A partnership consisting of public and private interests has reached an agreement to clean up the former Britannia copper-gold mine site, near Howe Sound, 50 km north of Vancouver, B.C.
The cleanup is expected to cost $60-75 million and will include provisions for treating acid rock drainage. The pollution that flows into Jane and Britannia Creeks and into the waters of Howe Sound is the product of acid rock drainage that occurred over several decades of mining before Britannia was shut down in 1974.
All the water draining through the mine site would be collected and treated before being discharged into Howe Sound. The cleanup is slated to begin within a year.
“The Britannia mine has been a source of acid drainage for far too long,” says Ian Waddell, British Columbia’s minister for environment, lands and parks. “This landmark agreement means clean water will again flow in Britannia Creek and into Howe Sound.”
The treatment plant will be built on-site and managed through the partnership. An application has been made to the Canada-B.C. infrastructure program to finance two-thirds of the estimated $12-million construction cost.
Copper Beach Estates, the property-owner, has agreed to contribute $5 million toward the cleanup effort and pay $1.7 million annually to operate the treatment plant. Copper Beach will also build a road to transport treatment sludge, contaminated soils and sediments.
Environment Canada has chipped in with technical and scientific assessments valued at $1 million.
The settlement provides indemnity for all past, present and future liabilities to previous operators. In exchange for the indemnity, the companies are paying $30 million towards the cost of the site clean-up.
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