RE:The major concern is the tailings dams....This is a meaningless stat that you have highlighted. Different countries have different regulations and safety standards. I'm sure the USA is among the top ranking for mine safety compared to say, a 3rd world country. So while one per year may fail, how many have ever failed in the USA? The one you listed might be the only one. Are you going to stop flying in an airplane because one crashes in the world every year?
I realize, if you are a fisherman in Bristol Bay, even once is one too many. However, the world doesn't operate on 100% certainty, there is a risk in pretty much everything we do. And I believe the risk here is tiny compared to the reward.
Also, pebble will produce a clean concentrate so no poisenus chemicals will be present. Exert from the interview with David Lowe below.
MK: Do you want to explain why clean concentrate is so important to my subscribers?
DL: Well there a number of minerals that typically occur with the copper minerals, and minerals that contain gold and some of these minerals like enargite, which contains arsenic, and minerals that contain mercury produce a dirty concentrate.
MK: And Mother Nature blessed Pebble because none of those ‘nasties’ are an issue in the Pebble concentrate?
DL: That’s right.
calenderj wrote: From Wikipedia...
The greatest danger of tailings ponds is dam failure, with the most publicized failure in the U.S. being the failure of a coal slurry dam in the
West Virginia Buffalo Creek Flood, which killed 125 people; other collapses include the
Ok Tedi environmental disaster in
New Guinea, which destroyed the fishery of the
Ok Tedi River.
On average, worldwide, there is one big accident involving a tailings dam each year.[11] Tailings ponds can also be a source of
acid drainage, leading to the need for
permanent monitoring and treatment of water passing through the tailings dam; the cost of mine cleanup has typically been 10 times that of mining industry estimates when acid drainage was involved.
[11] Other disasters caused by tailings dam failures are,
the 2000 Baia Mare cyanide spill and
the Ajka alumina plant accident.