Thursday, January 28, 2016

New Gold's Blackwater Gold Project went to BAT, BAP!!! Why isn't Mount Polley held to the same Gold standard of environment protection?

When was Imperial Metals given the Green light to restarting their Mount Polley Gold mine by Bill Bennett and Mary Polak?  Did they take the SAME steps as Canada's laws?   Did Mount Polley present a Tailings Alternative Assessment (TAA) and a Best Available Technology  (BAT) along with a Best Available Practices (BAP)  based on the Independent Investigation Review Panel findings for Mount Polley to Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency?

British Columbian taxpayers footed the bill for the report on Mount Polley Investigation on the Tailings Pond Breach

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The Right Way

New Gold

Blackwater Gold Project


Executive Summary  (Page 3 of 642)

New Gold completed this Tailings Alternative Assessment (TAA) for the Blackwater Gold Project (Project) in response to a request from the British Columbia (BC) Environment Assessment Office (EAO; March 19, 2015) that ALL MININGS PROPONENTS consider the implentation of Best Available Technology (BAT) and Best Available Practices (BAP) identified by the Mount Polley Independent Investigation Review Panel (the Panel).

In a letter dated June 3, 2015, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency requested that environmental effects, as defined in section 5 of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012, be included as factors to be considered in the assessment of the preferred option.

Snip
 Has Imperial Metals completed these Six Steps?

• Step 1 – Identified initial candidate alternatives utilizing three tailings management technologies (thickened slurry, paste, and filtered ‘dry stack’ over a wide area of potential sites (23 candidates identified).
• Step 2 – Conducted a pre-screening assessment (fatal-flaw analysis) to eliminate any candidate that did not meet certain minimum criteria for the Project (10 candidates eliminated;  13 remained).
• Step 3 – Conducted a high level risk assessment (HLRA) to identify the lowest risk candidates for each of the tailings technologies, and eliminate the higher risk candidates from further consideration.
• Step 4 – Conducted a multiple accounts analysis (MAA) to identify BAT for the Blackwater Project (3 candidates eliminated; 1 selected candidate).
• Step 5 – Assessed the selected BAT candidate using a Failure Modes Effects Assessment (FMEA) to determine BAP including additional practices beyond those described in the Application/EIS that could further improve the physical safety of the impoundment.
• Step 6 – assessment of the impacts to Aboriginal rights and interests.


Page 54 of 642










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Google Search:  Mount Polley BAT BAP


The University of Western Australia

BAT or BAP?  A review of some dramatic changes in tailings management in the recent past and potential changes in the future   43 Pages

Andy Fourie    School of Civil, Environmental  & Mining Engineering

Mount Polley, British Columbia, Canada

Itabirito, Minas Gerais, Brazil tailings pond

Cananea, Sonora, Mexico Tailings Pond

Dan River Steam Station Tailings Pond


Outline
Contrast 'conventional' tailings with thicker tailings
Provide examples; what worked, what perhaps did not work so well
The use of filtered tailings
Concluding comments





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