Letter to the editor

Regarding the article “Minister’s statement on the 10-year anniversary of the Mount Polley dam breach,” published in the September edition of the Canadian Mining Journal, pages 8 to 9.

The article made no mention of the cleanup and rehabilitation, and that fish are returning to Hazeltine Creek and that Imperial Metals has spent over $70 million on this remediation. This article and ensuing comments are great for sound bites but failed to mention that the spill did not kill fish or cause any human casualties. Neither the website: www.mountpolley.com, which discusses the remediation, nor the published peer-reviewed paper (entitled: Water quality impacts and river system recovery following the 2014 Mount Polley mine tailings dam spill, British Columbia, Canada) were mentioned. What about the recent and natural landside on the Chilicotin River (July 2024) or the Bute Inlet/Elliot Lake landslides or any future ones in November 2021? These two natural landsides were catastrophic to the environment. No rules and regulations would have prevented these landslides or any future ones from happening. An article should be balanced and not just for promotion of various sound bites with ensuing third party comments.

— Bruce Downing, M.Sc., P.Geo., FGC, FEC (hon.)