Further Containing the Contaminants

On June 23, a tailings pond at the defunct Opimiska mine burst, washing out a nearby road and flooding Slam Creek with large amounts of metals and the toxic chemicals used in their extraction.

Slam Creek flows directly into the Waswanipi River and though it is not the drinking-water supply for the community, it is where the community fishes among other things.

At the time of the incident, the damage was assessed by various governmental bodies in conjunction with the Cree Regional Authority. Several samples of surface water were taken by both the government and then for a second independent water testing company.

The tests conducted at the time were to asses the levels of copper, iron and zinc that could have come from the tailings pool spill and the immediate testing showed that the levels found from those specific samples posed no threat to human health. These tests however were based only on surface water and not the sediment far beneath the water’s surface or the water in the tailings pond where the contaminants would be found.

Still the community felt suspicious about the water as years prior after a similar tailings pool spill happened on the Chibougamau River. At the time the government announced that the water was clean but U.S. geologist and investigative scientist Christopher Covel proved otherwise by detecting levels of arsenic in the water.

In July, Waswanipi Environmental Director John Gull told the Nation that he thought Covel “could be the reason as to why the Indians are feeling so doubtful” and that the water was actually clean.

When contacted by the Nation to get his opinion on the incident, Covel decided to return to the North and take a second look at what was deemed to be clean.

In October, Covel, along with wildlife biologist Jodie Kubitz from Entrix Inc, an environmental and natural-resource management consulting firm specializing in water resources management and other related fields, took a three-day trip to Waswanipi. What they saw deeply disturbed them both.

“There is contaminated water flowing out of the tailings impoundment as we speak,” said Covel describing how the waterways need immediate attention.

Covel and Kubitz headed to the North after discussing the situation with Waswanipi Chief John Kitchen who was quite concerned about the health and welfare of his people despite the initial reports that stated the water was “normal.”

Though Kitchen was more interested in a five-year proposal to monitor the situation, Covel and Kubitz made it clear that what was needed extended beyond monitoring.

Covel observed that since the tailings pond initially burst, three “check dams” had been built to contain the contaminants. These check dams he described as a series of three steps with each step having its own small dam and a weir or small channel where the water runs through the channel.

“The idea is that the water goes through these three check dams and the contamination settles in these little ponds that are behind the dams…but it’s not happening. Basically the water is running right through all three. They are already failing. The water is milky grey and the contamination is continuing to enter Slam Creek and then the Waswanipi River,” said Covel.

Covel and Kubitz’s initial examination of the site and of the recovery zone data showed that not only were there elevated levels of metals but also cyanide and arsenic, chemicals that are used in extracting metals such as gold and copper.

Like Covel, Kubitz was equally disturbed by their initial findings.

“What was a bit of a surprise is that they found measurable concentrations of cyanide in the tailings pond and also in Slam Creek and the Waswanipi River. We had done some research on the Opimiska mine and we had documents from 1961 that didn’t have any mention of cyanide. Cyanide is used for gold recovery,” said Kubitz.

Though the Opimiska mine was a copper mine, sometimes mining companies will perform multiple extractions if another metal is detected. The problem is that these kinds of chemicals, if not properly contained, can cause major problems for wildlife in the vicinity and affect the ecosystem in turn.

“Cyanide will affect the ability of fish to produce eggs over long-term exposures and the numbers we saw in the rivers were at a concentration of concern for that,” said Kubitz.

For as much as the contamination problem is cause for concern in the immediate future, should the area be hit with considerable precipitation this winter, when the spring comes and the snow melts and washes even more of the contaminants downstream is where the real problem lies. If the contaminants are not contained, they will end up in the Waswanipi River.

Though this situation may come across as dismal and unacceptable, it is common according to Ramsay Hart, Canada Program Coordinator for MiningWatch Canada, a pan-Canadian environmental non-profit initiative geared towards industry monitoring, environmental protection, social justice and protecting Aboriginal and labour organizations from across the country.

Though Hart found the scenario disappointing he certainly wasn’t surprised.

“It is estimated that there are over 10,000 abandoned mine sites in the country and efforts to clean them up have been moving forward. But the ones that tend to get the most attention are the huge problematic ones,” said Hart.

Unfortunately Opimiska does not fall under that category even though it is problematic. It is a smaller site comparatively and therefore has not previously garnered governmental funding that would have seen it monitored more stringently and even cleaned up sufficiently.

“Our belief at MiningWatch is that the industry as an entity should bear more responsibility and more efforts to have monies from industry go towards paying for this through a levy of some kind or having tax revenues from the mining industry go to a clean-up fund,” said Hart.

According to MiningWatch, Opimiska’s proprietorship is still held under the Inmet Mining Corporation that acquired the site through the purchase of another company in the late ’90s even though the mine is no longer active.

Under Quebec regulations the Opimiska mine met provincial standards and norms in terms of the state of the mine and Inmet was given an “exit ticket,” for the mine, absolving it of any responsibility and any potential fall-out such as the recent tailings pond spill.

It is MiningWatch’s view that though this is status quo in the province, it creates a very “problematic approach” to dealing with fall-out when there are problems despite this norm being “very nice for the industry.”

Considering what happened with the spill and the initial seemingly normal water testing that followed the spill, Hart applauded Kitchen for his persistence in digging deeper. “We find these kinds of issues tend to get swept under the table,” he said.

“Why the sediment wasn’t sampled, I really don’t know. It should have been because we know from basic aquatic ecology that a common way for things to become entrained into the food chain is from sediments,” said Hart.

Hart was also quick to say that had the incident occurred in downtown Montreal the scenario would have played out differently.

According to Hart, the government only collects 70% security for mine rehabilitation from mining companies so even when 100% securities are collected there are still all kinds of problems and the costs are typically underestimated. In turn, governmental bodies usually end up paying the tab for cleanup and do so out of a cash-strapped fund as the demand is great.

Hart said that according to a presentation he saw by a representative of the Quebec Ministry of Natural Resources, the current estimate for rehabilitation costs for Quebec’s 423 tailings areas, which cover a total of 15, 000+ hectares, is around $75 million.

What is more alarming is that though the Opimiska mine has been continually referred to as “abandoned,” it is not in fact in the sense that it wasn’t abandoned and it underwent a process where it was inspected and deemed to be secure.

“So if the mines that have been inspected are failing, what does that say about the ones that have been abandoned or have not necessarily been evaluated?” pondered Hart.

Though the community of Waswanipi has not yet settled on one particular action plan, it is finally on track to getting the kinds of assistance and services it needs.