Mine Waste Management in Wet, Mountainous Terrain: Some British Columbia Perspectives Part I - Setting, Past, and Present

Abstract

The province of British Columbia has long been one of the world’s major mining jurisdictions. Histori cally, mining played a major role in the development and economy of the province, and this continues to be th e case today. Many of B.C.’s mines are operating in mountainous, wet terrain that poses a formidable challen ge to management of tailings, waste rock, and discharge e ffluent. British Columbians take immense pride in the beauty and splendour of their province, which they consider the “ Best Place on Earth ”, and the protection and preservation of this heritage is the pre-eminent re quirement to be factored into mine waste management solutions. Those solutions have changed significan tly over the course of four decades, and have refle cted advances in the state of practice, technology, and societal and regulatory expectations and processes. The mining industry has met these challenges, and conti nues to do so as ever more difficult terrain and am bitious projects are contemplated. A Long and Storied Mining Heritage The history of mining in B.C. long pre-dates the ar rival of the first European settlers. Mining activ ity in the Province began with the First Nations people s in the north, who gathered and traded obsidian (volcanic glass) from the area of Mt. Edziza as far back as 9-10 thousand years ago (Fladmark, 1984). Members of the Tahltan First Nation were also perhaps the first to exploit B.C.’s mineral wealth for trade and export, there being evidence of quarried Mt. Edziza obsidian, used for arrowheads and tools, at prehistoric sites in Alaska, Yukon, the Northwes t Territories, Alberta, and throughout British Columbia. While the Tahltan undoubtedly faced a number of challenges in obtaining the obsidian, management of mine waste was not among them. Times have changed. Mining in B.C. entered a new chapter with the arriv al of settlers from Europe in the 19 th century. B.C. became one of the world's significant mining region s since the mid-1800s and remains to this day an important producer, exporting substantial amounts o f copper, gold, silver, lead, zinc, molybdenum, coal and industrial minerals every year. The Hudson 's Bay Company first started mining coal on Vancouver Island in the 1840’s. The discovery of go ld along the Fraser River in the 1850’s sparked the Cariboo gold rush, which facilitated the settlement of many parts of that region. Indeed, the search for, development, and export of B.C.'s vast mineral reso urces collectively have constituted a key driver of the province's growth and development, a process th at continues today with mine exploration and development in B.C.’s northwest, which has in turn led to a go decision for the Northwest Transmission Line , a $404-million, 344-kilometre transmission line p roject key to unlocking the immense mineral wealth in that part of the province , a projected scheduled for completion in 2013. By the early 1960’s, technology had advanced so as to make feasible large scale open-pit production. Many significant open pit copper mines opened in B.C. around that time, including the enormous Highland Valley Copper operation, today the largest copper mine in Canada and one of the largest copper mining and concentrating operations in the w orld. Other open pit mines are currently being operated, constructed, or contemplated, in consider ably more mountainous terrain and wet climates than a number of the province’s earlier open pit op erations.