Future of transboundary mine now rests with Canadian bankruptcy court

Tulsequah Chief mine pollution into Taku River has continued since at least 1957

A Canadian bankruptcy court in Toronto is expected to decide soon whether the government of British Columbia will be able to commence cleanup of the defunct Tulsequah Chief mine, which continues to pollute the Taku River decades after it was shut down.

The hearing, set for July 29, was postponed as of Wednesday, July 22, because the chief justice had a conflict, but a new date is expected to be announced next week, Canadian officials said.

The Tulsequah Chief, southwest of Atlin, BC, on the Tulsequah River, was developed in the early 20th century. It has been discharging untreated acid rock drainage into the river at least since 1957, when the mine ceased operation.

In 1997, British Columbia government officials noted, Redfern Resources Ltd. applied to the provincial government for an environmental assessment certificate to develop a 2,250 ton-per-day underground copper, lead, zinc, gold and silver mine at the old mine site. Various development activities were conducted, then wound down in 2008.

The mine is currently owned by Chieftain Metals, which acquired the property in 2010, but

then on Sept. 6, 2016 Chieftain Metals was placed into receivership. Except for a short time in 2012, when Chieftain Metals operated a temporary acid-water treatment plant, untreated acid mine drainage has continued to discharge into the river since at least 1957, BC officials said.

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The Tulsequah River flows about seven miles downstream into the Taku River, which drains into Taku Inlet near Juneau.  Wild salmon found in the Taku is of great cultural and economic importance to commercial, sport and subsistence fish harvesters. First Nation tribes in British Columbia, as well as Alaska Native tribal entities, have expressed repeated concerns about pollution of transboundary waters.

The ongoing pollution has been a matter of continuous discussion between government agencies in British Columbia and Alaska, who have been meeting on a regular basis and issued joint status reports on water sampling of the Taku and other transboundary rivers.  These assessment reports focus on determining the impact on salmon from mine discharges, said Kyle Moselle, executive director of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources’ Office of Project Management and Permitting.

The state of Alaska itself, which is not party to the bankruptcy hearing, continues to meet frequently, at least on a monthly basis, with their environmental counterparts in British Columbia on protection of transboundary waters, said Moselle, who has been working on this issue for almost a decade.  While current Alaska law requires financial insurance from mine operators up front to cover any environmental issues that may arise, there are different requirements for mine insurance in BC, Moselle said.

The take-home point, he said, is mine cleanups take time, but real progress is being made by BC and Alaska, and we are waiting to see the outcome of the bankruptcy hearing, he said.

Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, said he has been working on transboundary pollution issues for several years via the State Department and its Canadian counterparts, including talks directly with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, “to raise awareness and concern about the potential impacts posed by legacy mines and development to streams and rivers flowing across our borders into Alaska’s Southeast communities and waters.”

“I hope that this development will, at long last, result in tangible progress to clean-up the Tulsequah Chief mine,” Sullivan said, in an email response to a query on the upcoming bankruptcy hearing. “It’s long past time for the BC government to clean up the stranded mining waste that threatens our rivers, fisheries, and communities’ health and wellbeing.”

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