The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
An abandoned mine northeast of Flin Flon, described as one of the worst cases of acidic mine drainage in the world, is finally being cleaned up. The Manitoba government has committed $34.5 million over the next three years to neutralize and relocate old mine tailings in Sherridon. About 50 hectares of dried tailings remain from the Sherridon Mine, which was operated by Sherritt Gordon Mines Ltd. from the 1930s until to the early 1950s. The material has leached acid into nearby Camp Lake, overflow from which makes its way into Kississing Lake. "We generate jobs, we clean up the environment, and if you talk to the local community up there in the Sherridon area, they see a future in eco-tourism and you need a clean lake to do that," Premier Greg Selinger told CBC. The orange-red pile of toxic tailings, described by the Winnipeg Free Press as almost eight stories high, has concerned Sherridon residents for years. The tailings will be removed and neutralized with lime by Winnipeg-based Hazco Environmental Services, which secured the multimillion-dollar clean-up contract. The budget includes $500,000 to train people from First Nations and northern communities to work on the extensive project. Sherridon is part of a new $42-million provincial initiative to support the remediation of 18 orphaned or abandoned mines. In addition to Sherridon, planned rehabilitation activities for 2009-10 include: In Snow Lake, tailings remediation and revegetation, and rehabilitation of the arsenopyrite pile. In Leaf Rapids, the design of a water-treatment system and remediation of a tailings area at the Ruttan Mine. In Lynn Lake, dike enhancement, surface water management and other remediation work at two tailings management areas. Also part of this work is the construction of a new waste disposal facility. In Gods Lake, the removal of stock-piled steel, demolition of a head frame, mine site clean-up and tailings capping. Rehabilitation work at 13 other sites that the government has identified as posing potential hazards to public health and safety and the environment. The NDP government, in power for over a decade, has been accused by both residents and opposition politicians of dragging its feet on the Sherridon situation. In recent years, Manitoba Liberal Leader Jon Gerrard has been particularly critical. "In this kind of a situation, the mine tailings get more and more acid over time, and as it gets more acid, you get more and more leaching of the metals," he told The Reminder in 2005. Gerrard, a physician by profession, was so concerned about the toxic remnants of the Sherridon Mine that he called for a health assessment of residents. Researchers who released a 2004 report on the dried tailings believed the metal levels probably wouldn't impact human health, but that was not good enough for Gerrard. "Their report says that based on their best guess, they don't think the levels would be a problem to people, but they didn't measure the health of the people living in Sherridon," he said. "I don't think that there should be any alarm bells set off right now, but I do think that it's important that we have an understanding of the impact on human health which is not just based on guesswork, but which is actually based on looking at the health of the people." A health assessment is needed as a precautionary measure, Gerrard said, because the potential effects of certain metal combinations cannot always be accurately predicted. "These metals certainly can affect human health. We know that," he said, adding that the metals in highest concentration are copper and zinc, with lower levels of arsenic, lead and cadmium, among others, also present. During a visit to Sherridon, Gerrard said residents showed him a discoloured water sample extracted from near the tailings area. "It's as red as cranberry juice," he said. In announcing the province-wide initiative, Selinger said Manitoba is positioned "as a leader in the rehabilitation of orphaned and abandoned mines through its programs, partnerships, community involvement and funding initiatives." "As a result of all of this work, we are creating a healthier and safer environment," he said in a news release. Developed decades ago, mine sites like Sherridon came about before environmental impacts were fully understood and before modern operating and rehabilitation standards were in place. It wasn't until 1999 that Manitoba introduced regulations requiring environmental liabilities incurred during mining operations to be financially secured to cover future remediation costs. Now, all mine closure plans and financial security must be filed and approved prior to a permit being granted for a new mine operation.
