Shut mine for water cleanup: environmentalists
Last Updated: Friday, September 4, 2009 | 1:55 PM CT
CBC News
Environmental advocates in Pelly Crossing, Yukon, are becoming increasingly concerned about conditions at the Minto copper mine and want the open-pit mine shut down until water problems are solved.
Heavy spring runoff flooded the mine's pit this summer, prompting three emergency pump-outs and six operating licence amendments.
David Conley of the Selkirk Renewable Resource Council said the government needs to force the mine operators to taking remedial action before more tainted water is dumped into the Yukon River watershed.
"They are stuck between a rock and a hard place and they need some help," said Conley. "They can get help if they are forced to, but they choose to increase production sending trucks down the road waiting for the regulators to regulate.
"Close the mine, fix the waste water system, open the mine. Let's get on with it."
The Selkirk Renewable Resource Council sent a letter of concern this week to territorial Mines Minister Archie Lang.
Stephen Quinn, president of Capstone Mining Corp., which owns the mine, has said the company has been unable to make enough room in its water storage pond or empty its main pit of overflow, so it has been forced to pump water from the pit.
But Quinn said the council's demand for a shutdown of the mine is based on misinformation.
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