In a media release put out by Rivers Without Borders on Tuesday, a proposed buyer for a disused mining operation has reportedly since dropped its interest.
Citing unspecified sources, the environmental group reported private investment group Black Loon Metals has dropped its interest in purchasing the Tulsequah Chief mine, located along the Taku River watershed in British Columbia. When asked for comment on the release, Black Loon Metals declined to confirm whether this was the case.
Rivers Without Borders had previously announced the Canadian company was interested in redeveloping the Tulsequah Chief, issuing a statement June 29. The zinc mine is currently in receivership after its prior owner, Chieftain Metals Corporation, filed for bankruptcy last year. It has been out of use since 1957, and has subsequently been a source for acid mine drainage into its namesake Tulsequah River nearby and the greater Taku network.
The B.C. Ministry of Energy and Mines describes acid mine drainage as an outflow of acidic water from metal or coal mines. While the acid in rock is formed through a naturally occurring process, fine particles created and left exposed through the blasting or crushing processes involved in ore extraction speeds up the oxidation process. When oxidation occurs acid is rapidly produced, and can go on for many years.
Attempts to curtail this drainage – which is a prerequisite for reopening the mine – by a pair of owners during the last 12 years have proven financially untenable. A treatment center was installed by Redfern in 2005 but never used, with the company arguing it needed the mine open to finance its operation. The facility was subsequently sold along with other mining equipment to satisfy creditors. After Chieftain Metals acquired the site in 2010, another acid-water treatment plan was developed and put into action for a short period in 2012.
Rivers Without Borders used the recent news to highlight an Aquatic Ecological Risk Assessment prepared for the B.C. Ministry of Environment in April, which documented “unacceptable risks” from ongoing acid drainage at Tulsequah Chief.
“This new study finds ‘unacceptable risks’ from acid mine drainage pouring out of the abandoned Tulsequah Chief mine and should put to rest claims that the pollution is not harming fish and water quality. After two bankruptcies and failed attempts to sell the mine out of receivership, it is clear the Tulsequah Chief is not a viable mine, financially, environmentally or politically,” commented Chris Zimmer, Alaska Campaign Director for Rivers Without Borders. “The only way to stop the illegal and clearly harmful acid mine drainage from the abandoned mine into the salmon-rich Taku watershed is for B.C. to honor its promises and take responsibility for mine cleanup and closure.”
In its release, the group exhorts the British Columbia government to take a more direct approach in decommissioning and cleaning up the mine site.
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