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...
Chronology of major tailings dam failures – updated with Mount Polley
Just updated to include Mount Polley from http://www.wise-uranium.org/mdaf.html(from 1960 – last updated 6 Aug 2014) Date Location Parent company Ore type Type of Incident Release Impacts 2014, Aug. 4 Mount Polley mine, near Likely, British Columbia, Canada Imperial Metals Corp. copper, gold tailings dam failure 4.5 million m3 of...
QLD: Mount Morgan Mining Legacy
Gavin Mudd and Jessie Boylan from MPI traveled to Rockhampton, then on to Mount Morgan to document the famous Mount Morgan gold-copper mine, which generated not only extra-ordinary wealth for its major shareholders but has left Queensland and Australia with probably it’s largest and most polluting mining legacy. Gold was first mined...
PNG: Power, Privilege and Denial
The mining industry in PNG has come under increasing scrutiny in recent years with the establishment of PNG Mine Watch and Act Now along with efforts from international community based organisations. Confronted and affronted by the glaring disparity in the benefits obtained by ex-pats and locals, PNG communities are...