Mount Polley Mine will continue operating until the end of May when it goes under care and maintenance, due to low copper prices.
“We are still up and running,” said the mine’s general manager Dale Reimer. “Even after we go into care and maintenance the reclamation work due to the tailings impoundment breach will continue. It is unfortunate we have to shut down. Hopefully we’ll re-open — it will depend on metal prices.”
During a public meeting held in Williams Lake in December, Lyn Anglin, then vice-president of environmental affairs said the on-going dredging of the Springer Pit, which was the temporary holding facility following the breach, continued to be delayed. She said they had hoped they would be able to use the Springer Pit to resume mining for new material.
On January 7, 2019 when the company announced it would be suspending operations at the end of May, Imperial Metals president Bryan Kynoch said while the inability to mine the Springer Pit for more material was a factor, it was the price of copper that drove the decision to suspend operations.
“If the price of copper had been over $3 we could have found a way to keep going but at less than $3 it doesn’t work,” he said. “We just couldn’t figure out a way that we could get through this year. It still has some good years left but it needs some capital to get to those years. There’s more ore but we need to move some stuff out before we can get to it.”
Reimer said as of the second week of March there were still 228 people working at the mine.After May, the entire environment department will remain on the job, continuing with water sampling and monitoring.
In addition there will be about another dozen staff members staying on, Reimer said.
Previous years have resulted in copious amounts of water at the mine site, however, this year the snowpack is normal and there is no excessive water, he added.
“We have done a lot of water management as well and we are not experiencing any problems.”