The Xat艣奴ll First Nation has filed an appeal with the B.C. Court of Appeal, in a bid to halt the Mount Polley Mine from increasing the height of its tailings dam.
The move is aimed at overturning a B.C. Supreme Court (BCSC) decision from Aug. 6 this year, which dismissed Xat艣奴ll's request to overturn the province's initial decision to allow the mine to go ahead with a planned expansion to Springer Pit to extend the life of the mine into 2033. The court had ruled the consultation with the First Nation was proper and provided the First Nation with opportunities for input.
The province announced their approval of the expansion and the subsequent permit on Aug. 28, giving Mount Polley and the parent company Imperial Metals the green light. The expansion project will see the mine deepen Springer Pit and continue to discharge treated water from the site into Quesnel Lake.
The BCSC decision allows the mine to raise the height of its tailings storage facility to accommodate the expansion without first completing an environmental assessment for the project, according to the Xat艣奴ll First Nation release.
Mount Polley, an open-pit copper mine located 56 kilometres north-east of Williams Lake, was the site of one of the province's worst mining disasters following the breach of a tailings storage facility dam on Aug. 4, 2014.
"The respectful view of Xat艣奴ll is that the BCSC decision allows provincial regulators to proceed in a way that seriously limits the level of environmental oversight and protection of Aboriginal rights and title when it comes to deciding whether the province will approve future expansions to the Mount Polley Mine," states a release from Xat艣奴ll First Nation on Sept. 3.
Kukpi7 (chief) Rhonda Phillips of Xat艣奴ll First Nation states in the release that the precedent of the BCSC ruling needs to be corrected.
“The Mount Polley Mine needs to be held to 2025 standards for environmental oversight and Aboriginal rights protection, not to more limited standards from nearly 40 years ago, which is the effect of the ruling. This is particularly important given the history of the mine’s impacts on our territory and Mount Polley’s plans to expand further,” she said.
Xat艣奴ll First Nation is a First Nations government and is part of the larger Secwepemc (Shuswap) Nation, located in the Cariboo region of British Columbia near Williams Lake. The community is located on the banks of the Fraser River, downstream of where the Quesnel River enters the Fraser River. The Quesnel River flows from Quesnel Lake, where the Mount Polley mining disaster deposited an estimated 25 million cubic metres of debris and water from the tailings storage facility.
