The Mine Next Door Part 4: Physicians Say Ajax Could Be A Threat To Public Health

Part 4 of the series The Mine Next Door, an in-depth look at the proposed Ajax mine near Kamloops, British Columbia. Read Part 1 of this series: KGHM Open-Pit Mine Proposal Within Kamloops City Limits, Part 2: The Price of the Ajax Mine and Part 3: An Interview with Ryan Day of Secwépemc Nation.

“Kamloops Moms for Clean Air is not just a group for moms, we are for anyone who cares about clean air, healthy lungs, and preserving the freedom we have to run outside anytime we want, to breathe deeply while doing all the things we love to do outdoors,” said Gina Morris from Kamloops Moms for Clean Air at an event they organized to educate Kamloopians about the possible risks the KGHM Ajax Mine may cause in terms of air pollution.

As Kamloops faces the complicated decision of whether or not to welcome the Ajax open-pit gold and copper mine, public health is possibly the most pressing issue. Mining operations are expected to take place within less than 2 kilometres of schools, hospitals and residential areas. Since open-pit mines are known to produce harmful particulate dust and affect water supplies, many local health professionals and preservation societies are concerned that Ajax will compromise the air and water quality of Kamloops.

In an interview with DeSmog, KGHM acknowledged the public health concerns associated with open pit mines. The company purports to operate under a “Zero Harm” policy, which pertains to safety concerns for both humans and the environment. KGHM community affairs specialist Robin Bartlett explained Zero Harm “means we do everything possible to ensure health and safety” of surrounding communities and the environment.[view:in_this_series=block_1]

“Mining knowledge and technology,” she said, “have improved tremendously. Reclamation of former mining areas allows land to be used for many things including: wildlife habit, recreational uses and cattle grazing.”

KGHM failed to explain how their Zero Harm mandate would extend to maintaining Kamloops’ air quality. Instead they highlighted the successes of current and past mining projects with regards to water usage. “Our record with other mines in North and South America reflects Zero Harm practices,” Bartlett told DeSmog. “At our Carlota Mine in Arizona, which is soon scheduled to close, all aspects of operation were managed with closure and 'doing no harm' in mind."

The Carlota mine has been a “zero discharge operation.” All water that comes into contact with the mine is held within the property and reused for dust control and mine processes. The project's "disturbed" water is prevented from leaving the property and re-entering the water cycle.

"We purchased locally impacted water for use in our operations, partially replacing the need to use freshwater. We transported agave plants from disturbed areas to safer locations in collaboration with the Forest Service of Arizona.”

The amount of water needed to run the Carlota Mine, however, is substantial. According to the Arizona newspaper, The Green Valley News, “On a daily basis, Carlota uses 590 gallons of water per minute.” The water used in mining procedures is exposed to chemical processing like sulphuric leeching, where acidic water is pumped through ore piles to leach copper from the rock. 

According to the same newspaper, the Carlota Mine uses water from wells located in Haunted Canyon but, because of reduced flows, the U.S. Forest Service required KGHM to return some of the extracted water. 

According to the current published plans for Ajax, project water will be sourced from "Inks Lake, storm water catchment ponds and Kamloops Lake." The company plans to "recycle water from the process, thus reducing the water draw to about half of that, depending on the time of year.”

In addition to water contamination and use, air quality is the major health concern for many medical professionals in Kamloops. Last week, Dr. Jill Calder spoke at Kamloops’ Thompson Rivers University (TRU) on the subject of the risks associated with the current plans for the location of the Ajax mine. She is part of the newly formed group, Kamloops Physicians for a Healthy Environment.

During her talk, Calder gave a run-down of the mine's plans, showing the geographic difficulties Kamloops may face when it comes to air pollution. She suggests certain air patterns – mostly inversions and katabatic winds, set to carry mine pollutants downhill towards the city – makes Kamloops ill-suited to an open-pit mine. 

"We don't disagree with mining and the creation of jobs and projects that are good for the economy. But this particular mine, in this location, we are against it," Calder told the Tyee in a recent interview.

In the past, open-pit mines located nearby to cities that experience inversion, have been suffered major air pollution problems. Salt Lake City, Utah, is known to have one of the worst air quality rankings in the United States. One third of the city’s air pollution is linked to the Rio Tinto subsidiary Kennecott Bingham Canyon gold and copper mine; an open pit mine located about 20 miles from the city.

The Guardian reports a current lawsuit filed against Rio Tinto “claims the Bingham Canyon mine, near Salt Lake City, has breached air pollution laws for five years causing effects doctors called 'similar to smoking 20 cigarettes a day.'"

There are many claimants in the case including Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment (UPHE), Utah Moms for Clean Air and the environmental group Wildearth Guardians. They say the mine has been "emitting particle matter at levels in excess of those allowed by the US Clean Air Act" for at least five years. Rio Tinto denies the claims.”

The UPHE said dust from the Bingham Canyon mine is a risk because it can be "absorbed into the bloodstream, causing respiratory system damage, adverse pulmonary [heart and lungs] effects and potentially even premature death.”

The city of Kamloops is located downwind of the Ajax mine proposal, which makes it especially vulnerable to the particulate dust that such winds could distribute from the mine.

Like the UPHE, local doctors are speaking out against the mine proposal. In their Letter to former Minister of Environment Peter Ken, the Physicians and Surgeons of the City of Kamloops and Surrounding Area expressed the need for further inquiry into the possibility of compromised air quality due to particulate dust containing “Arsenic, Cadmium, Strontium, Manganese, and others."

"These particles can damage healthy lungs,” they wrote.

“Kamloops citizens deserve the most rigorous investigation about the particulate emissions," they said, "and what trace minerals toxic or otherwise may be contained within them, to assess the potential effect on [the] airshed quality.”

The Ajax Mine is expected to have a 23 year lifespan and produce up to 60,000 tonnes of ore per day. The project is currently being reviewed under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act and B.C.'s Environmental Assessment Act.

The proposed site of the Ajax Mine:

For a larger image, click here.