The Supreme Court in British Columbia has ordered that the Mount Polley mine limit the tailings it can deposit into its storage facility while a First Nation challenges an addition to the dam in court.
The court’s decision issued Thursday orders the Mount Polley Mining Corp. not to deposit mine tailings that would require the raising of the storage facility dam by four metres until July 1.
The B.C. government said it approved the addition of four metres on the dam to safely manage the spring runoff, adding that the project was reviewed by technical reviews, experts and in consultation with First Nations.
A similar storage site at the mine in B.C.’s Cariboo region collapsed in August 2014, spilling about 25 million cubic metres of water and tailings into nearby waterways in one of the worst environmental disasters in B.C.
The ruling comes after the Xatsull First Nation applied for an emergency injunction to stop the four-metre addition on the tailings dam while the court hears a judicial review of the construction’s approval by the provincial government.
The Xatsull First Nation says it welcomes the court’s decision and will argue during a hearing in June that the limiting of tailing deposits at Mount Polley should remain in place until the judicial review has been decided.
Imperial Metals says it continues to use the tailings storage facility as previously permitted, and that, as it does not anticipate needing to use the increased capacity from the expansion until July, it “agreed to provide an undertaking to the Court to that effect.”
The injunction application is slated to resume on June 24.