TERRACE, BC, Dec. 10, 2018 /CNW/ - A new report by SkeenaWild
Conservation Trust lays out a set of principles, practices and
technologies the group says separate responsible mining operations
from those with unacceptable environmental and social impacts.
The report, written by researchers Adrienne Berchtold and Michael Price, comes at a time when mining
development is rapidly expanding in Northwest B.C., raising
concerns for the health of wild salmon and associated human
communities.
"Too frequently, standard ways of designing and managing mine
projects result in habitat loss, pollution, catastrophic failure,
or abandonment of projects with a legacy of negative environmental
impacts," said Price. "We wanted to make a productive contribution
to the conversation by highlighting what we see as the suite of
best practices in today's mining industry."
The report recommends underground mining over open pit mining,
concentrating on high-grade ore bodies and leaving low-grade ore
bodies in the ground, avoiding interactions with ground and surface
water and avoiding the construction of large tailings impoundments
with perpetual water treatment requirements. It also recommends
mine operators follow four essential principles:
- Build positive relationships with affected communities and
other stakeholders by obtaining broad community support and Free,
Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) for proposed projects, and by
performing meaningful stakeholder engagement.
- Minimize environmental harm, especially to salmonids, by
adhering to the Precautionary Principle, following a mitigation
hierarchy that prioritizes harm avoidance first, and using leading
best practices to assess and manage environmental impacts.
- Show transparency by publicly reporting, facilitating
independent monitoring programs, and undergoing a wide range of
independent expert reviews.
- Leave positive legacies by offering sustainable community
benefits, and providing full financial assurance for the project,
which will require sound reclamation and post-closure planning and
implementation.
The report concludes with a case study that applies the
guidelines for responsible mining to the Kerr-Sulphurets-Mitchell
(KSM) mine project in Northwest BC. It also includes a checklist
that stakeholders and concerned watershed citizens can use to
assess other mine projects and operators.
The report can be downloaded at skeenawild.org.
SOURCE SkeenaWild Conservation Trust