Secwepemc establish checkpoint and camp to monitor Mount Polley disaster

Press Release from Yuct Ne Senxiymetkwe Camp, August 21, 2014

The Secwepemc have established a monitoring checkpoint and encampment at the entrance of the Imperial Metals’ Mount Polley Mine where, on August 4th 2014, the largest environmental disaster in British Columbia’s history unfolded as the damn to the mine’s tailings pond broke and unleashed 2.5 billion gallons of contaminated water and 4.5 million cubic metres of metals laden silt into Hazeltine Creek, Polley Lake and Quesnel Lake on the way to the Fraser River Watershed.

Secwepemc Women’s Sacred Fire at the Mount Polley Mine Disaster Site

Yuct Ne Senxiymetkwe Camp, August 2014.

August 21, 2014:  Day 3 of the Secwepemc women’s Sacred Fire and camp at the entrance to the Mount Polley Mine Disaster site

“Today on the third day of our Sacred Fire and the 16th day after the disaster, we were blessed by the welcoming of the sun and by a deer visiting us at our camp. The traffic of heavy haul trucks never stopped and continued all night long. Residents of Likely continue to visit the camp with their deep concerns and prayers for the water, as well as their complaints about the Mount Polley mine operations current and past.

Wet’suwet’en Couple Raising a Child at a Tailings Pond Blockade

Moly and Cody prep salmon at the Unist’ot’en Camp. All photos via the author.

By Michael Toledano, Vice, Aug 18 2014

Molly Wickham and Cody Merriman are raising their three-year old son at a tailings pond blockade on unsurrendered indigenous land. The family has just moved into a cabin that overlooks a pristine body of water, known to the government of British Columbia as McBride Lake and to the native Gitdumden Clan as Lhudis Bin. Nanika Mines, proposing to dig molybdenum out of Nanika Mountain, seeks to turn one end of Lhudis Bin into a tailings pond—a permanent holding pool for toxic waste.

First Nation aims to evict Imperial Metals over Mount Polley tailings spill

Neskonlith Indian Band says Imperial Metals ‘failed to properly protect land and water in our territory’

The Canadian Press/CBC,  Aug 13, 2014

Rally in Vancouver on Aug 11, 2014, against Imperial Metals.

A First Nations band in British Columbia has issued an eviction notice to the company that owns the Mount Polley tailings pond, which spilled millions of cubic metres of waste in the Cariboo region.

The Neskonlith are urging Imperial Metals Corp. (TSX:III) to leave their land, which is in the Thompson Okanagan region, about 48 kilometres east of Kamloops near the village of Chase.

Tahltan call for blockade of Imperial Metals mine in wake of Mt. Polley disaster

Tahltan Klabona Keepers during blockade of Fortune Minerals mine, 2013.

Water-use ban remains in effect until further testing, official says

By Gordon Hoekstra, Vancouver Sun, August 8, 2014

LIKELY — A group of Tahltan First Nation elders is adding to the opposition of mining projects in British Columbia following the Mount Polley tailings-dam failure calling for a blockade today of the Red Chris mine project near Iskut in the far northwest.

Red Chris, a $500-million copper gold mine under construction, and the Mount Polley mine north are both owned by Imperial Metals Corp. and the elders, under the name the Klabona Keepers, issued an advisory calling for the action “in response to the (Mount Polley Mine) disaster and our serious concerns over (Red Chris Mine).

Mount Polley mine disaster a blow to First Nations cooperation on B.C. mines

Some of the devastation caused by Mount Polley tailings pond rupture.

By Derrick Penner, Vancouver Sun, August 6, 2014

The blow that the Mount Polley mine tailings-pond collapse has dealt to the confidence of B.C. First Nations in mine safety may be the biggest challenge facing the industry following the incident. Mine owner Imperial Metals Corp. experienced an immediate financial hit — its share price plummeted about 40 per cent on news of the failure and of the mine’s indefinite closure, slashing the market value of the company to $760 million from $1.26 billion before the spill.

Mining is a key pillar of Premier Christy Clark’s economic platform, and one new mine slated to be opened later this year is Imperial’s $500-million Red Chris copper-gold mine in B.C.’s remote northwest.

1.3 Billion Gallons Of Mining Waste Flows Into BC Rivers

Aerial view of the Mount Polley tailings pond breach.

by Katie Valentine, Think Progress via Earthfirst! Newswire, August 5, 201

Hundreds of people in British Columbia can’t use their water after more than a billion gallons of mining waste spilled into rivers and creeks in the province’s Cariboo region.  [The mine is located in Secwepemc territory in central B.C. and is owned by the B.C. mining company Imperial Metals.]

A breach in a tailings pond from the open-pit Mount Polley copper and gold mine sent five million cubic meters (1.3 billion gallons) of slurry gushing into Hazeltine Creek in B.C. That’s the equivalent of 2,000 Olympic swimming pools of waste, the CBC reports. Tailings ponds from mineral mines store a mix of water, chemicals and ground-up minerals left over from mining operations.