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What you need to know about tailings ponds

Understanding the tailings ponds breach at Mount Polley near Likely, B.C., which has emptied mine waste into
Adrian Lee

August 6, 2014

On Monday, an Imperial Metals tailings pond in B.C. breached its embankment, spilling contaminated
water and waste material into the surrounding waterways and spurring a state of emergency in the area.
Its raised the ire of First Nations groups, who say the company ignored a report that the growth of the
pond was unsustainable. Its angered environmental groups, furious at the suggestion that water with
arsenic and mercury was released into the lakes. But what exactly are tailings ponds? Does the industry
have an alternative? We talked to Scott Dunbar, the head of the University of British Columbias school of

mining engineering, to explain the issues at play and the institutional attitudes that need to change so this does

Q: So what is a tailings pond, and how does it work?

When you take the rock out of the ground, you grind it up to particles about the size of sand and silt, then you r

they call a concentration plant and it separates the minerals of interest from the waste. The waste becomes taili

up with water, and its pumped out into this pond. The purpose of this pond, with an embankment around it, is

and allow them to drain as much as possible. Its basically sand-sized particles, but theres an awful lot of it thats

the minerals that generate all that cash. This waste has to be dealt with. Its mostly silicates. If the ltering is don

usually is, there would be very few metallics. The tailings pond is eventually drained and the tailings are dispose
sand. The biggest problem with all this is waterI suspect thats the problem here. You get rid of the water, its a

And then the pond is eventually reclaimed; theres some plant life that grows on top of it and other things done

Q: Is there another way to handle the waste?

No, short of processing in situin other words, dont move the rock in the rst place, just process the rock right

be done for these copper and gold mines that are in operation, the minerals are just too tightly bound up in the

have to extract, crush and grind the rock. If you could do thatand this is really futuristicwith a swarm of sm

move the material on the ground, you could eliminate it. But otherwise, its a fact of life. I wouldnt say theres a

direction. In situ mining and processing is done in some cases, uranium is one example, but not in others. I wou
Canadian mining uses tailing ponds.

Q: Whats in the runo ? In this particular case, I think the contamination

president said you could almost drink the water. Frankly, Im more concerned about the tailings themselves. Th

cubic metres spread all over the countryside. Thats going to be a bigger problem. The waters gone, and it was d

already, and I dont think thats going to be a problem. Theyre going to have to go over all the area and look at in
places and say, Do we keep it here, or do we have to move it. Thats going to be a long and tedious exercise.

every square kilometre will have to be looked at. Itll depend on the site, and how close it is to the river. It doesn

much good, because it covers up the river bottoms and all that. Maybe the system can tolerate that, but how mu

Q: What about the reports of arsenic and mercury in the water?

A: I dont think those are going to be a problem. Theyre dilute quantitiesit is almost drinkable, and now that

lakes, its even more diluted. I dont think contamination is going to be a major issue here. The problem now is w
tailings do. Whats in those tailings can be an issue, but as I understand it, theres a lot of biological activity that
of the metals in the pond.

Q: The president of Imperial Metals has made headlines for claiming that you could drink the water. As e
resources minister/current Finance Minister Joe Oliver called it a fact that were going to be able to drin
ponds. And yet you see photos of the area that have been described as like a lunar surface, with muddie
do you reconcile those things?

Imperial Metals actually had an application in with the ministry to treat and release the tailings pond water, and

delayed. I dont think I would drink itits alkaline, its awfully salty. I think itd be unpleasant to drink. I dont t

and die from drinking one glass, although continued exposure to it cant be good for you. But the thing is that it

they were planning on releasing itand that suggests it wasnt that much of a problem to begin with. There are

but one issue thats always concerning is selenium, and thats good for you to a point until its bad for you, but e
levels. Still, as I said, I dont think the water is the problem.

Q: How many tailings ponds are there in B.C.?

Theres 130-some mines in B.C., and every one has one. There might be a few bigger ones with a couple of dispo
arent many. On average, its one per mine.

Q: What about in Alberta?

A: Thats the oil sands, so theyre a little dierent. They have a large footprint. Most tailings ponds in B.C. are sm

Q: How long have tailings ponds been used in the industry?

A: Oh, since the beginning of time. The bigger ones started being built in the 1950s, I think.

Q: Is there any research being done on making tailings ponds better?

Theres lots of research being done on treatment, but the water will always have to be treated. I dont think ther
to make a tailings pond into a lake. Itll always have to be drained and then reclaimed.

Q: It seems clear that this is going to really damage the reputation of the mining industry.

Theres no question itll raise questions about the ability of mining engineers to operate these things, the ability

engineers to design them, and the ability of regulators to regulate them. Its these three parties that are going to

not going to be good. But this is not a one-time thing, no. I mean, these are rare events, but right now, theres th
authority between the regulators and consultants that design these facilities. It really is an education issue. We

groups together to work on the issue of managing the tailings instead of just dealing with their own individual i

term, 30-year management problem, and dierent people come and go. We dont educate people to design tailin

by doing it. Theres no course in it at UBC that I know of. There may be lip service paid to it in geotechnical eng

thats the kind of people that do it, but other than that, theres nothing other than on the graduate level. Mining

outsource it, but operate it themselves, so there are all kinds of issues around that. The geotechs build it, and th

regulators come in, they only come in to regulate. These are long-term liabilities. We need to have more meetin

interview has been condensed and edited.

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