Catastrophic Tailings Spill at Mount Polley Mine
From Mining Watch Canada Friday, August 08, 2014 On August 5, approximately 10 billion litres of wastewater and 5 billion litres of solid tailings waste escaped the impoundment at Imperial Metals’ Mount Polley mine in the interior of British Columbia. The creek that received the brunt of the flow...
The Risky Rise of the Dams
With mining growth comes larger, deeper, more unwieldy tailings ponds, experts warn. By Andrew Nikiforuk, Today, TheTyee.ca The average height of a tailings dam has grown from 120 metres in the 1960s to 240 metres today. Image of Mount Polley tailings dam spill by Cariboo Regional District. A massive mining...