Environmentalists are expressing dismay at a pending provincial government decision that could allow a Nova Scotia gold mine to raise the height of the wall of its existing tailings pond.
Australian company St Barbara, which owns the Touquoy gold mine in Moose River, NS, has said it would have to suspend open pit operations if its application is not approved by the provincial Environment Department by early August. .
Karen McKendry, wilderness outreach coordinator for the Halifax-based Eco Action Center, said the company’s request to change its industrial permit is separate from the normal environmental assessment process. A public consultation process is not required if the company wants to lift the wall, she added.
“We’re sounding the alarm bells on that,” McKendry said in a recent interview. “Raising a tailings dam increases the risk of it breaking…and this decision is going to be made behind closed doors and really needs to be questioned.”
Before making a decision, provincial officials should at least request their own independent engineering study and computer modeling of the consequences of a dam failure, McKendry said.
In May, Environment Minister Tim Halman gave St Barbara’s Canadian subsidiary, Atlantic Mining Nova Scotia Inc., one year to submit more information on the environmental effects of a separate application to store Touquoy tailings in an open pit once mining operations are complete.
In a June 22 press release, St Barbara said Halman’s decision came “at the end of the process” as the mine was nearing the end of its life. The company said it had submitted an application to raise the existing tailings wall as an “interim solution” that would extend operations through the end of fiscal 2023.
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If the lift permit is not approved by early August 2022, “there will not be enough time to allow construction of the lift before current tailings capacity is exhausted in mid-September 2022,” the company said. “This would lead to the operation being suspended and placed on care and maintenance.”
St Barbara did not respond when asked for comment on the status of his application for the Touquoy mining operation. The company has said it also wants to develop three other proposed gold mines located nearby that are currently in various stages of the regulatory process.
In an email Thursday, the Environment Department said it is still reviewing the company’s application to erect the wall.
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“All applications received by the department are thoroughly reviewed by department staff to ensure that the proposed activities comply with applicable laws, regulations, policies and standards,” the department said.
It added that the proposed height increase has been designed by the company’s engineer of record who is “professionally responsible for ensuring that the dam design is sustainable and meets the requirements of the Canadian Dam Safety Guidelines.”
As part of the company’s request, a dam break and flooding study was submitted, the department added. “We have 60 days to make a decision from the date we received a complete application, which was June 29.”
Patricia Egli of the East Coast Forest Watch Association said her group wrote a letter last month to Halman and Natural Resources Minister Tory Rushton urging that an adequate amount of time be given to make a decision. that it is not “unduly influenced”.
“This is what concerns us,” he said. “It’s a behind-the-scenes process where you don’t know what’s going on.”
McKendry added that the situation boils down to trust, given that Atlantic Mining Nova Scotia Inc. was fined $250,000 after pleading guilty in February to violating federal and provincial laws after an investigation found it had deposited harmful substances in the water near the gold mine.
“We thought this time it was important to be proactive,” McKendry said.
The size of several football fields, the Moose River mine opened in the fall of 2017 and is located about 90 minutes from Halifax.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on August 5, 2022.