Province spending $42M on mine cleanup

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This article was published 29/10/2009 (5832 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The province will spend $42 million to clean up 18 old mining sites over the next few years, including one which has turned a small part of Manitoba’s north into a surface that looks like Mars.

The former Sherritt Gordon mine at Sherridon, northeast of Flin Flon, will see its huge orange-red toxic-tailings pile removed and neutralized with lime so that nearby Camp Lake can be slowly returned to its original beauty, Premier Greg Selinger said Wednesday.

Selinger said local communities want to use the area around the old mine site for eco-tourism.

"You’ve got to have a clean lake to do that," he said.

The Sherridon copper and zinc mine closed in the 1950s but it’s only recently that work began to clean up its legacy, a tailings pile almost eight stories high which leaches acid into the water. Sherridon has been described as one of the worst cases of acidic mine drainage in the world. Zinc, lead and cobalt have been funnelling into Camp Lake and Kississing Lake for years, posing a danger to fish and, potentially, residents.

The province has hired Hazco Environmental Services of Winnipeg to remove and neutralize the tailings. Work on the project will take at least two years and see First Nations people hired.

"The community is going to get the rest of Camp Lake back," said Wardrop manager of environmental assessment Doug Ramsey, whose company is also involved in the massive project.

Manitoba began its ambitious plan to clean up orphaned and abandoned mines in 1999 and brought in mine closure regulations for existing and new mines. There are 149 sites targeted for clean-up with 18 at the top of the list, Science, Technology, Energy and Mines Minister Jim Rondeau said.

Rondeau said mining companies who don’t help the province in closing down a mine or pit will be sued.

"We will clean them up and then we will go after them," he said, adding in the Sherridon case that may not be possible because the mine closed down so long ago.

Other old mine sites to be restored are in Lynn Lake, Snow Lake, Gods Lake, Leaf Rapids and 13 high-hazard sites.

Mining contributes about $2.5 billion to Manitoba’s economy or 3.5 per cent of GDP. It also directly employs about 5,200 people.

For more information about orphaned and abandoned mines go to www.gov.mb.ca/stem/mrd/mines/oa_rehabilitation.html.

 

bruce.owen@freepress.mb.ca