
After a man-made lake full of mining waste collapsed last week, BC Minister of Energy and Mines Bill Bennett compared the disaster to an avalanche. (An avalanche potentially laced with 500 kilos of mercury, but close enough). He also denied the massive spill qualified as an environmental disaster, pointing to early water tests that passed Health Canada’s drinking water standards.
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Meanwhile Neskonlith Indian Band, part of the Secwepemc Nation, released an eviction notice to Imperial Metals. The Facebook statement orders the company to stay away from the site of its proposed Ruddock Creek zinc and lead mine, located about 150 kilometres northeast of Kamloops.“Neskonlith has not signed any agreements with the province or Imperial Metals, we have not provided our consent to the proposed mining development,” reads the letter. “Notice is hereby issued to Imperial Metals owners, employees, insurers, and investors that Neskonlith will not provide access to our lands for the Ruddock Creek mining development.”Last week, several First Nations near the spill closed fishing operations due to fear of contamination. Statements on Aug. 7 warned four nations including the Secwepemc to stop fishing immediately following reports of “salmon being caught near Lytton in the Fraser River with their skins peeling off.”Murray Ross, director of the Secwepemc Fisheries Commission and author of one alarmed notice, said his commission did not intend to inflame “hysteria” by referencing a widely shared Twitter photo of sickly salmon which he called an “isolated incident.”
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