighter oversight program include Teck Resources, which operates the Highland Valley Copper mine in the Interior and several coal mines in southeast B.C.
Also on the list are Taseko’s Gibraltar gold and copper mine and New Gold’s New Afton gold and copper mine, both in the Interior. Imperial Metals, which owns Mount Polley in the Interior and the newly-opened Red Chris gold and copper min in northern B.C., is also a member of MAC. Nyrstar, which earlier this year halted operations at its Myra Falls mine on Vancouver Island, is also a member of the association.
The recommendations also call for changes to the mining program’s grading systems for dams, including tightening safety standards and accelerating the timeline for independent audits. The grading system — an A is considered good practice and a AAA is considered best practice — is used to provide the public a measure of the dam management safety practices.
The mining industry in B.C. and Canada was shaken by the Mount Polley dam failure in August of 2014, which released millions of cubic metres of finely ground rock containing potentially-toxic metals into the Quesnel River watershed. It sparked concerns among the public, environmental groups and First Nations that aquatic life would be harmed, particularly salmon which use the Quesnel Lake system to spawn. Studies on the effect of the spill are expected to continue for years.
The catastrophic collapse last month of a tailings dam at a Brazilian mine owned by global mining heavyweights BHP Billiton and Vale SA has only exacerbated concerns.
“We have to do everything we can to prevent a failure,” said Gratton.
The independent task force that produced the report i ncluded representatives of industry, academia and environmentalists.
Alan Young, an official with the International Boreal Conservation Campaign and a member of the task force, said he believed the recommendations will help improve mine dam safety.
However, he said that they are no replacement for strong government regulation and oversight.
“It is the government’s role to monitor and enforce permit standards,” said Young.
“That’s part of the problem we’ve had. That B.C. has taken a conscious decision to reduce its budgets back in the 2000s and I think that regulatory oversight and lack of followup is contributing to problems.”
Young also noted that not all mine companies are part of MAC and therefore subject to the tailings dam oversight program.
Mining companies in B.C. that are not part of the association include Thompson Creek Metals, which operates the Mount Milligan and Endako mines in north-central B.C., and Copper Mountain in the Southern Interior.