Troubled Waters Mining

7/31/2019 Troubled Waters Mining

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TROUBLEDWATERHOW minE WASTE DUmping iS pOiSOning

OUR OcEAnS, RivERS, AnD LAkES

Earthwors ad mWath caada, February 2012


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TABLE OF cOnTEnTSEXEcUTivE SUmmARY .......................................................................................................1

TABLE 1. WATER BODIES IMPERILED BY CURRENT OR PROPOSED TAILINGS DUMPING ................................. 2

TABLE 2. MINING CORPORATIONS THAT DUMP TAILINGS INTO NATURAL WATER BODIES ..........................4

TAiLingS DUmping 101....................................................................................................5

OCEAN DUMPING ....................................................................................................................................... 7

RIVER DUMPING........................................................................................................................................... 8

TABLE 3. TAILINGS AND WASTE ROCK DUMPED BY EXISTING MINES EVERY YEAR ......................................... 8

LAKE DUMPING ......................................................................................................................................... 10

CAN WASTES DUMPED IN BODIES OF WATER BE CLEANED UP? ................................................................10

cASE STUDiES: BODiES OF WATER mOST THREATEnED BY DUmping .................................11

LOWER SLATE LAKE, FRYING PAN LAKE ALASKA, USA .................................................................................. 12NORWEGIAN FJORDS ................................................................................................................................ 12

SENUNU BAY, INDONESIA ......................................................................................................................... 13

LUISE HARBOR, PAPUA NEW GUINEA ......................................................................................................... 14

PIGIPUT BAY, PAPUA NEW GUINEA ............................................................................................................ 15

BLACK SEA, TURKEY ...................................................................................................................................15

OTOMINA AND AJKWA RIVERS, WEST PAPUA, INDONESIA ......................................................................... 16

FLY RIVER, PAPUA NEW GUINEA ................................................................................................................. 17

AUGA RIVER, PAPUA NEW GUINEA ............................................................................................................. 18

CANADIAN LAKES ...................................................................................................................................... 19

BASAMUK BAY, PAPUA NEW GUINEA .........................................................................................................20

WHOS DUmping?..........................................................................................................21

BARRICK GOLD (ABX) ................................................................................................................................. 22

BHP BILLITON (BHP).................................................................................................................................... 22

FREEPORT MCMORAN (FCX) ...................................................................................................................... 23

GOLDCORP INC. (GG) .............................................................................................................................. 23

NEWCREST MINING (NCM) ........................................................................................................................ 24

NEWMONT MINING (NEM) ........................................................................................................................ 24

RIO TINTO (NYSE: RTP; LONDON: RIO) ..................................................................................................... 25

TECK (NYSE: TCK; TORONTO: TCK.A) ........................................................................................................ 25

VALE (VALE) ................................................................................................................................................ 26

XSTRATA (LONDON: XTA) ........................................................................................................................... 26

cOncLUSiOn AnD REcOmmEnDATiOnS .........................................................................27

EnDnOTES ......................................................................................................................29

cOvER pHOTOS

Bttm: Tl m Mcpp m t Clc B, Mq, Plpp. Ct: Ct Cm, MWtc C.

Tp: Tl m t P cpp m Bll pllt t Kw-Jb tm. Ct: J Bl.


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EARTHWORkS AnD miningWATcH cAnADA

EXEcUTivE SUmmARY

Mining CoMPanies are dumping more

than 180 million tonnes o hazardous mine

waste each year into rivers, lakes, and oceans

worldwide, threatening vital bodies o water

with toxic heavy metals and other chemicals

poisonous to humans and wildlie. The amount

o mine waste dumped annually is 1.5 times as

much as all the municipal waste dumped in U.S.

landlls in 2009.1

PHOTO: EART

ABOvE: Mine tailings

at Barrick Golds

Porgera mine in Papua

New Guinea.


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TROUBLED WATERS

Mine processing wastes, also known astailings, can contain as many as three dozendangerous chemicals including arsenic, lead,mercury and processing chemicals such aspetroleum byproducts, acids and cyanide.2

Waste rock, the extra rock that does not containsignicant amounts o ore, can also generate acidand toxic contamination. The dumping o mine

tailings and waste rock pollutes waters around theworld, threatening the drinking water, ood supplyand health o communities as well as aquatic lieand ecosystems.

An investigation by Earthworks andMiningWatch Canada has identied the worldswaters that are suering the greatest harm or

TABLE 1. WATER BODiES impERiLED BY cURREnT OR pROpOSED TAiLingS DUmping,

SELEcTED EXAmpLES

BODY OF

WATER

minES AnD

LOcATiOnTYpE OF ORE

TYpE OF

DUmpingcOmpAnY OR cOmpAniES RESpOnSiBLE

Basamuk

(Astrolabe) Bay,

Bismarck Sea

Ramu Nickel and

Yandera mines,

Papua New Guinea

nickel-cobalt;

copper-gold

Marine (proposed) Metallurgical Construction Corp., Highlands

Pacic (Ramu); Marengo Mining (Yandera)

Norwegian Fjords Kirkenes,

Kvannevann,

Stjernya,

Hustadmarmor,

Skaland,

Engebjellet, &

Repparjorden

iron, industrial

minerals,

titanium, copper

Marine (proposed &

actual)

Northern Iron Ltd., LNS AS, Sibelco Nordic, Omya

Group, Nordic Mining, Nussir

Canadian lakes Across Canada gold, nickel,

copper, copper-

gold, copper-

zinc, iron,

diamonds

Lakes (proposed &

actual)

Agnico-Eagle, BHP Billiton, Cleveland Clis,

Crowfight Minerals, De Beers, Goldcorp, Taseko

Mines, Imperial Metals, Jolu Central Gold,

Marathon PGM, Mitsubishi Metals, Newmont, Rio

Tinto, Teck, Tyhee NWT, Vale, Xstrata

Senunu Bay Batu Hijau mine,

Indonesia

copper-gold Marine Newmont Mining, Sumitomo Mining

Luise Harbor Lihir mine, Papua

New Guinea

gold Marine Newcrest Mining

Pigiput Bay Simberi mine, Papua

New Guinea

gold Marine Allied Gold

Black Sea Cayeli Bakir,Turkey copper-zinc Marine Inmet Mining

Otomina and

Ajkwa Rivers,

Araura Sea

Grasberg mine, West

Papua

copper-gold River Freeport McMorRan, Rio Tinto

Porgera River, Fly

River system

Porgera mine, Papua

New Guinea

gold River Barrick Gold

Ok Tedi River, Fly

River system

Ok Tedi mine, Papua

New Guinea

copper-gold River Ok Tedi Mining Ltd.

Auga River Tolukuma mine,

Papua New Guinea

copper-gold River Petromin Holdings

Lower Slate Lake Kensington mine, USA gold Lake Coeur DAlene Mines Corp.


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EARTHWORkS AnD miningWATcH cAnADA | 2012

are at greatest risk rom dumping o mine waste.(See Table 1.) Based on a review o governmentreports, news media accounts and more than100 peer-reviewed scientic articles, we havecatalogued the wide range o damage and hazardsto ecosystems, wildlie and human health causedby tailings dumping into natural water bodies.We have also identied the leading multinationalcompanies that continue to use this irresponsible

practice. (See Table 2.)Our investigation ound that o the worlds

largest mining companies, only one BHPBilliton o Melbourne, Australia, and London,UK has adopted policies against dumpingin rivers and oceans, and none have policiesagainst dumping in lakes.3 (Previously, twoother companies - Falconbridge, now part o

Xstrata, and WMC, now part o BHP Billiton- had adopted similar policies.) Many o thesecompanies are also guilty o an unjust doublestandard: they dump toxic mine tailings in watersaround the world even though the nations wheremany are chartered have prohibited or restrictedthe practice. At least hal o the members o theInternational Council on Mining and Metals anetwork o 20 mining and metals companies

ormed in 2001 to address the core sustainabledevelopment challenges aced by the industry currently dump tailings into bodies o water orhave plans to do so.4

In a world where climate change, oceanacidication, overshing and recurring

ABOvE: Panguna mine, Bougainville, Papua New Guinea.

PHOTO: DAMIAN BAKER


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TROUBLED WATERS

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tragedies like the Gul o Mexico oil spill arealready disrupting water and ood supplies,polluting the worlds waters with mine tailingsis unconscionable and the damage it causes islargely irreversible. No easible technology exists

to remove and treat mine tailings rom oceans;even partial cleanup o tailings dumped into riversor lakes is prohibitively expensive. There is butone workable solution: Mining companies muststop dumping into natural bodies o water.

In some cases, saer waste managementoptions exist: putting dry waste in lined andcovered landlls (a process called dry stacking)and putting tailings back into the pits and tunnelsthe ore came rom (called backlling). In othercases, even land-based tailings disposal is toorisky. Some places where companies want todump tailings are simply inappropriate or miningand should be no-go zones. The protection osuch areas must be coupled with more ecientuse o metals and support or sustainabledevelopment and livelihoods that do not endangercommunities health and saety.

A number o nations have adoptedprohibitions or restrictions on dumping minetailings in natural bodies o water. Nations withsome restrictions on dumping including theUnited States, Canada and Australia are home

to major mining companies that use practicesinternationally that they wouldnt be allowed touse at home. Even these national regulations,however, are being eroded by amendments,exemptions, and loopholes that have alloweddestructive dumping in lakes and streams.

Non-governmental initiatives to promoteresponsible mining by corporations can playan important role in helping close regulatoryloopholes. Civil society organizations working toencourage more responsible mining are callingon mining companies to end water-based tailingsdumping, as are consumers and retailers o minedproducts such as jewelry and electronics. In turn,the mining industry as a whole must share ourcollective responsibility to protect water andaquatic ecosystems by pledging not to dump minewastes in Earths most precious resource: water.

TABLE 2. mining cORpORATiOnS THAT DUmp TAiLingS inTO nATURAL WATER BODiES

cOmpAnY HEADqUARTERS mAjOR LOcATiOn(S) OF DUmping

Barrick Gold Toronto, Canada Fly River, Papua New Guinea

BHP Billiton Melbourne, Australia /

London, UK

Long Lake, Northwest Territories, Canada

Freeport McMoRan Phoenix, USA Ajkwa River, West Papua

Goldcorp Inc. Vancouver, Canada Crazy Wind Pond, Ontario, Canada; King Richard Creek, British

Columbia, Canada (proposed).

Newcrest Mining Melbourne, Australia Luise Harbor, Papua New Guinea; Koro Sea, Fiji (proposed)

Newmont Mining Denver, USA Senunu Bay, Indonesia; Tail Lake, Nunavut, Canada (proposed),

Cerro Minas Conga lakes, Peru (waste rock, proposed)

Rio Tinto London, UK/

Melbourne, Australia

Ajkwa River, West Papua; Wabush Lake, Labrador, Canada;

Cassidaigne Canyon, Mediterranean Sea

Teck Vancouver, Canada Trout Pond, Newoundland and Labrador, Canada; Garrow Lake

(closed), Northwest Territories, Canada

Xstrata Zug, Switzerland Moose Lake, Ontario, Canada; Lake Watson, Quebec, Canada

Vale Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Sandy Pond, Newoundland and Labrador, Canada, Meatbird

Lake, Ontario; Thompson Lakes, Manitoba, Canada

Note: This is not a comprehensive list o companies or sites.


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TAiLingS DUmping 101

LoWer sLaTe LaKe sits at an elevation o 200 meters in a

remote and roadless region o the Tongass National Forest,

about 80 kilometers north o Juneau, Alaska. Slate Creek

fows rom the lake ve kilometers downstream into Berners

Bay. The lake and the bay have historically supported an

abundance o lie salmon, trout and other commercial and

sport sh, eagles, bears, mountain goats, sea lions, humpback

whales and many other important species. The Berners Bay

area is also culturally signicant to the Auk Kwaan Tlingit

people and encompasses several ancient village sites in the

shadow o the sacred Lions Head Mountain.

PHOTO: PORGERA ALLIANCE, HTTP: / /PORGERAALLI

ABOvE: Local

community members

standing on a mine

waste pile at the

Porgera mine in

Papua New Guinea,

where waste is directly

discharged into

waterways.


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TROUBLED WATERS

miningThere are two bas ds of : oe-t es thata be ay loeters wde ad uderroud es thata exted loeters below the surfae of the earth.

pROcESSingTox heals suh as yade, arealed to the ro to extrat thereous etals wth.

TRAnSpORTATiOnwaste ro s trued or set o oeyorsystes whle tals are set elesfor dsosal

DUmpingA hea, but eoloally destrute athtae by soe oaes, s to du ther

waste oeas, rers ad laes. Thewastes sother ad otaate uh ofthe lfe these aluable eosystes.

FOR TOXic minE WASTE, THE pATH TO RivERS, LAkES AnD OcEAnS iS FAR TOO EASY


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In June 2010, ater 20 years o legal andadministrative battles that ended at the U.S.Supreme Court, Coeur dAlene Mines Corp. oIdaho began extracting ore rom the KensingtonGold Mine, which is expected to generate an

estimated 7 million tonnes o process waste, ortailings. To hold most o that waste, the companyhas drained Lower Slate Lake and is dumping thetailings into the lake basin, killing all aquatic lie.

This scenario is being repeated around theworld. Every day, mining operations dumpthousands o tonnes o waste into streams, rivers,lakes and oceans. The practice is euphemisticallycalled sub-aqueous tailings disposal. But in plainlanguage it means that mining companies are

dumping their trash mammoth quantities owaste rom gold, copper, nickel, zinc, iron,and other mines directly into natural bodieso water. These nely-ground tailings containarsenic, lead, mercury and other toxic chemicals.They have poisoned aquatic lie, pollutedsheries, and harmed the livelihoods and oodsupply o thousands o people.

Mining companies have pushed to mine inplaces that are inappropriate and risky or thestorage o mountains o toxic waste sites with

steep topography, heavy rainall, earthquakes orsmall landmass such as islands. Once a companymakes the decision to mine in such sites, thewaste has to go somewhere. In many cases,companies do not want to take on the expenserequired or saer methods o tailings disposal.5Alternative disposal methods such as backlling(returning the waste to the pits rom which theore was extracted) or dry stacking (dumping driedtailings in lined and covered landlls) are saerbut would generally cost the company more than

uncontained dumping. In reality, the uncontaineddumping o tailings into natural water bodies ismore costly, but the true cost o such dumping isexternalized and borne by local communities anddamaged ecosystems.

Exactly how much mine waste is beingdumped into bodies o water each year ischallenging to estimate. In most cases, mining

companies do not make data on dumping public,and in many places, there is only minimal legaloversight o the practice. The amount o tailingsdumped just rom the mines identied in thisreport exceeds 180 million tonnes a year.(SeeTable 3.) Most o that comes rom three hugeopen-pit mines: the Grasberg mine in WestPapua, owned by Freeport McMoran and RioTinto; the Batu Hijau mine in Indonesia, ownedby Newmont Mining and Sumitomo Mining; andthe Ok Tedi mine in Papua New Guinea, ownedby Ok Tedi Mines Ltd.

Each category o water dumping into theocean, in lakes, in rivers and streams bringswith it a dierent set o problems and destructive

impacts.

OcEAn DUmping

Ocean dumping in industry terms,submarine tailings disposal (STD) is thedumping o waste below the oceans suraceusing pipes that carry tailings rom a mine intothe sea. Historically this has included dumpingjust oshore (shallow STD), but most dumping otailings into the ocean is now arther out and intodeeper water (deep STD, sometimes called deepsea tailings placement).6

Ocean tailings dumping can contaminatemarine lie with toxic heavy metals and millingchemicals. These metals and chemicals maybuild up in high concentrations in the marineood chain and thus cause human health eectsas well. Those contaminants, as well as theturbidity (murkiness rom suspended particles)and smothering eect (cutting o the supply owater and oxygen) rom the tailings cause harm

to marine lie.Mining companies characteristically predict

that contamination rom tailings dumped intothe ocean will not spread ar beyond where theyare initially placed or intended to settle. Thesepredictions have been wrong in the majorityo cases and impacts on marine lie have beenextensive. At the Island Copper and Kitsault


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TROUBLED WATERS

mines in Canada , tailings rom relatively shallowmarine dumping have traveled distances o 5 to35 kilometers.7 Tailings rom deep sea dumpingat the Lihir and Misima mines in Papua NewGuinea have also been ound to travel beyond the

predicted deposition area.8

The integrity o the pipelines that carry thetailings to the deeper water is also a seriousconcern. At least hal o the 12 principal oceandumping operations currently or recentlyoperating have had pipe accidents. For example,in 2000, Newmont Minings Batu Hijau copper-

gold mine in Indonesia spilled around 5,000cubic meters o tailings ater only 13 months ooperation.9

RivER DUmping

River dumping in industry terms, riverinetailings disposal or RTD is the practice odisposing o mine tailings into river valleys.Mining operations dump tailings in rivers eitherwith or without dams to contain the wastes.Both methods are harmul, but uncontaineddumping is o greater concern because it is

TABLE 3. TAiLingS AnD WASTE ROck DUmpED BY EXiSTing minES EvERY YEAR*

minES, LOcATiOn TYpE OF DUmping TAiLingS DUmpED EAcH YEAR (TOnnES)

Grasberg, West Papua River > 80 million1

Batu Hijau, Indonesia Marine > 40 million2

Ok Tedi, Papua New Guinea River > 22 million3

Wabush/Scully, Labrador, Canada Lake 13 million4

Lihir, Papua New Guinea Marine > 5 million5

Porgera, Papua New Guinea River > 5 million6

Ekati, NWT, Canada Lake > 4 million7

Bkjord, Norway Marine 4 million8

Meadowbank, Nunavut, Canada Lake > 2 million9

Cayeli Bakir,Turkey Marine > 1 million10

Musselwhite, Ontario, Canada Lake > 1 million11

Simberi, Papua New Guinea Marine > 1 million12

Sudbury-Strathcona, Ontario, Canada Lake > 1 million13

Duck Pond, Newoundland, Canada Lake > 600,00014

Carol, Labrador, Canada Lake> 500,000

15

Rana Gruber, Norway Marine > 500,00016

Kensington, USA Lake > 300,00017

Tolukuma, Papua New Guinea River > 160,00018

TOTAL >180 milllion

* Table 3 sources: see pages 41-42


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nearly impossible to control or monitor themovement and chemical transormation o thetailings.

River dumping has a long and notorioushistory around the world:

In the United States, companies mining or gold,qsilver and copper dumped tailings in streamsand rivers in states such as Montana, Louisiana,and Nevada into the 1970s.10 Some o thosewatersheds now are among the most pollutedSuperund sites in the country, and the practiceo using streams as waste dumps continues in theUnited States today.

In Papua New Guinea, the Bougainville copperqmine o Rio Tinto dumped eroding waste rockand more than 500 million tonnes o tailings intothe Kawerong and Jaba Rivers, beore protestsand civil war orced the company to abandon themine in 1989. 11

In Peru, Southern Peru Ltd. (now Southernq

Copper/Grupo Mexico) dumped more than100,000 tonnes o tailings daily rom theToquepala and Cuajone mines into the LocumbaRiver between 1960 and 1996.12

In Japan, the lead-zinc Kamioka Mines (MitsuiqMining and Smelting Co.) dumped cadmium-laden tailings without containment near and intothe Takahara and Jinzu Rivers until the 1950s,causing painul bone and kidney diseases orpeople downstream.13

River dumping has caused extensive damageto rivers and associated ecosystems andresources. Tailings clog river channels and changetheir courses, cause foods, destroy vegetation

ABOvE: Local community members are orced to risk their lives

crossing makeshit bridges across a river o tailings waste that is

dumped by Barrick Golds mine in Porgera, Enga Province, Papua

New Guinea.

PHOTO: SARAH KNUCKLEY


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TROUBLED WATERS

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and create obstacles to navigation.14 Tailings havesmothered and fooded vast areas o wetlands andorests.15 Tailings contaminate the water and theriver bed downstream with sediment, toxins andacid drainage that can persist or many decades

ater dumping ends.16 They destroy aquatichabitat, poison sh with toxins such as cadmium,lead, and copper, and have killed sh and otherwildlie, including waterowl. 17 Contaminationcan also spread rom rivers to foodplains: in theCoeur dAlene basin o Idaho, over 3,800 squarekilometers o foodplain were contaminatedand tailings toxins killed grazing livestock.18Mine wastes originally dumped into rivers havecontaminated private drinking water wells andorced people to relocate their homes.19

LAkE DUmping

Lake dumping lacustrine tailingsdisposal or LTD is the dumping o minetailings into natural lakes. This dumping maybe uncontained or contained by dams. Just aswith ully constructed tailings impoundments,dams built or containing tailings dumped intonatural lakes come with risks o pollution andailures. Although previously halted in the U.S.

and declining in practice in Canada, recentlegal loopholes and regulatory amendments, asseen in the Kensington mine case in Alaska, areencouraging companies to plan and implementlake dumping at several sites in North America.Companies are currently dumping more than 20million tonnes o tailings per year into lakes inCanada and the United States.

Dumping o tailings into natural lakes hasdestroyed sensitive habitat and decimated aquaticlie. The tailings have lled entire lakes and

spread over and smothered bottom lie over vaststretches o large lakes such as Lake Superior.20

The concentrations o contaminants in lake waterand bottom sediments can be extremely high;or example, water in Balmer Lake, Ontario hadarsenic over 500 times the U.S. EnvironmentalProtection Agency limit o saety or aquatic lie.21

cAn WASTES DUmpED in BODiES OF

WATER BE cLEAnED Up?

In most cases, natural water bodies cannotbe completely cleaned up ater years o mine

waste dumping. Particularly in unconnedand deep water settings such as the ocean,such cleanup is at best extremely dicult andin most cases impossible.22 Attempts to limitcontamination and clean up rivers ouled by minewaste have proven extremely dicult and cost-prohibitive. For example:

In Idaho, Coeur dAlene Mines Corp. dumpedq56 million tonnes o tailings in the CoeurdAlene River and Lake Coeur dAlene,which were also contaminated with acid mine

drainage.23 Partial cleanup costs awarded aspart o the corporations bankruptcy settlementincluded a lump sum o over US$79 million andan additional US$28 million or a cleanup trustund.24 A broader cleanup plan proposed by theU.S. EPA would cost over US$300 million, anda relatively thorough cleanup is estimated torequire US$1 billion and take 20 to 30 years.25

In Tasmania, the Mt. Lyell mine dumped 97qmillion tonnes o tailings into the Queen andKing Rivers by 1994 but the rivers have yet tobe properly cleaned up.26 By 2002, the partialcleanup costs or acid drainage and tailings wereestimated to be over US$99,000,000 and theTasmanian government has essentially given upon cleanup or even partial remediation.27

At the Grasberg mine in West Papua, Indonesia,qFreeport McMoran and Rio Tinto haveattempted to limit the spread o tailings to thesides o the Ajkwa River using levees. These costUS$25 million to build and US$12 million per

year to operate.28


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BODiES OF WATER mOSTTHREATEnED BY DUmpingcASE STUDiES

TaiL ings duMPing practices are directly

polluting bays, jords, rivers and lakes around the

world. This section documents examples o nine

bays and jords, three river systems and nine lakes

where mine wastes are currently being dumped, and

several others that are threatened by such dumping.

In total, companies are dumping more than 180

million tonnes o tailings per year into these oceans,

rivers, and lakes. That is the equivalent o 1.5 times

the amount o municipal solid waste that the United

States sent to landlls in 2009.29

ABOvE: Freeport

McMoRans Grasberg

mine in West Papua

dumps its tailings

into the Otomin and

Ajkwa rivers.

PHOTO: MINERAL POLICY


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TROUBLED WATERS

severaL CoMPaniesaredumping or proposing to dumptailings into ocean jords on

the coast o Norway. Most othese projects are iron ore andindustrial mineral mines.

The Northern Iron Ltd. (Sydvaranger Gruve SA)qiron mine at Bkjord dumps approximately 4million tonnes o tailings per year at a depth oapproximately 28 m into a designated nationalsalmon jord. The tailings include tonnes o

processing chemicals that have caused concernor aquatic lie and persist in the environmentor many years.35 Since recent dumping

started in 2009, tailings have spread in thejord several kilometers rom the dumping site,and the dumping has destroyed habitat andapparently reduced numbers o bottom-dwellingorganisms.36

Rana Gruber SA, a subsidiary o LeonhardqNilsen & Snner Eiendom AS, dumps iron minetailings rom the Kvannevann underground mine

Coeur daLene MineCorporations Kensington goldmine has destroyed Lower

Slate Lake in southeast Alaska.

This operation has drainedmost o the 9-hectare lake

and is discharging tailings into the basin, killing

all sh and destroying the aquatic habitat.30Ater a number o administrative and legalchallenges to permits and U.S. Army Corps

o Engineers jurisdiction, and requests by theU.S. Environmental Protection Agency to theArmy Corps to prevent lake destruction, theissue came beore the U.S. Supreme Court in

2008.31 The Supreme Court decided in 2009in avor o the mining company. In spite othe EPAs entreaties to the Army Corps toreconsider and in spite o evidence o acidrock drainage, Coeur retained its Corps-issued permits to dump tailings in Lower SlateLake.32 By permitting the destruction o Lower

Slate Lake or Kensington Mines tailingsdisposal acility, the Supreme Court has seta precedent by which other companies andindustries may try to dump their waste intolakes.33 As a result, proposed projects such asthe Pebble mine near Bristol Bay, Alaska, mayseek to be allowed to pollute waterways in asimilar ashion. The Pebble project o Anglo

American and NorthernDynasty previously considereddumping uncontained tailings

into Iliamna Lake, and is stillconsidering incorporatingFrying Pan Lake into amassive tailings pond.34

LOWER SLATE LAkE, FRYing pAn LAkE ALASkA, USA

nORWEgiAn FjORDS

nnn

LEFT: Lower Slate

Lake, Alaska,

beore and ater the

Kensington mine

project drained the

lake and dumped

tailings into the basin.PHOTO: IRENE ALEXAKOS; ALASKA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION


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in the Rana Fjord north o Mo I Rana. The minehas dumped more than 500,000 tonnes peryear into the jord.37

Sibelco Nordic dumps hundreds o thousandsqo tonnes o tailings per year rom mining onepheline syenite on the island o Stjernya intoa jord in Finnmark.38 At Elnesvgen in Mreog Romsdal, the Hustadmarmor processedlimestone mine owned by the Omya Groupdumps hundreds o thousands o tonnes per yearinto Frnjorden. The Skaland Graphite mine oLeonhard Nilsen & Snner Eiendom AS on theisland o Senja in Troms also dumps tailings intoa jord. 39

At Frdejord in western Norway, Nordic Miningq

is planning to dump 3 million tonnes per year otailings rom its Engebjellet titanium mine intoanother salmon-bearing jord.

The Nussir ASA company is planning to dumpqtailings rom its underground copper mine into

the Repparjorden, anothernational salmon area.The tailings would aectimportant habitat or salmon and other sh.40

sinCe 2000, the Batu Hijaucopper-gold mine on SumbawaIsland has dumped tailings intoSenunu Bay (Indian Ocean)via a pipeline that extends 3.4km oshore to a depth o 120

meters.41 The mine is owned and operated by theUS Newmont Mining Corp., with minority stakesheld by Indonesian and Japanese shareholders.The ocean pipeline broke at least once ateronly 13 months o operation, dumping tailingsinto an area with coral rees.42 The Indonesian

environmental group, WALHI, has conductedtests that show reduced sh populations andwater pollution between 2006 and 2010; themine dumps over 40 million tonnes o tailingsinto the ocean every year.43 Because o suchcontamination concerns, many people haveprotested the mine and asked or compensationor the pollution, and local governments havesought to put stricter limits on dumping.44 InMay 2011, the local West Sumbawa government

appealed to the Indonesian government to notrenew the mines permit to dump tailings intothe ocean.45 The national government, aterapproving a new permit with a ew additionalconditions, now aces a lawsuit rom civil societyorganizations that are concerned about thedumping.46

The mine has also come under criticism or atailings spill rom a pipe on land, or destroyingrainorest in an Important Bird Area, or seekingpermission to expand the mine and wasterock piles by over 70 acres into a protected

orest and Key Biodiversity Area, or ailing toreport a major pit ailure and cleanup costs toshareholders, or overtime rate disputes that ledto strikes, and or its exploration and expansionplans at Elang/Dodo Rinti.47 In spite o thesecontroversies and the impacts o the mine,Newmont is proceeding with its expansion plansand in June 2011 signed a loan agreement witha consortium o banks including Goldman SachsLending Partners LLC and BNP Paribas SA.48

nnn

SEnUnU BAY, inDOnESiA

ABOvE: Kirkenes Harb

Finnmark, Norw

PHOTO:GWIKICOMMONS


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TROUBLED WATERS

The Lihir goLd Mine on theisland o Aniolam has operatedsince 1997 and dumps over 5

million tonnes o tailings peryear 1.5 kilometers oshore intothe Luise Harbor and the South

Pacic Ocean at a depth o approximately 120meters.49 The acidic, warm tailings (pH 1-2.3)include zinc, copper, arsenic, cadmium, mercury,lead, and cyanide.50 The dumping has causedhigh concentrations o lead, copper, vanadium,and arsenic in the bottom sediment, and toxiclevels o arsenic occur in suspended matter in thewater column.51

The tailings appear to have a serious negativeimpact on marine lie. Corals and other bottom-dwelling ocean lie are less common andless diverse in tailings dumping areas even atgreat depths, and bottom dwellers are morecontaminated with mercury and arsenic.52Corals in the dumping area died o in argreater numbers than in other areas ater a coralbleaching event in 2006.53 Fish diversity andabundance is also lower, apparently because o

the tailings dumping, and arsenic and mercuryconcentrations in several sh species are athigher concentrations closer to the mine.54

In spite o the demonstrated contaminationand provincial government calls or regulationo the dumping, the mine which is owned byAustralias Newcrest Mining Ltd. is upgradingits processing plant to produce more gold andtailings in 2013.55 The mine displaced a numbero people in order to begin its operations;however, as o 2007, some Kapit peoplestill resisted relocation. Furthermore, localcommunities have reused to allow mining o theAilaya sacred site, jeopardized by the mine.56

The mine project began with nancing andrisk guarantees rom the Australian ExportFinance and Insurance Corporation, UnionBank Switzerland and a political risk guaranteerom the World Banks Multilateral InvestmentGuarantee Agency (MIGA).57

LUiSE HARBOR, pApUA nEW gUinEA

BELOW: The Lihir mine site, with the sacred Ailaya site (center),

dumps tailings into Luise harbor and the South Pacic (let).

PHOTO:GLENN

BANKS


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15


The CayeLi BaKir copper-zinc underground mine startedin 1994 and dumps around12,000 tonnes per day (atleast 3 million tonnes peryear) o tailings into the Black

Sea.66 Tailings include toxins such as arsenic,cadmium, chromium, lead, and mercury.67 Themine uses about hal o the tailings as backll inthe underground mine workings, but dumps therest.68

The pipeline outall is 3 kilometers oshoreand was 387 meters deep but was accidentallyreduced to approximately 250 meters in depthwhen the pipe was deormed by negativepressure.69 The pipeline also foated up becauseo algae clogging the seawater intake pipe, and astorm caused problems with the systems valves.70Buoyant plumes o tailings may rise nearly 100meters above the outall pipe rather than settlingas predicted.71

The siMBeri goLd Minebegan operation in 2008and dumps tailings into

Pigiput Bay and the SouthPacic Ocean rom a pipelineextending to a depth o 115

m.58 The Australian mining company, AlliedGold, has shared little inormation on thecurrent and expected impacts o the project, butcontamination incidents have already occurred.

In early 2010, landowners protestedagainst environmental damages to creeksand coral rees and dangerous conditionsand imposed a government-supported

cease work order.59 The company causeda related uproar soon ater the protestswhen it few in a dozen Fijians without workpermits to provide security or the mine.60The governor o New Ireland even told thecompany to get out o Simberi and NewIreland i you are not willing to consult,listen and negotiate amicably with locallandowners. 61

In March 2011, the mine leaked tailings

waste rom its tailings mixing tank. Theleak apparently contained cyanide andmay have contaminated ocean waters and

killed sh.62 The Department o EnvironmentalConservation ordered the mine to stop millingoperations and make repairs, and initiated an

independent investigation into the cause andimpacts.63 People on the island have condemnedthe company or the contamination and reporteddead marine lie.64 The New Ireland ProvincialAssembly has called on the PNG government totake legal action against Allied Gold.65

pigipUT BAY, pApUA nEW gUinEA

BLAck SEA, TURkEY

nnn

BELOW: Simberi gold mine, Papua New Guinea.

PHOTO

:

LENGL

ENG

TAN


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TROUBLED WATERS

one of The WorLdsmost egregious examples otailings dumping is FreeportMcMoRans Grasberg copper-gold-silver mine in West Papua,Indonesia. The mine dumps

tailings that fow into the Otomina and Ajkwarivers, to wetland estuaries, and out to theAraura Sea. The mine produces and dumpsover 200,000 tonnes o tailings per day (over80 million tonnes per year).72 Estimates showthe mine will have produced over three billiontonnes o tailings beore it closes.73 The tailingscontain high concentrations o toxins suchas copper, arsenic, cadmium, and selenium.Releasing these toxics into the environment is aviolation o Indonesian law. 74 Company reportshave revealed that the rivers and wetlands areunsuitable or aquatic lie because o the tailingsdumping. The tailings have buried over 166square kilometers o ormerly productive orestand wetlands, and sh have largely disappeared.75The tailings have also contaminated the coastalestuary and Araura Sea and possibly the LorentzNational Park, a World Heritage site.76

The U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corp.(OPIC), an export credit agency o the U.S.Government that helps nance and insure U.S.companies in other countries, suspended its

insurance or the project in 1995 in part becauseo its use o river dumping. The NorwegianPension Fund has also excluded investment inFreeport or Rio Tinto (a partner in the project),because o the dumping at Grasberg. 77 TheWorld Banks Multilateral Investment GuaranteeAgency (MIGA) also prepared to investigateconcerns with its US$50 million guaranteerom the project, but the mine canceled thatguarantee beore the investigation began.78Freeport has continued to dump tailings intothe Otomina River despite the lack o a waste-dumping permit rom the national governmentand in spite o ongoing requests rom theMinistry o Environment to nd alternativesto the pollution.79 The mine has also causedacid rock drainage rom its waste rock dumps,destruction o lakes and orests, and destructiono livelihoods, ood sources, and areas o spiritualsignicance or the Amungme and KamoroIndigenous Peoples.80

Militarization o the area has led to killings andother human rights violations.81 The companyhas continued to pay the Indonesian military andpolice or protection o the mine.82 The mine andcompany have received nancing rom a numbero commercial banks, including JP Morgan Chaseand Merrill Lynch.83

OTOminA AnD AjkWA RivERS, WEST pApUA, inDOnESiA

ABOvE: Freeport McMoRans Grasberg mine in West Papua.

PHOTO: JIM ELMSLIE


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WasTe roCK rom thePorgera gold mine erodes anddrains into the local river system

and tailings are dumped intothe Porgera River, which joinsthe Ok Om, Strickland, and Fly

rivers fowing to the Gul o Papua in the CoralSea. The mine, owned by Canadas BarrickGold, dumped more than 6 million tonnes otailings and more than 12 million tonnes osediment eroded rom the waste rock dumpsinto the river in 2008.84 The tailings containhigh concentrations o toxins including cyanideand the waste rock has demonstrated acid rock

drainage problems.85The dumping has contributed to increased

sedimentation, changes in fow and depth inthe rivers and contaminated them with largequantities o arsenic, lead, mercury, and othertoxic chemicals.86 Fish populations downstream othe mine are less plentiul than beore and peoplein the area ear the mine is causing contaminationo sh and livestock.87 The tailings appear to beresponsible or inputs o mercury into southernLake Murray.88 The Norwegian Pension Fundhas excluded Barrick Gold rom its investmentportolio because o the use o river dumping atPorgera.89 The mine has also been implicated insevere human rights violations, including allegedassaults and rapes by mine security, orcedevictions, and the burning o houses.90

The Ok Tedi copper-gold mine startedin 1984 and dumps tailings in the Ok TediRiver, a tributary o the Fly River. The minehas dumped on average more than 20 million

tonnes o tailings per year.91

The mine alsodumps approximately 30 million tonnes o wasterock down steep eroding slopes every year.92The dumping, and the eect on the riverbedin particular, reduced sh populations by 60to 80 percent along 300 kilometers o the OkTedi and the Fly Rivers. The sh remaining inthe rivers, especially closer to the mine site, are

heavily contaminated with cadmium and lead.93The dumping has led to contamination o theGul o Guinea as well, with high concentrations

o copper and cadmium occurring near the FlyRiver delta.94 Tailings are producing acid rockdrainage and even ater mining stops, impactson the rivers are expected to continue or severalhundred years.95 Dumping has destroyed over1,600 square kilometers o orest and is expectedto destroy a total o 3,000 to 4,200 squarekilometers that will likely not recover as orest.96

In 1994, opponents o the dumping at OkTedi led a lawsuit against then-owner BrokenHill Proprietary (BHP) and settled out o court

in 1996 or an estimated US$ 500 million incompensation and commitments to contain thetailings.97 BHP opted to dredge some o thetailings but did not contain them. In 2002, thecompany withdrew rom the project to limitliability rather than altering the dumping scheme.98

In May 2011, a pipeline on land broke inseveral areas and contaminated the environmentwith pyrite waste that spread to streams at least2 km downstream.99 The Western province

governor called or strong nes against themine or the spill and the mine operations weresuspended or weeks.100 Operations resumedater the company agreed to build containmentdams or waste.101

FLY RivER SYSTEm, pApUA nEW gUinEA

BELOW: Tailings rom the Ok Tedi copper-gold mine in Papua New

Guinea pollute the Ok Tedi river into which they are dumped.

PHOTO:DETESIEGERT


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TROUBLED WATERS

sinCe 1995, PetrominHoldings (and previously DomeResources, DRD Gold, andEmperor Mines) has dumpedover 160,000 tonnes o tailingsper year into Iwu Creek at

the Tolukuma gold mine. The Creek fows into

the Auga River, which is also being impactedby the erosion o the mines land-based wasterock dumps. Studies have ound high mercuryconcentrations in sh that is attributed to thetailings. People living along the Auga River havereported that sh populations are devastatedand the river is loaded with heavy sedimentand dicult to cross. They have also indicatedconcerns over health conditions and unexplaineddeaths possibly attributable to contamination.102

Although the national government o PapuaNew Guinea owns Petromin, the CentralProvincial government has sought to stopthe mines operations in legal lings. Atercontaminated water apparently sickened severalpeople in 2009, the Member o Parliamentrom the area called on the company to stop

mining until tailings dams were put in place.103Community members have protested the miningoperations and criticized the mine or a majorcyanide spill that was caused by a helicopterdropping cyanide into a river, diesel uel spills,unair wages and worker conditions, and othernegative social impacts.104

AUgA RivER, pApUA nEW gUinEA

ABOvE: Community members living near Tolukuma mine; Papua

New Guinean girl urging coral ree protection.

PHOTO:OXFAMAUSTRALIA


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19


an inCreasing

number o miningcompanies are

using or proposingto use Canadianlakes, streams andwetlands as minewaste dumps, mostlywith constructed

containment dams. The impacts and proposalsare spread throughout the nations provinces andnorthern territories:

In the Northwest Territories, Tyhee NWT Corp.qplans to use Winter Lake or dumping at its

Yellowknie Gold project.105 BHP Billiton hasdumped tailings into Long Lake at its Ekatidiamond mine, where kimberlite ore and wasterock are acid-generating and acid rock drainageis leaching into groundwater.106 The minepolluted a large area o tundra when it spilledmore than our million liters o tailings rom itssystem in May 2008. 107 At the nearby DiavikDiamond mine o Rio Tinto and Harry Winston,the tailings pond destroyed a small valley lake onthe Eastern Island.108

In Saskatchewan, Golden Band Resources atqits Jolu Central Gold mill is proposing to dumpmore than 200,000 tonnes o tailings peryear into Mallard Lake, which was previouslyused as a tailings dump.The previous dumpingbetween 1973 and 1997 had caused severecontamination in the water and sediments oMallard Lake and downstream in the sedimentsand sh o Yew Lake.109

In Nunavut, Newmont subsidiary Miramar Miningq

Corp. plans to dump tailings into Tail Lake at itsDoris North gold project.110 Agnico-Eagle MinesLtd. is using the northwest arm o Second PortageLake to dump 22 million tonnes o tailings overeight years and plans to turn Vault Lake into amine pit or its Meadowbank gold project.111

In Ontario, Marathon PGM was consideringqthe use o Bamoos Lake, an important lake

trout ecosystem, or its copper and platinumtailings disposal. Local and national oppositionhas canceled that plan, but its other proposed

alternative would still destroy a number o smallerlakes and streams. Near Sudbury, Xstrata ownsthe Strathcona mill that dumps some nickel andcopper tailings into a portion o Moose Lake,and Vale operates the Copper Clis mine thatis dumping tailings into the remains o MeatbirdLake.112

In Newoundland and Labrador, Vale (VoiseysqBay Nickel Company) plans to use Sandy Pondor dumping 381,000 tonnes/year o residuerom its Long Harbour nickel processing plant.

Canadian Fluorspar is planning on using ShoalCove Pond, a coastal lake with brook trout andAmerican eel populations, to dump its tailingsrom an industrial fuorspar mine site it is hopingto re-open at St. Lawrence.113 Teck has alreadydestroyed Trout Pond and Gills Brook tributaryor its copper-zinc Duck Pond mine.114 RioTinto dumps around 30,000 tonnes per dayo iron ore tailings (up to 23 million tonnes orover 40 years) into Wabush Lake at the Carolmine.115 Just south o Wabush Lake, Clis

Natural Resources (Cleveland Clis) is dumpingapproximately 13 million tonnes o tailingsannually into Flora Lake and tributary streams atits open-pit Wabush/Scully iron mine.116

In British Columbia, Taseko Mines Ltd. (HunterqDickinson) proposed to drain Fish Lake (TeztanBiny) and use the basin to store waste rock, andto turn Little Fish Lake and Upper Fish Creekinto a tailings impoundment. The proposal wasrejected by a ederal environmental assessmentin late 2010; the decision was consistent witha 2007 decision to reject the proposed KemessNorth mine that would have dumped tailings intoDuncan (Amazay) Lake. In June 2011, Tasekoresubmitted a modied proposal that would stilldestroy Little Fish Lake, and though leaving FishLake intact would likely result in contaminationo the lake by seepage rom the tailingsimpoundment.

cAnADiAn LAkES


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TROUBLED WATERS

20

MeTaLLurgiCaL ConstructionCorp. o China and HighlandsPacic o Australia are seeking

authorization to dump 5million tonnes o tailings peryear rom the Ramu Nickel

mine into Basumak (Astrolabe) Bay o theBismarck Sea. This bay is a prime shing area.Local landowners are concerned the proposalwill cause environmental destruction andirrevocably damage their traditional livelihoods.117Communities in the area have opposed theproject and hundreds o landowners cametogether to le lawsuits that temporarily stopped

the dumping. However, in late December 2011,the PNG Supreme Court lited the stay, givingthe mining companies the green signal to resumedumping in the biodiversity-rich coastal waters.Local landowner plaintis in the case have acedpersistent intimidation and have required policeprotection.118

The Ramu Nickel project is backed by thebank ANZ (a shareholder in Highlands Pacic)

and the China Export-Import bank, providingUS$ 560 million in nance. 119

Marengo Mining o Australia has proposed acopper-gold mine near the Ramu Nickel site thatwould also dump tailings into Astrolabe Bay at arate potentially ve times that o the Ramu mine.The company is planning or the Yandera mine tobegin operating in 2015. Marengo claims to beevaluating options or tailings and is still seekingUS$1.6 billion in nancing to build the mine.120

BASAmUk BAY, pApUA nEW gUinEA

nnn

BELOW: Basamuk Bay , Papua New Guinea, is threatened by tailings

dumping rom the proposed Ramu nickel mine.

PHOTO:JESSIEBOYLAN


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EARTHWORkS AnD miningWATcH cAnADA | 2012EARTHWORkS AnD miningWATcH cAnADA

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WHOS DUmping?

Few companies have ruled out dumping mine waste into natural

water bodies, and several major mining companies continue the

practice. Our investigation ound that, in addition to several smaller

companies, nine o the worlds largest mining companies continue to

this day to dump tailings into lakes, rivers, or the ocean. They are:

Barrick Gold (Canada)q

BHP Billiton (Australia/UK)q

Freeport-McMoran Copperqand Gold (USA)

Goldcorp (Canada)q

Newcrest Mining (Australia)q

Newmont Mining (USA)q

Rio Tinto (UK/Australia)q

Teck (Canada)q

Vale (Brazil)q

Xstrata (Switzerland)q

Only one major global mining company (BHP Billiton) has adopted policies rejecting dumpingin rivers and the ocean and no major companies have policies in place to protect lakes rommine waste dumping. At least hal o the companies that are members o the InternationalCouncil on Mining and Metals (ICMM) are dumping or planning to dump tailings into lakes,rivers or the ocean.

ABOvE:

Haul trucks

at the Batu

Hijau mine.

PHOTO: RANDI ANG


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TROUBLED WATERS

22

BHp BiLLiTOn (BHp)

HEADqUARTERS: Mebourne, Australia/London, UK

cEO: Marius Kloppers

mAjOR EqUiTY/SHAREHOLDERS: FMR LLC, Eaton

Vance, Wentworth, Hauser, & Violich, FidelityDiversied Intl. Fund., Fisher Investments Inc.,Northern Trust Corp., Wellington Mgt. Co.,UBS AG, Davidson Kempner Capital Mgt. LLC,Vanguard Specialized Energy Fund

2010 nET incOmE: US$12.7 billion

2010 SALES: US$52.8 billion

2010 ASSETS: US$98.3 billion

mARkET cApiTALizATiOn: US$256.2 billion

nUmBER OF EmpLOYEES: 39,570124

BHP Billiton owns and operates the Ekatidiamond mine in the Northwest Territories inCanada, where it dumps kimberlite tailings intoLong Lake. The company also previously ownedthe Ok Tedi mine in Papua New Guinea, whichdumps tailings into the river, and the IslandCopper mine in Canada, which dumped tailingsinto the ocean. BHP Billiton also owns part oMinerao Rio do Norte (MRN), which previouslydumped bauxite mining waste into Lake Batata in

Brazil. The company has a stated policy againstdumping tailings or waste rock into the ocean orrivers.125

BARRick gOLD (ABX)

HEADqUARTERS: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

cEO: Aaron W. Regent

mAjOR EqUiTY/SHAREHOLDERS: Capital World

Investors, FMR LLC, Royal Bank o Canada,Market Vectors ETF, Blackrock Inc., Van EckAssociates Corp., Growth Fund o AmericaInc., Harris Financial Corp., Tradewinds GlobalInvestors, Capital Research Global Investors.






Barrick Gold operates the Porgera gold mine thatdumps tailings into the Porgera and Fly Riversin Papua New Guinea. Barrick dumped tailingsinto two lakes near the Eskay Creek gold mine innorthwestern British Columbia.122 Communitiesin the area have opposed the project andhundreds o landowners came together to lelawsuits that temporarily stopped the dumping.However, in late December 2011, the PNG

Supreme Court lited the stay, giving the miningcompanies the green signal to resume dumping inthe biodiversity rich coastal waters. Barrick is alsoembroiled in a lawsuit brought by the ProvincialGovernment o the island o Marinduque inthe Philippines. The suit seeks compensationor environmental damages and unds orenvironmental rehabilitation o Calancan Bayand two rivers on the island degraded by theMarcopper mine. Marcopper dumped around200 million tonnes o tailings in Calancan Bay

between 1975-1991.123

BELOW: Riverine tailings disposal at Barrick Golds Porgera Mine in

Papua New Guinea.


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23

FREEpORT mcmORAn (FcX)

HEADqUARTERS: Phoenix, Arizona, USA

cEO: Richard Adkerson

mAjOR EqUiTY/SHAREHOLDERS: State Street

Corp., The Vanguard Group, Inc., FMR LLC,BlackRock, JP Morgan Chase & Co., Price (T.Rowe) Associates Inc., Growth Fund o AmericaInc., Bank o New York Mellon Corp., AmeripriseFinancial Inc., Marsico Capital Management.






Freeport McMoran dumps tailings into theOtomina and Ajkwa Rivers at its Grasberg copperand gold mine in West Papua, Indonesia.

gOLDcORp inc. (gg)

HEADqUARTERS: Vancouver, British Columbia,Canada

cEO: Charles A. Jeannes

mAjOR SHAREHOLDERS: Fidelity Managementand Research LLC, Royal Bank o Canada,BlackRock, Van Eck Associates, HarrisFinancial Corp., Market Vectors ETF, TD AssetManagement, CIBC, Greystone ManagedInvestments, Caisse de Depot et Placement duQubec.






Goldcorp constructed a tailings impoundmentover a small lake at its Musselwhite gold minein northwestern Ontario. It was also a principalpartner in the development o the Mt. MilliganMine in northern British Columbia, wherethe current owner, Thompson Creek Metals,is planning to dump wastes into a streamand wetland. Goldcorp remains a minority

shareholder in the project.

BELOW: Forest destroyed by the Ok Tedi mines fooding and tailings

dumping.

PHOTO:MINERALPOLICYINSTITUTE


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TROUBLED WATERS

24

nEWmOnT mining (nEm)

HEADqUARTERS: Greenwood Village (Denver),Colorado, USA

cEO: Richard T. OBrien

mAjOR SHAREHOLDERS: Capitol World Investors,State Street Corp., The Vanguard Group,BlackRock, Growth Fund o America, TradewindsGlobal, FMR LLC, Van Eck Associates, NewPerspective Fund, Market Vectors ETF.

2010 incOmE: US$2.3 billion





Newmont Mining and its partners are dumpingmine tailings into the Indian ocean o the islando Sumbawa in Indonesia. The company isalso planning lake dumping at Doris North inNunavut, Canada, and is planning to destroyseveral lakes and wetlands with waste rockdumps at its controversial Minas Conga projectin Peru.130 Previously, Newmont dumped tailingsin Buyat Bay, Indonesia, at its controversialMinahasa Raya mine.131

nEWcREST mining (ncm)

HEADqUARTERS: Melbourne, Australia

cEO: Ian Smith

mAjOR SHAREHOLDERS: Vanguard International,Nuveen Investment Trust, MFS Research Intl.Fund, Fidelity, McLean Budden Ltd., InvescoGold & Precious Metals Fund, ING Equity Trust,Northern Multi-Manager Intl. Equity, RiversourceVP Pyramis, Franklin.

2010 nET incOmE: US$546.6 million




nUmBER OF EmpLOYEES: > 1,300128

Newcrest now owns the Lihir gold mine inPapua New Guinea, which dumps tailings intothe Bismarck Sea. Newcrest is also consideringdumping copper mine tailings rom Namosi, Fiji,into the Koro Sea.

BELOW: Panguna mine discharge pipes, Bougainville, Papua New

Guinea.


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RiO TinTO (nYSE: RTp; LOnDOn: RiO)

HEADqUARTERS: London, UK/Melbourne, Australia

cEO: Tom Albanese

mAjOR SHAREHOLDERS: Growth Fund o America,

Ishares MSCI, Aberdeen Global, VanguardInternational, Fundamental Investors, AmericanFDS, College Retirement, Artio InternationalEquity, Bernstein.


2010 nET SALES: US$56.6 billion




Rio Tintos operations dump gold and coppermine tailings into the Ajkwa River at Grasberg,West Papua, into the Cassidaigne Canyon inthe Mediterranean Sea, and into Carol Lakenear its iron ore mine in Labrador, Canada. Thecompany is also a major partner o the DiavikMine in Canada, which destroyed a small lake orthe construction o its tailings pond. Rio Tintowas previously involved in dumping into the Jabariver at the notorious Bougainville copper-gold-silver mine in Papua New Guinea and in dumping

into the Bismarck Sea rom the Lihir gold mine.Through its subsidiary Alcan it was involved indumping o bauxite residue into Lake Batata inBrazil as well.133

TEck (nYSE: Tck; TOROnTO: Tck.A)

HEADqUARTERS: Vancouver, British Columbia,Canada

cEO: Don Lindsay

mAjOR SHAREHOLDERS: BlackRock, Royal Bank oCanada, Fidelity Management and Research, I.G.Investment Management, Greystone ManagedInvestments, Harris Financial Corp., Mc LeanBudden Ltd., CIBC, TD Asset Management, UBSGlobal Asset Management.




2009 mARkET cApiTALizATiOn: US$31.6 billion


Teck is dumping copper and zinc tailings intoTrout Pond in Newoundland and Labradorin Canada. The company previously dumpedtailings into Garrow Lake at its ormer Polarislead-zinc mine on Little Cornwallis Island inNunavut, Canada. Teck had previously considereddumping into the ocean at its Petaquilla mine inPanama. Teck is also developing marine mining inpartnership with Nautilus.135

BELOW: Panguna mine, Bougainville island, Papua New Guinea.

PHOTO:DAMIAN

BAKER


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TROUBLED WATERS

26

vALE (vALE)

cEO: Murillo Ferreira

HEADqUARTERS: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

mAjOR SHAREHOLDERS: Government o Brazil

(majority o voting shares), BlackRock, LazardAsset Management, Ishares MSCI, Price (T.Rowe) Associates, The Vanguard Group,Wentworth, Hauser, and Violich, Baillie Giordand Co., State Street Corp., Schroder InvestmentMgt. Group, Goldman Sachs.






Vale is proposing dumping into Sandy Pond atits Long Harbour nickel processing operationsin Newoundland and Labrador, Canada. Valecurrently dumps tailings rom its Copper Clismine in Ontario into the remainder o MeatbirdLake, which once teemed with trout, and intowhat used to be lakes at its Thompson minein Manitoba. The company is involved in theGoro nickel project, which had proposed ocean

dumping in New Caledonia beore switching toa conventional tailings dam, and dumped tailingsinto Lake Batata at its Minerao Rio do Norte(MRN) mine in Brazil.137

XSTRATA (LOnDOn: XTA)

cEO: Michael (Mick) Davis

HEADqUARTERS: Zug, Switzerland

mAjOR SHAREHOLDERS: Glencore International AG,

Black Rock Inc., Harbor International Fund,Vanguard International, Ivy Funds, Artio GlobalManagement, IShares, Van Eck AssociatesCorp., Capital Research, and Dimensional FundAdvisors.





nUmBER OF EmpLOYEES: 38,561Xstrata dumps nickel and copper tailings rom theStrathcona mill into a portion o Moose Lake inOntario. The company has also dumped zinc andcopper tailings rom its Matagami mill into whatused to be Lake Watson in Quebec.138


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EARTHWORkS AnD miningWATcH cAnADA | 2012EARTHWORkS AnD miningWATcH cAnADA

27

cOncLUSiOn AnD REcOmmEnDATiOnS

WaTer is of groWing iMPorTanCe in a world where

climate change impacts, including droughts, are increasingly

noticeable and human population will likely reach 9 billionpeople by 2050. Freshwater resources are critical to human

and ecosystem survival but are increasingly threatened by

depletion and pollution. The ocean and its resources are also

under unprecedented and unsustainable pressure rom direct

contamination such as oil spills, overharvest, and through climate

change and acidication rom greenhouse gas emissions.139

The mining industry must sharethe collective responsibility to protectwater and aquatic ecosystems, and thecommunities that rely on them, especiallysince mining produces such large quantitieso toxic waste. Tailings have destructiveimpacts on natural water bodies and theecosystems and people dependent on them.

Companies and governments must adopta precautionary approach to disposal otailings and ensure that mining operationsdo not place tailings or other mine wasteinto natural bodies o surace water,including rivers, streams, lakes, wetlands,and intertidal, estuarine, and marineecosystems.

ABOvE: The

Misima mine,

now closed,

dumped tailings

o the in Papua

New Guinean

coast.

PHOTO: CHARLES ROCHE


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TROUBLED WATERS

There are several options companies couldadopt that are saer or communities and theenvironment, including in areas where highrainall and seismic risk make conventionaltailings disposal behind dams too risky:

Produce less waste.q In some cases, a miningcompany may preer to build an open-pit minethat produces a large quantity o waste, butcould instead build an underground mine thattargets the ore more precisely and produces lesswaste that can be more responsibly managed.140The Kemess North, now Kemess Undergroundproject in British Columbia, Canada, is such anexample.141

Dry stacking and backfllingq . Removing most

o the water rom tailings can allow miningoperations to dispose o them in a dump that,i lined, covered, and reclaimed properly, is lesslikely to cause water contamination and threatensurrounding areas with dam ailure accidents.Putting waste rock and tailings, as thickenedpaste, back into the pits or undergroundworkings o mines may be a relatively responsiblemeans o disposing o waste that reduces themine ootprint as long as operators account orpollution and accident risks.142

Not miningq . Some places are simply notappropriate or mines. One criterion orassessing whether or not a location isappropriate or mining is i the mine operationcan saely store wastes on land. Mines should notbe built where it is not possible to responsiblystore the waste on land. Recognizing this actmay mean less new production o some metals.However, increased recycling, more ecientuse, and reduced consumption o metals canmake up or reduced production. To compensateor not providing any new local mining jobs inless developed areas, sustainable developmentprojects through international cooperationcan work to improve quality o lie in line withcommunity aspirations and goals. Sustainabledevelopment can provide livelihoods over alonger term compared with the relatively shortliespan o mines and reduce the health and

environmental risks associated with the miningindustry.

Governments, in turn, should take moreproactive steps to protect water resources romtailings dumping. Two loopholes in the U.S.Clean Water Act, a law that was passed toprotect water rom industrial pollutants, allowmining companies to dump toxic mine wasteuntreated into rivers, lakes, streams and wetlands.Governments should close loopholes and createa regulatory environment that puts the health oour water and ecosystems over corporate protsby prohibiting this unnecessary practice.

Governments must only permit miningoperations that protect our oceans, rivers,

streams and wetlands rom mining pollution andprovide ull nancial guarantees to cover thecost o clean up, remediation, and restorationo tailings storage areas. There is also a need toclose the governance gap where internationalcompanies can exploit lax regulations and weakgovernment enorcement in the global south.The governments o countries such as the USA,UK, Canada and Australia that are home to mosto the major international mining companiesmust make their companies accountable or the

risks they pose to the ocean, rivers, and lakeswherever those companies are operating orseeking to operate. Collectively, governmentsmust also advance proposals to better protectnatural water bodies rom contamination by minewaste through the Law o the Sea and othermeans. Scientists and consultants must continueto do more research on the impacts o tailingsdumping at existing sites and on the alternativesto dumping.

For too long, mining operations have used ouroceans, lakes, rivers, and streams as dumpinggrounds or their wastes. This is no longer atenable option. In order to protect communityand ecosystem health, mining companies mustend the practice o dumping into natural waterbodies. We simply cannot aord to lay waste tothe planets most precious resource: water.


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1 The United States sent 120 tonnes o municipal waste tolandlls in 2009. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.2009. Municipal solid waste in the United States. http://www.epa.gov/osw/nonhaz/municipal/pubs/msw2009rpt.pd

2 Mining Submarine Tailings Disposal [STD] SummaryConcepts, by Robert E. Moran, Ph.D., Michael-MoranAssociates, L.L.C., Colorado, USA. Presented to theInternational Maritime Organization, Scientic Group o theLondon Protocol, May 2008.

3 BHP Billiton Sustainability Framework. http://www.bhpbilliton.com/home/aboutus/Documents/ourSustainabilityFramework2010.pd

4 http://www.icmm.com/our-work/work-programs/

environment

5 Coumans, Catherine. 2002. STD Toolkit. ProjectUnderground and MiningWatch Canada. http://www.miningwatch.ca/submarine-tailings-disposal-toolkit

U.S. Department o Interior, Bureau o Mines. 1993.Potential or submarine tailings disposal to aect theavailability o minerals rom United States coastal areas. OFR101-93.

6 Metal and coal mines have dumped tailings in the ocean nearshore or a long time and have continued to do so into recentyears. For example, see:

Chile: Lancelloti, D.A. & Stotz, W.B. 2004. Eects oshoreline discharge o iron mine tailings on a marine sot-

bottom community in northern Chile. Marine PollutionBulletin 48:303-312. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025326X03004041

Chile: Dold, B. 2006. Element fows associated with marineshore mine tailings. Environmental Science and Technology40:752-758. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/es051475z

UNESCAP. Chile, Environmental Protection, MiningOperation. Compendium o Summaries o Judicial Decisionsin Environment Related Cases. http://www.unescap.org/drpad/vc/document/compendium/ch1.htm

Alaska: Golden, K. EPA targets contaminated Alaskamines. Juneau Empire 20 July 2009. http://juneauempire.com/stories/072009/loc_466072407.shtml

Canada, Jordan River: Klima-Og Forurensnings-

Direktoratet. 2010. Bergverk og avgangsdeponering; Status,miljutordringer og kunnskapsbehov. TA-2715.

Philippines: Plumlee,G.S., R. A. Morton, T. P. Boyle, J. H.Medlin, J. A. Centeno, 2000, An Overview o Mining-RelatedEnvironmental and Human Health Issues, Marinduque Island,Philippines: Observations rom a Joint U.S. GeologicalSurvey Armed Forces Institute o Pathology ReconnaissanceField Evaluation, May 12-19, 2000:U. S. Geological SurveyOpen-File Report 00-397 http://www.nrt.org/production/NRT/NRTWeb.ns/AllAttachmentsByTitle/A-370or/$File/or.pd?OpenElement

Philippines: Williams, T.M., Weeks, J.M., Apostol Jr., A.N., &Miranda, C.R. 1999. Assessment o mercury contaminationand human exposure associated with coastal disposal o wasterom a cinnabar mining operation, Palawan, PhilippinesEnvironmental Geology 39:51-60. http://www.springerlink.com/content/e5nccaba3cty5v3c/

Gray, J.E., Greaves, I.A., Bustos, D.M., Krabbenhot, D.P.2003. Mercury and methylmercury contents in mine-wastecalcine, water, and sediment collected rom the PalawanQuicksilver Mine, Philippines. Environmental Geology43:298-307. http://www.springerlink.com/content/bx93e7d17g0cexhx/

UK: Johnson, L.K., & Frid, C.L.J. 1995. The recovery o

benthic communities along the County Durham coast atercessation o colliery spoil dumping. Marine Pollution Bulletin30:215-220.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0025326X9400145Y

7 Odhiambo, B.K., Macdonald, R.W., OBrien, M.C., Harper,J.R., & Yunker, M.B. 1996. Transport and ate o minetailings in a coastal jord o British Columbia as inerredrom the sediment record. Science o the Total Environment191:77-94.

Findikakis, A.N., Law, A.W.K. 1998. Marine tailings disposalsimulation. Journal o Hydraulic Engineering April 1998:370-383.

Burd, B., MacDonald, R., & Boyd, J. 2000. Punctuated

recovery o sediments and benthic inauna: a 19-year studyo tailings deposition in a British Columbia jord. MarineEnvironmental Research 49:145-175.

Elberling, B., Knudsen, K.L., Kristensen, P.H., & Asmund,G. 2003. Applying oraminieral stratigraphy as a biomarkeror heavy metal contamination and mining impact in a ordin West Greenland. Marine Environmental Research 55:235-256.

8 Shimmield, T.M., Black, K.D., Howe, J.A., Hughes, D.J.,& Sherwin, T. 2010. Final report: independent evaluation oDeep-Sea Mine Tailings Placement (DSTP) in PNG. ScottishAssociation or Marine Science (SAMS).

9 Apte, S.C., & Kwong, Y.T.J. 2003. Deep sea tailingsplacement: critical review o environmental issues. CSIRO

Australia and CANMET Canada. 87pp.

10 Montana: USEPA. 2004. Clark Fork River Operable Unit.Record o Decision. U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyRegion 8. http://www.epa.gov/region8/superund/mt/milltowncr/cr/index.html

Louisiana: USEPA. 1972. Industrial pollution o the LowerMississippi River in Louisiana.

Power, G., Gre, M., & Klauber, C. 2011. Bauxite residueissues: I. Current management, disposal and storagepractices. Hydrometallurgy 108:33-45.

Ednotes


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Nevada: Nash, J.T. 2003. Historic mills and mill tailings aspotential sources o contamination in and near the HumboldtRiver Basin, Northern Nevada. U.S. Geological SurveyBulleting 2210-D. http://geology.cr.usgs.gov/pub/bulletins/b2210-d/

11 Brown, M.J.F. 1974. A development consequence -- Disposal

o mining waste on Bougainville, Papua New Guinea.Geoorum 5:19-27.

Banks, G., Paull, D., & Mockler, S. 2005. The social andenvironmental impact o mining in Asia-Pacic: the potentialcontribution o a remote-sensing approach. ResourceManagement in Asia-Pacic Working Paper No. 60. TheAustralian National University, Canberra.

Wohl, E. 2006. Human impacts to mountain streams.Geomorphology 79:217-248.

Tonnes rom Mudd, Gavin. Personal Communication.

12 The tailings contained in total thousands o tonnes o toxinssuch as lead, arsenic, chromium, and cadmium. The pollutiondestroyed the river ecosystem and contaminated armlandand the ocean at Ite on the coast. Boon, R. 1988. Mining

and the Environment; a case study on copper mining in theSouth o Peru. Post-doctorate Research Project. WageningenAgricultural University.

Da Rosa, C.D., & Lyon, J.S. 1997. Golden Dreams,Poisoned Streams. Mineral Policy Center, Washington, D.C.269pp.

13 Stine, K.E., & Brown, T.M. 2006. Principles o Toxicology.Taylor & Francis Group, Boca Raton. 379pp.

International Center or Environmental Technology Transer.2010. Preventive measures against water pollution JinzuRiver, Toyama Preecture. http://www.icett.or.jp/english/abatement/toyama/index.html

14 Such fooding can spread the toxic tailings beyond the river

itsel and cause deadly pulses o high metal concentration.Crops and vegetation as well as dogs, chickens, and horsesreportedly died rom tailings residues on the shores aterfooding rom the Coeur DAlene River in the early 1900s.At Mount Lyell in Tasmania, tailings deposits in the KingRiver delta have impeded navigation. At Ok Tedi, tailings inthe river are up to 6 meters deep. At Morgul (Turkey), tailingscreated a foodplain o 6 km2

Banks, G., Paull, D., & Mockler, S. 2005. The social andenvironmental impact o mining in Asia-Pacic: the potentialcontribution o a remote-sensing approach. ResourceManagement in Asia-Pacic Working Paper No. 60. TheAustralian National University, Canberra.

National Research Council. 2005. Superund and MiningMegasites; Lessons rom the Coeur DAlene River Basin. The

National Academies Press, Washington D.C.

USEPA. 2004. Clark Fork River Operable Unit. Record oDecision. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 8.http://www.epa.gov/region8/superund/mt/milltowncr/cr/index.html

Giudici, C., et al. 1996. Mount Lyell Remediation;Remediation options or tailings deposits in the King Riverand Macquarie Harbor. Commonwealth o Australia. 66pp.

International Institute or Environment and Development

(IIED). 2002. Mining or the Future; Appendix H: Ok Tedicase study. Mining, Minerals, and Sustainable Developmentreport. 21pp.

Akay, M., & Moon, C.J. 2004. Environmental impact omining in the Pontides, Turkey: reconnaissance sampling andGIS-based analysis. Geochemistry: Exploration, Environment,

Analysis 4:317-328.15 Brown, M.J.F. 1974. A development consequence -- Disposal

o mining waste on Bougainville, Papua New Guinea.Geoorum 5:19-27.

Paull, D., Banks, G., Ballard, C., & Gillieson, D. 2006.Monitoring the Environmental Impact o Mining in RemoteLocations through Remotely Sensed Data. GeocartaInternational 21:33-42.

Wohl, E. 2006. Human impacts to mountain streams.Geomorphology 79:217-248.

Mining, Minerals, and Sustainable Development. 2002.Mining or the Future Appendix I: Porgera Riverine DisposalCase Study. International Institute or Environment andDevelopment and World Buisness Council or Sustainable

Development.

At Ok Tedi, these areas are covered by tailings a meter deepin places.

International Institute or Environment and Development(IIED). 2002. Mining or the Future; Appendix H: Ok Tedicase study. Mining, Minerals, and Sustainable Developmentreport. 21pp

Kirsch, S. 2007. Indigenous movements and the risks ocounterglobalization: tracking the campaign against PapuaNew Guineas Ok Tedi mine. American Ethnologist 34:303-321.

Marshall, A.R. 2007. Lower Ok Tedi and Middle Flyvegetation dieback monitoring summary report. Ok Tedi

Mining Environment Department. http://www.oktedi.com/attachments/238_070920_FY07%20Dieback%20Monitoring_Marshall_summary.pd

16 At Ok Tedi, suspended sediment concentrations increasedrom 100ppm to over 450ppm rom the tailings. At Porgera,suspended sediment concentrations o zinc exceeded 172ppm, and cadmium exceeded 110 ppb.. At Grasberg,suspended sediment concentrations o copper exceeded500ppm and 60 ppm o lead. Coeur DAlene tailings dumpedinto streams and rivers contained an estimated 800,000tonnes o lead and at least 650,000 tonnes o zinc. Tailingsin the Clark Fork River Basin rom the Anaconda CopperMine are spread today along more than 200 kilometers othe river and its foodplain. Kaisers Gramercy, Louisianabauxite renery dumped hundreds o kilograms o lead and

chromium and dozens o kilograms o cadmium per day intothe Mississippi River as part o its tailings up until 1974.At Morgul (Turkey), sediment concentrations exceeeded 20ppm or cadmium, 0.9 ppm or mercury, and 600 ppm orlead; water concentrations reached 80 ppb or cadmium. AtRum Jungle, high concentrations o radium occurred in theEast Finness River and riverbanks remained contaminated 30years ater mining ended. In Sardinia, uncontained dumpingcontinues to release high concentrations o zinc, cadmium,lead, copper, aluminum, and arsenic into the waters o theBaccu Locci stream over 30 years ater dumping ended.


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International Institute or Environment and Development(IIED). 2002. Mining or the Future; Appendix H: Ok Tedicase study. Mining, Minerals, and Sustainable Developmentreport. 21pp

International Institute or Environment and Development(IIED). 2002. Mining or the Future; Appendix I: Porgera

Riverine Disposal case study. Mining, Minerals, andSustainable Development report. 16pp

Mining, Minerals, and Sustainable Development. 2002.Mining or the Future Appendix J: Grasberg Riverine DisposalCase Study. International Institute or Environment andDevelopment and World Buisness Council or SustainableDevelopment. 17pp.

Philips, G. & Lipton, J. 1995. Injury to aquatic resourcescaused by metals in Montanas Clark Fork River basin: historicperspective and overview. Canadian Journal o Fisheries andAquatic Sciences 52: 1990-1993.

National Research Council. 2005. Superund and MiningMegasites; Lessons rom the Coeur DAlene River Basin. TheNational Academies Press, Washington D.C.

USEPA. 1972. Industrial pollution o the Lower MississippiRiver in Louisiana.

Akay, M., & Moon, C.J. 2004. Environmental impact omining in the Pontides, Turkey: reconnaissance sampling andGIS-based analysis. Geochemistry: Exploration, Environment,Analysis 4:317-328.

Saglam, E.S., & Akay, M. 2009. Minerology, chemistryand distribution o mine tailings rom the Murgul (Artvin)Cu deposit and their environmental impacts, NE Turkey.(Goldschmidt Conerence Abstracts) Geochimica etCosmochimica Acta 73:A1141

Lowson, R.T., Evans, J.V., Sarbutt, J.V., Sinclair, G., & Folk,E. 1987. The Rum Jungle tailings dam chemical proleo the subsoil. Australian Nuclear Science and Technology

Organisation Lucas Heights Research Laboratories. ANSTO/E663.

Frau, F., & Ardau, C. 2003. Geochemical controls on arsenicdistribution in the Baccu Locci stream catchment (Sardinia,Italy) aected by past mining. Applied Geochemistry18:1373-1386.

17 Although contamination in that area was also caused byatmospheric deposition rom smelters and rom acid rockdrainage as well as RTD, studies in the 1930s documentedthat the Coeur dAlene River was, unlike unpollutedtributaries, practically devoid o sh or other aquaticorganisms. Some sh populations partially recovered aterdirect dumping ended in 1968, but sections o the Riverremained devoid o sh at least until the 1990s. Fish placed

in the Coeur dAlene River died within 72 hours, and theriver water remains deadly to un-acclimated sh. Wheresh did occur in the Coeur dAlene River, they remainedcontaminated with cadmium, lead, and zinc until at leastthe 1990s. Similarly, sh were gone rom the upper ClarkFork River in Montana rom the late 1800s into the 1950sbecause o the tailings dumped into Silver Bow Creek. Troutpopulations in the Clark Fork remained low until at least the1990s, and the old tailings dumping has contributed to shkills as recently as 1991.In the Clark Fork River in Montana,The tailings and related pollution in the Coeur dAlene River

was toxic to waterowl and killed a large number o TundraSwans. Die-os o more than 100 birds were reported asrecently as 1997 ollowing fooding and new depositiono tailings-laden sediment, and waterowl continue to dierom lead poisoning. At Ok Tedi in Papua New Guinea, shcatches declined by 90% once dumping started, and sh havehigh concentrations o copper in the liver and kidney tissues.

At Porgera in Papua New Guinea, reshwater prawns hadconcentrations o arsenic, cadmium, and lead that exceedededible standards, as did catsh or zinc concentrations in theliver. The Finness River downstream o the Rum Jungle minedumping was largely devoid o lie ater mine closure.

National Research Council. 2005. Superund and MiningMegasites; Lessons rom the Coeur DAlene River Basin. TheNational Academies Press, Washington D.C.

Hughes, R.M. 1985. Use o watershed characteristics toselect control streams or estimating eects o metal miningwastes on extensively disturbed streams. EnvironmentalManagement 9:253-262.

USEPA. 2004. Clark Fork River Operable Unit. Record oDecision. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 8.

http://www.epa.gov/region8/superund/mt/milltowncr/cr/index.html

International Institute or Environment and Development(IIED). 2002. Mining or the Future; Appendix H: Ok Tedicase study. Mining, Minerals, and Sustainable Developmentreport. 21Pp

Mining, Minerals, and Sustainable Development. 2002.Mining or the Future Appendix I: Porgera Riverine DisposalCase Study. International Institute or Environment andDevelopment and World Buisness Council or SustainableDevelopment.

Mudd, G.M., & Patterson, J. 2010. Continuing pollutionrom the Rum Jungle U-Cu project: a critical evaluation oenvironmental monitoring and rehabilitation. Environmental

Pollution 158:1252-1260.

18 National Research Council. 2005. Superund and MiningMegasites; Lessons rom the Coeur DAlene River Basin. TheNational Academies Press, Washington D.C.

Mining, Minerals, and Sustainable Development. 2002.Mining or the Future Appendix I: Porgera Riverine DisposalCase Study. International Institute or Environment andDevelopment and World Buisness Council or SustainableDevelopment.

19 Hughes, R.M. 1985. Use o watershed characteristics toselect control streams or estimating eects o metal miningwastes on extensively disturbed streams. EnvironmentalManagement 9:253-262.

20 Cases o tailings moving beyond where predicted in lakesinclude Lake Superior and Huddingsvatn in Norway.

Berndt, M.E., & Brice, W.C. 2008. The origins o publicconcern with taconite and human health: Reserve Mining andthe asbestos case. Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology52:S31-S39.

Klima-Og Forurensnings-Direktoratet. 2010. Bergverkog avgangsdeponering; Status, miljutordringer ogkunnskapsbehov. TA-2715

21 At Buttle Lake on Vancouver island, Westmin Resources


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dumped approximately 2 million tonnes o tailings rom 1966to 1984 and waste rock runo also added contamination tothe lake. Zinc levels in the water o Buttle Lake on VancouverIsland were high and only began to decrease ater tailingswere diverted to a terrestrial storage acility, although this isalso linked to steps taken to control acid mine drainage romland-based rock disposal.

International Lake Environment Committee. Buttle LakeWorld Lakes Database. http://www.ilec.or.jp/database/nam/nam-55.html

High zinc and, copper, and lead levels occurred in thewater at Anderson Lake in Manitoba. Upper sedimentconcentrations during dumping were high in zinc(100,000ppm), lead (1,000ppm), and copper (10,000ppm).

Pedersen, T.F., Mueller, B., McNee, J.J., & Pelletier, C.A.1993. The early diagenesis o submerged sulphide-rich minetailings in Anderson Lake, Manitoba. Canadian Journal oEarth Sciences 30:1099-1109.

Kirkland Lake and downstream areas in Ontario remainedcontaminated decades ater dumping ceased.

Jackson, R.G., & G.E.M. Hall. 1995. The long-termgeochemical stability o non-acid generating tailings.Conerence on mining and the environment, Sudbury,Ontario, 28 May-01 June, 1995. http://pd.library.laurentian.ca/medb/con/Sudbury95/TWRS/TWR&S9.PDF

Companies dumped tailings into Balmer Lake in Ontario until1979 and continued to pour mine waste water into the lakethereater; arsenic concentrations in the water exceeded 200ppm and arsenic, nickel, and zinc all reached concentrationsover 4000 ppm in sediments.

Martin, A.J., & Pedersen, T.F. 2002. Seasonal andinterannual mobility o arsenic in a lake impacted by metalmining. Environmental Science and Technology 36:1516-1523.

Martin, A.J., & Pedersen, T.F. 2004. Alteration to laketrophic status as a means to control arsenic mobility in amine-impacted lake. Water Research 38:4415-4423.

Copper concentrations in tailings sediments at Torch Lakein Michigan exceeded 1,600 ppm and are higher in theshallower sediments.

Cusack, C.C., & Mihelcic, J.R. 1999. Sediment toxicity romcopper in the Torch Lake (MI) Great Lakes Area o Concern.Journal o Great Lakes Research 25:735-743.

Michigan Department o Environmental Quality. 2007.Biennual remedial action plan update or the Torch LakeArea o Concern. http://www.glc.org/spac/pd/rapupdates/Torch%20Lake%20RAP%20Final%2010.29.07.pd

McDonald, C.P., Urban, N.R., Barkach, J.H., & McCauley,D. 2010. Copper proles in the sediments o a mine-impacted lake. Journal o Soil and Sediments 10:343-348.

Fish returned to Mallard Lake, Saskatchewan, ater mineoperations and tailings dumping into the lake ended. Thesediments o the lake, however, exceed guidelines orreshwater lakes in cyanide, copper, arsenic and mercuryconcentrations.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada. 2010. CanadianEnvironmental Assessment Act Screening Report:

Establishment o a Tailings Impoundment Area at MallardLake Saskatchewan. http://www.acee-ceaa.gc.ca/050/document-eng.cm?document=41460

22 For example, at Torch Lake in Michigan, the technology andscale needed to saely remove or stabilize [the contaminated]sediments without causing environmental harm does not

currently exist. It was deemed too dicult and expensive toattempt to remove or remediate them. Michigan Depart

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