RE:Update on Tailings Storage Facility Breach at Mount PolleyTranslation
Vancouver -- August 5, 2014 | Imperial Metals Corporation (III-TSX). The tailings dam breach that caused a water and tailings discharge at Imperial Metals' Mount Polley mine early Monday morning has stabilized.
The entire tailings pond has spilled it guts, there's nothing left in it... so in that sense it already has done all the damage it's going to do.
Our first priority is the health and safety of our employees and neighbours, and we are relieved no loss of life or injury have been reported. We are deeply concerned and are working to mitigate immediate effects and understand the cause.
No one is dead yet, but who knows what the long term effects are at this point. We have no idea how this happened and we're trying to figure it out.
Exact quantities of water and tailings discharged have yet to be determined. The tailings are alkaline with an average ph of 8.5 and are not acid generating.
Look on the bright side, it's not nuclear waste.
The cause of the breach is unknown at this time. The dam is an independently engineered structure that operated within design limits and specifications. Monitoring instruments and onsite personnel had no indication of an impending breach.
Someone else built the dam so it's not all our fault. The people whose job it is to monitor the dam failed to see the signs pointing to this happening. Negligent or incompetant.
Mount Polley mine has been placed on care and maintenance, and business interruption and physical damage insurers have been notified. While the damaged area is relatively small compared to the overall size of the dam, it is not known at this time how long it will take to restore operations.
Lets split hairs over how big the hole in the dam was, even though it doesn't matter because the result was the same (catastrophy). Our project might never recover from this.
We are working closely with provincial ministries, local agencies, and emergency response officials. Further updates will be provided as more information becomes available.
We're scrambling to cover our asses, you'll be the last to know any important information.