{"id":52394,"date":"2015-06-21T00:30:29","date_gmt":"2015-06-20T16:30:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=52394"},"modified":"2015-06-21T00:30:29","modified_gmt":"2015-06-20T16:30:29","slug":"b-c-government-approves-permits-for-controversial-red-chris-mine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2015\/06\/21\/b-c-government-approves-permits-for-controversial-red-chris-mine\/","title":{"rendered":"B.C. government approves permits for controversial Red Chris Mine"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Red<\/a>
Red Chris copper-gold mine in British Columbia (Photo courtesy of Imperial Metals)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

VANCOUVER \u2013 A gold and copper mine in northwestern British Columbia that still faces angry opposition from its neighbours in Alaska has received approval for a full operating permit from the provincial government.<\/p>\n

B.C. Minister of Energy and Mines Bill Bennett announced Friday that the Red Chris Mine, owned by Imperial Metals (TSX:III), will soon be in full production, despite environmental concerns from First Nations, environmental groups and Alaskans, who are downstream from the mine site.<\/p>\n

Those worries were magnified last summer, when a tailings pond collapsed at the Mount Polley mine, another Imperial Metals-owned mine in interior B.C.<\/p>\n

Bennett said he\u2019s confident the Red Chris Mine, located about 130 kilometres from the Alaska border, won\u2019t experience a similar breach because the tailings storage facility has undergone three independent reviews.<\/p>\n

He noted the mine has operated successfully for months on a temporary permit while officials monitored the facility.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no doubt … that (waste) water is going to be managed carefully, and in such a way that people downstream, including our neighbours in Alaska, can have confidence that we’re doing everything that any responsible jurisdiction should do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Heather Hardcastle, a commercial fisherman and spokeswoman for Alaska-based group Salmon Beyond Borders said she\u2019s still worried the mine could unleash heavy metals and acidic drainage into the waters, impacting Alaska\u2019s multi-billion dollar fishing and tourism industries.<\/p>\n

The problem is that the government of Alaska hasn\u2019t been involved in assessing or approving mining projects in northwestern B.C., where mine run-off flows into Alaskan waters, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have no voice and B.C. has no accountability. And we’re taking on all of the risks and receiving none of the benefits,\u201d Hardcastle said.<\/p>\n

Alaskans aren\u2019t anti-mining, she added, but people are concerned about how many projects are currently underway in the pristine region.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re talking about a scale and scope of mining activity that\u2019s never been seen before in a place that\u2019s this valuable when it comes to salmon and clean water,\u201d Hardcastle said.<\/p>\n

A representative for Alaska does have a seat at the table when it comes to many meetings on B.C. mining, said Bennett.<\/p>\n

The minister noted that there is work to be done between Alaska and B.C., and said he would like to see a memorandum of understanding on mining between the two governments.<\/p>\n

Another group which initially opposed the Red Chris Mine is now part of the project.<\/p>\n

Members of the Tahltan First Nation set up a blockade at the mine last summer following the Mount Polley tailings pond collapsed, spilling millions of cubic metres of water and mine slurry into local waterways.<\/p>\n

The First Nation later instigated an environmental review of the Red Chris Mine, and in April signed on to co-manage it with Imperial Metals.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom here on our environmental oversight role an important part of our agreement will also start to expand,\u201d Tahltan Central Council President Chad Day said in a news release<\/p>\n

He added that expanding the mine to full capacity will create jobs and bring other benefits to the First Nation.<\/p>\n

Bennett, too, said mining in B.C. helps bolster the province\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n

Getting permits to build mines should be difficult, he said, but the province needs to be competitive when it comes to attracting mining companies.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had Mount Polley, it happened, it was terrible. It happened once in 150 years. We have to make sure it doesn’t happen again,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I think it would be a serious mistake to think that you can\u2019t mine safely in B.C. Because I\u2019m convinced you can.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VANCOUVER \u2013 A gold and copper mine in northwestern British Columbia that still faces angry opposition from its neighbours in …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":52395,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","mauthors-the-canadian-press1"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}