"Why It’s Taken Decades To Clean Up Waste From A Troubled Mine In B.C.

"The closed Tulsequah Chief mine in northwest B.C. has been leaching untreated waste into a salmon-bearing river since the 1950s. The province may finally start cleaning it up".

"From above, the closed Tulsequah Chief mine in northwest B.C. seems small as it sits by the Tulsequah River a few kilometers from the waterway’s confluence with the Taku River.

But up close, the site is an “open, oozing wound,” said Guy Archibald, executive director of the Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission. “There’s bright orange water running down the hill, running into this huge pond of bright orange water that just overflows into the river.”

The mine has been leaching untreated waste into the salmon-bearing Taku River for decades. But, after years pushing for action from environmental groups and communities across the watershed, a remedy might be on the way."

Francesca Fionda reports for The Narwhal August 23, 2022.

 

Source: The Narwhal, 08/24/2022