Gold mine with history of contaminating B.C. creek fined again
CBC
A gold mining company that discharged contaminants into a B.C. creek more than a thousand times since 2017 has now been fined over $250,000 for its most recent violations of environmental rules, according to a March 2024 report from the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy.
Barkerville Gold Mines, owned by Osisko Development since 2019, operates two gold mines and a processing mill in the mountainous Cariboo region, east of Quesnel, B.C., about 414 kilometres north of Vancouver. The environmental violations took place at its underground Bonanza Ledge gold mine.
The ministry's Determination of Administrative Penalty report documents the "discharge of effluent from an underground mine, rock dump drainage, site runoff and open pit effluent from a Sediment Control Pond" into Lowhee Creek.
The concentration and composition of effluents were in higher concentrations than permitted, the report says.
The report documented 417 separate violations on 68 different days in 2020 and 2021. It also noted previous violations, including 215 incidents in 2017, and 463 between 2018 and 2019.
Because the violations occurred so often, the frequency of aquatic exposure was "chronic and long term," according to the report.
It adds the company's environmental violations and release of contaminants may adversely affect aquatic life, as some of the contaminants, including nitrates, can harm invertebrates, fish and amphibians. Potential impacts include a reduced ability to reproduce, physical deformities and death, according to the government.
B.C.'s environment ministry initially fined Barkerville Gold $760,000 for the most recent environmental violations in 2020 and 2021. That was reduced to $276,360 after the company filed an appeal with a document that was 10,000 pages long.
The penalty was lowered in part because many of the violations happened during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the ministry, which says in the report that public health rules, travel restrictions, and business closures delayed Barkerville Gold's ability to install and troubleshoot water treatment equipment, and to bring contractors and consultants to the site.
Barkerville Gold operates near the small community of Wells — about 63 kilometres east of Quesnel — and the Barkerville Historic Town and Park, a popular tourist attraction that recreates a living history gold rush boom town.
In an email to CBC news, District of Wells Mayor Ed Coleman said in his view, he has a good working relationship with the company, and that any penalties levied are in the hands of the province.
Coleman said it's important to note that the environmental violations for which the company is now being fined happened several years ago.
"I'm dealing with the present and the province can deal with the past."
Jamie Kneen, national program co-lead of Miningwatch Canada, an environmental and human rights advocacy group, told CBC News in an interview that it was "very strange" to see the fines reduced.
Thousands of Muslims in Winnipeg gathered Friday at various locations to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
The spring sitting of the P.E.I. Legislature will prorogue for a second time — but this time just by a day.
Two years after an Edmonton man sustained fatal injuries while on shift at a northern Alberta pulp mill, workplace safety charges have been laid in his death.
About 30 properties in the Fraser Valley are under evacuation alert as the atmospheric river pummeling B.C. increases flood and landslide risks in several parts of the province.
WARNING: This story references allegations of child abuse.
Police say it was a 67-year-old Chatham man who died while scuba diving at the Erieau marina on Wednesday morning.
Enmax declared its lowest dividend, to be paid to the City of Calgary, in four years in its 2025 financial results.
Rilee Willianen says the City of Thunder Bay has received wide-ranging feedback about its plans to create designated encampment sites.
The Ontario government is planning to outlaw sky-high ticket resale prices, according to a news release.
As March break comes to an end, there are lots of fun events happening on the weekend in Waterloo region, Guelph and Wellington County.
Yukon RCMP are renewing their plea for public help in the investigation into an unsolved 2023 double homicide near Mayo.
Thousands of Muslims in Calgary will mark the end of Ramadan by celebrating Eid al-Fitr on Friday, bringing to a close a month of worship, reflection and fasting.
Dozens of people walked through downtown London Wednesday night shining candles in honour of a First Nation’s woman found dead in the city last month, while also calling for increased awareness about missing and murdered Indigenous peoples.