Canadian Mine Waste Disasters; Possibility Pooh-Poohed In WI

Canadians are getting a look at a massive new metals' mine waste disaster (there was an earlier one in, I'm not kidding you, Tarsandia) and it's not a pretty sight and site for a region in British Columbia, and its drinking water: 

Some 10 million cubic meters (2.6 billion gallons) of water and 4.5 million cubic meters of fine sand spilled into Polley Lake, the province's Minister of Energy and Mines Bill Bennett said in a statement.

Bennett said the flow may have continued into nearby Quesnel Lake. He said the impact on the watershed is unknown, and the ministry has been testing the water. 

Hazeltine Creek, which flows out of Polley Lake, had been a 4-foot (1.2-meter) stream, but it is now 150 feet wide, the Cariboo Regional District government said in a separate statement.

A still photo taken from video provided by the Cariboo Regional District of a helicopter overflight of the stricken area. (Cariboo Regional District)

You may remember that we took a look at the potential for calamitous slides and spills in the Bad River watershed where an open-pit, mountain-top iron mine, waste pile and wetlands filling is being proposed.

Our interest was peaked when a company spokesman said it had plans to take care of any potential slide and waste spills during 35 years of mining as they hope to turn the mine pit (4.5 miles long, 700 ft. deep, and a mile wide at a minimum) and all that waste rock into a nice new swimming hole and recreational hill planted with new trees.

Here is a link to the posting from 14 months ago, and I think I'll copy it all out, below:
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MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013As GTAC Plans Waste Rock, Mine Debris Dumping For 35 Years, Consider...

What's happening right now to toxic waste and tailing dump sites in Tarsandia, Canada:

Fort McMurray, Home to 176 Square km of Tar Sands Tailings Ponds, Overwhelmed by Floods

More proof for the argument I made here about the GTAC mine's projected glorious operations and reclamation, even though the rock, containing acidic-producing elements, will be dumped in lakes, on a watershed, near rice-growing estuaries close to Lake Superior:

[Spokesman Bob] Seitz said the process would involve the creation of what would essentially be a large hill of mining tailings that would be covered over with earth and replanted at the conclusion of open-pit mining activities in the first stage. The second stage would dispose of its tailings in the first pit, while the second pit would, at the conclusion of its operational life, be turned into a 355-acre lake. That lake would be graded to produce gentle slopes, making it conducive to recreational uses.

And:

“Once you build that hill, you can cover a portion of it with topsoil, you can concurrently reclaim it, which means that you have a much smaller portion of the waste area that is open and by the time the process is complete, you are actually going to have mature trees or whatever the reclamation plan calls for,” Seitz said. 

Color me skeptical.

And skeptical, also, because of this:

MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

Check Out This Account Of Recent, Massive Open Pit Mine Slide

Since we're on the topic of open pit mine operation, safety, and planning right here in Wisconsin - - take note that there was in April the biggest landslide at a massive open pit copper mine in Utah in 36 years, and it began with movement measured in a fraction of an inch.
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Aerial shot of landslide in Bingham Canyon copper-gold mine near Salty Lake City, Utah. Photo courtesy Kennecott Utah Copper via Facebook.