Abandoned Mines in Canada: the MiningWatch Canada Strategy

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Abandoned Mines in Canadathe MiningWatch Canada
Strategy
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The Problem in 1999

• Over 10,000 abandoned mines in Canada
• Very little public awareness of the issue
• Provincial governments responsible for mines in
  their jurisdiction
• Federal government responsible for uranium, and
  mines in north
• Little political will to do anything

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Britannia Mine
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Britannia Mine Pouring AMD (Acid Mine Drainage)
into Howe Sound

• Discharge from old adits
• at 2200 and 4100 levels
• Metals-contaminated tailings
• flowing into Howe Sound
• Contaminated ground-water
• Former infrastructure

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Faro MineOver 250 million and counting

• Lead/zinc mine, operated 1969-1998
• 3 large open pits
• Waste rock dumps
• 57 million tonnes
• of tailings
• Seepage from
• tailings pond

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Giant Mine237,000 tonnes of arsenic tri-oxide
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Giant Mine

• 237,000 tonnes of arsenic tri-oxide stored in 15
  underground chambers
• On surface, arsenic contaminated
  buildings,tailings and oils, asbestos
• Produced 7 million ounces of gold 1948-1999
• Plan is to freeze the arsenic and surrounding
  rock underground
• Tailings covers, demolish buildings

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Giant Mine bulkhead
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Colomac Mine
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Colomac

• 222 kms north of Yellowknife
• Operated 1989-1997
• Tailings area full to overflowing cyanide,
  ammonia, metals
• Affecting food chain, caribou and fish

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Hollinger MineThreatening Timmins
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Timmins Sinkhole 2005Crown Pillar Collapse
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Kam KotiaMore acidic than battery acid

• 6 million tonnes of acid-generating tailings
• Zinc/copper mine 1943-61
• Metals in Kamikotia River
• Sediments in river
• contaminated
• Run-off pH1.8-2.5
• Over 55 million

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Mt. Washington MineDestroying a 2 million/year
salmon fishery
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Port RadiumLeaving a village of widows
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Port Radium

• Mined for silver and radium 1929-1940 for
  uranium 1942-1960 for silver 1964-82
• 1.7 million tonnes if uranium and silver tailings
  on site (contained) and in Great Bear Lake
  (uncontained)
• Remediation plan being prepared

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Deloro Miners100 years of miningonly toxins left
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Deloro MineArsenic and radioactivity
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The context

• A series of shocking problems with mines
• 1987- Highway collapses at Cobalt
• 1990- Matachawan tailings dam breaks
• 1995- Mt Washington destroying fishery
• 1996- EMCBC calls attention to Britannia, others
• 1997-1999- a number of mines go bankrupt in the
  North
• ICME commissions paper on reclamation bonding
• MMSD report 2001

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Governments beginning to pay attention

• 1993- Canadian Council of Ministry of the
  Environment issues report on contaminated sites
• 1998- Canada-Wide Accord on Environmental
  Harmonization affirms polluter pays principle
• 1999 Ontario announces 27 million for cleanup
• EMCBC petitions Commission for Environmental
  Cooperation about Britannia, Mt. Washington and
  Tulsequah Chief

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Our strategy

• Research all available information
• Build public awareness of issues and particular
  mines inform our colleagues, media
• Make the federal government pay attention to the
  issue briefs to cabinet lobby with others
• Develop a national task force with public
  servants and industry

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What We Did

• Raised hell about individual mines
• Hired W. O. Mackasey to research inventories
• Distributed the papers to eight federal cabinet
  ministers and the press
• Called for
• A National Inventory
• A transparent system for ranking hazards
• Emergency response Mechanisms
• A funding mechanism to recover costs from the
  industry

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National Orphaned and Abandoned Mines Initiative
(NOAMI)

• In early 2000, set up a meeting with Mining
  Association of Canada
• Agreed to work together to get federal and
  provincial governments aware and involved
• Complete disagreement on polluter pays
• Conference with communities, industry,
  federal/provincial governments, and
  Auditor-Generals office in June 2001

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Planning the Winnipeg Conference
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NOAMI Accomplishments

• Web site www.abandoned-mines.org
• Conference on assessing liability and funding
  approaches November 2005
• National database researched and will be in place
  this fall
• Finished four major reports
• Funding Approaches
• Legal and Institutional Barriers to Collaboration
• Community Involvement (case studies)
• Establishing a National Database

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Green Budget Coalition

• Worked with an Ecological
• Fiscal Reform Coalition
• to put forward the
• Clean Canada Fund
• Intensive lobbying
• with other groups

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Building the Pressure

• Conference with Assembly of First Nations
• Reports on Full Costs and Mining in the Boreal
• Other NGOs take on specific sites
• Giant CARC (Canadian Arctic Resources
  Committee)
• Faro and Mt. Nansen YCS (Yukon Conservation
  Society)
• Kam Kotia Northwatch
• Port Radium Dene of Deline
• Renabi Missinabie Cree

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Federal Government Responds

• Auditor-Generals report November 2002
• Treasury Board demands accounting from
  departments
• August 2003 CEC report slams federal government
• Series of articles syndicated December 2003
• March 2004 federal accounting changes
• Budget January 2004 175 million for abandoned
  mines clean-up
• Budget April 2004 4 billion for federal
  contaminated sites

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Indications of Success

• Money available and work begun on federal mines
• Aboriginal communities involved in cleanup
• Some provinces have announced money for clean-up
  25 million in B.C, 27 million in Ontario

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Challenges

• Making sure the federal money is well spent
• Making sure reclamation costs are covered
• Getting polluters to pay the costs
• Getting proper remediation of sites
• Getting each province to act

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Future Strategy

• Ensure we know what governments are doing in key
  cases
• Highlight on-going problems through media,
  colleagues
• Provide support to communities (technical
  assistance, publicity, networking)
• Continue work with NOAMI provincial laws,
  polluter pays, reclamation bonding

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Schist LakeBefore and After Closure