Earthworks, MiningWatch Canada, and the London Mining Network have released an updated version of their Safety First guidelines for improving the management of mine waste disposal facilities, also known as tailings dams. The guidelines were updated as tailings dams around the world are failing with increasing frequency and severity, a risk expected to increase with climate-related extreme weather events.
The Ministry of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation has released an interim policy on mine reclamation bonding, detailing the financial security mines are required to pay up front to cover the costs of reclamation – a significant step in the right direction in the right direction toward encouraging mining companies to minimize the environmental damage they cause.
The BC Mining Law Reform network welcomes the Declaration Act Action Plan, released by the B.C. government this week. Notably, the plan lays out numerous actions on the self-determination and rights of Indigenous Peoples … and the specific action to “modernize the Mineral Tenure Act in consultation and cooperation with First Nations and First Nations organizations.”
Imperial Metals has applied for an extension to its permit to continue discharging wastewater from the Mount Polley mine into Quesnel Lake. Take action with the Concerned Citizens of Quesnel Lake to oppose the application.
More than seven years after the dam breach at Imperial Metals’ Mount Polley mine, communities and the environment are still at risk from mine waste failures in British Columbia. The province lags behind other jurisdictions in Canada and globally in mine waste storage safety.
First Nations in BC are proactively working towards re-establishing sovereignty over their territories in British Columbia, by introducing and exercising their own law-making authority to regulate and monitor mining on their own lands.
A new report from the Pembina Institute and BCMLR partner, Northern Confluence Initiative, demonstrates that B.C.’s role as an early adopter of electric vehicles (EVs) creates a significant economic and environmental opportunity: to secure a regional leadership role in recycling metals and minerals from EV batteries at end-of-life.
