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Alaskans Ring Alarm Bells Over Potential for More Mount Polley Disasters As B.C. Pushes Forward With New Mines
Alaskans Ring Alarm Bells Over Potential for More Mount Polley Disasters As B.C. Pushes Forward With New Mines
Worried Alaskans who fear lucrative fisheries and tourism industries are at risk from lax B.C. oversight of mine safety are meeting with state officials next week to ask the U.S. State Department to push for more input on mine development along the border of northwest B.C. and southeast Alaska.
“We are calling for an equal seat at the table. We want equal representation on the part of Americans and Alaskans when it comes to how these watersheds are developed,” said Heather Hardcastle, a commercial salmon fisher based in Juneau.
“We take all the risks and the costs and get none of the benefits.”
Hardcastle is a member of a coalition of Alaskan mayors, First Nations, businessmen and fishers who were horrified by the Mount Polley tailings pond collapse last August. Their concerns were exacerbated by last week’s provincial government report that found a weak foundation and design were responsible for the failure that saw an estimated 25 million cubic metres of waste water and toxic sludge flood from the copper and gold mine’s tailings pond into rivers and lakes.
Although the unidentified glacial layer under the dam and design changes that resulted in overly steep slopes on the embankment were pinpointed as the main causes, the report refers to multiple problems, ranging from over-topping to questionable safety margins.
The picture of failure – and the seeming inability of provincial or company inspectors to identify the problems – is raising already elevated apprehensions in Alaska, where the Red Chris Mine began operating Tuesday.
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Mount Polley spill blamed on design of embankment
Independent investigation finds foundation of earthen dam failed because of unstable underlying layers
An independent investigation has determined the breach of the Mount Polley mine tailings dam in B.C. was caused by a failure to detect a weak layer in its foundation, likening the massive embankment to a “loaded gun.”
The report, which was released on Friday morning in Victoria, said the design failed to take into account the complexity of the instability of underlying glacial and pre-glacial layers under the retaining wall.
But the authors, geotechnicians Norbert Morganstern and Steve Vick, did not blame provincial inspectors for not detecting the problem beforehand.
The investigators said the dam was built on a weak layer of glacial deposits that was undetected at the time, making the dam like a ‘loaded gun.”
They said the construction of a steep slope in the embankment as the dam was raised was “like pulling the trigger,” causing the failure last summer.
They also concluded that massive volume of water in the tailings dam did not cause the dam to fail, but it did result in more tailings being released when it did breach.
Just eight days before the dam failed, a plan was approved to raise the dam further, but on the condition that a buttressing wall was put in place and the slope decreased, they said.
The investigators also made several recommendations to improve the safety of tailings dams, including updating the way they are designed, monitored and regulated in B.C.
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We Must Start Digging Our Way Out of Canada’s Mining Dilemma
We Must Start Digging Our Way Out of Canada’s Mining Dilemma
It sometimes seems people in the mining and fossil fuel industries — along with their government promoters — don’t believe in the future. What else could explain the mad rush to extract and use up the Earth’s resources as quickly and wastefully as possible?
Global mining production, including fossil fuels, has almost doubled since 1984, from just over nine-billion tonnes to almost 17-billion in 2012, with the greatest increases over the past 10 years.
It’s partly to meet rising demand from expanding human populations and supply the cycle of consumerism that fuels the global economy through planned obsolescence, marketing unnecessary products and wasteful technologies. And, as the British Geological Survey notes, “It may be uncomfortable to acknowledge, but wars have been the drivers for many of mankind’s technological developments. Such technologies depend on secure supplies of numerous mineral commodities for which demand inevitably escalates in times of war.”
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Canada’s Mining Sector Braces For Challenging Year In 2015
Canada’s Mining Sector Braces For Challenging Year In 2015.
MONTREAL – Canada’s mining sector is bracing for another challenging year in 2015 as slower growth in China is expected to continue to dampen selling prices for many metals.
Iron ore suffered the biggest drop in the past year, losing nearly half its value to reach the lowest price in more than five years. Some expect the price could fall further — perhaps to US$60 per tonne — on increased supply from Australia and Brazil by giants like Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton, outpaces demand.
Coal, silver, potash, copper and lead prices also weakened in the past year.
Not all metals and minerals suffered. Nickel was the big winner, with prices rising 17 per cent following Indonesia’s ban on exports. Other gainers were uranium, aluminum, zinc and diamonds.
Although mining is in a multi-year global slump, prices are significantly higher than they were a decade ago, said Pierre Gratton, president of the Mining Association of Canada.
“It’s a cyclical industry and we have to weather this,” he said in an interview.
Canada aboriginals ready to challenge energy projects, new chief says | Canada | Reuters
Canada aboriginals ready to challenge energy projects, new chief says | Canada | Reuters.
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) – Canada’s indigenous peoples will not hesitate to use courts, political channels and activism to halt pipelines, mines or other resource projects they oppose, the new head of the country’s main aboriginal group said on Thursday.
Perry Bellegarde, who was elected national chief of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) on Wednesday, said aboriginals do not oppose development in general, but want to be involved in projects from the outset.
Canada’s 1.4 million aboriginals have clashed with industry and the government in recent years over development of resource projects on their traditional territories.
“If industry and governments are serious about … wanting to create economic development, we need to be included and involved, and our rights and (land) title respected,” Bellegarde said in an interview with Reuters. “If we’re excluded, nothing will move. Nothing will happen.”
Bellegarde said that if legal and political strategies fail, aboriginals will turn to activism, but would not specify if this means peaceful protests or civil disobedience.
Aboriginals want jobs, equity ownership and revenue-sharing, but also to protect the environment, he said, adding that he and the AFN “need to do homework” to determine what specifically aboriginals want from resource projects.
Major projects that are being challenged by aboriginal groups include Enbridge Inc’s proposed Northern Gateway pipeline, which would transport crude oil from the Alberta oil sands to British Columbia’s Pacific Coast.
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Few jobs despite booming Mozambique economy – Features – Al Jazeera English
Few jobs despite booming Mozambique economy – Features – Al Jazeera English.
Maputo, Mozambique – Beto Magumane Cossa was orphaned at 14 when his father was killed by a woman with whom he was having an affair.
Alone and with no other family living in Magude, a rural district 155km from the capital Maputo’s shopping malls and luxury hotels, Beto lived off the money his brother sent home from working as a miner in South Africa.
Life was difficult but manageable – the money his brother sent home was enough to keep Beto clothed and fed. If things got tight, the neighbours helped Beto out by giving him food. But a few years after their father’s death, Beto’s brother returned home sick with HIV/AIDS and couldn’t work. Beto tried to find a job to support them both, but no one would take him on.
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