It was the first of four community meetings throughout the Cariboo by the Ministry of Environment (MOE) to discuss ongoing work and the next steps to mitigate the Mt. Polley tailings pond breach Monday evening in Likely.
Acting Director for the Mt. Polley team, Hubert Bunce says things are shaping up for the long-term period of Phase II.
Bunce says although the majority of the current remediation efforts have been on Hazeltine Creek, Polley Lake is an area of concern
The Phase IIÂ plan is expected to be developed by early 2016, in which the Ministry is seeking public comment on until September 12, 2015.
The community meeting also had representatives from Mt. Polley and the Ministry of Energy and Mines give presentations and answer questions.
Imperial Metals Vice President of Corporate Affairs, Steve Robertson answered one resident’s question on the option of dry stacking the tailings which she said was mentioned as a recommendation by an independent 4-person review panel in January.
Mt. Polley’s short-term water discharge application into Hazeltine Creek has not yet been submitted to the MOE, although Robertson says that is next on Mt. Polley’s agenda with the long-term discharge options being worked on and submitted sometime by this fall.
He says crews are currently working on buttressing the perimeter embankment of the tailings storage facility.
The community meeting is scheduled to continue today with First Nations at Sugar Cane, in Williams Lake on Wednesday at 7 pm at the Gibraltar room, and in Quesnel on Thursday at 7 pm at the College of New Caledonia.