The City of Williams Lake passed a recommendation authorizing the Mayor to write a letter outlining the concerns regarding the future of Mount Polley to provincial officials on Tuesday.
Steve Robertson, Vice President of Corporate Affairs with Imperials Metals, says the City has shown a great deal of support towards the mine although the future remains dependent on the results of ongoing investigations.
“The Mt. Polley mine and the workers that we employ out there, are a big part of the economic engine in the local area. We can understand the anxiety about when is the mine going to re-open and under what circumstances…We’re not just quite at the position right now where we are able to make that decision because we have the investigation going on into the root cause of the failure…We do appreciate the support that we’re getting from the Mayor and Council.”
Robertson also says remediation efforts are continuing, with significant efforts near the lower mouth of Hazeltine Creek.
“Those efforts really are important because we need to be able to build the sedimentation ponds that are going to allow the water enough settling time coming down Hazeltine Creek before it enters into Quesnel Lake. We’re going to be able to draw about 80% of the sediment out in those sediment ponds…We were able to get those under construction as soon as possible and I believe the upper one is almost complete as we speak, and the lower one is well under construction.”
Remediation of upper Hazeltine Creek meanwhile has not yet started as Robertson says plans that need to be approved by the provincial government are still in the development process.
Robertson is meeting with Mayor Kerry Cook today.
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