VANCOUVER – It has been more than two months since the collapse of the tailings dam at the Mount Polley gold and copper mine.
Research conducted by the University of Northern B.C. indicates a plume of sediment deep below the surface of Quesnel Lake is moving towards the town of Likely.
It’s a spill that experts fear could contaminate the watershed for decades.
“What’s happening is, because the material is trapped below it, the fine particles are trapped below it, and the mouth of the river here, what we’re seeing is a natural process that occurs in this lake, this isn’t because of the mine tailings, but it’s rocking and this material is burping out into the river itself,” said Ellen Petticrew, UNBC Environmental Studies. “So the fine particles we’ve picked up now in the river on days when we notice that the water gets very cold, which reflects that it’s coming from the bottom layers.”
“So this natural process that’s occurring in these lakes is aiding the material getting out into the river and we’ve seen now five pulses of this material.”
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