Just over a hill, beyond the rolling grasslands that flank Kamloops, there’s a looming problem that could upend the lifestyle of neighbourhoods on the outskirts of the city and, after years of debate about whether a massive open-pit mine would be a good neighbour, one city councillor is appealing to the provincial government to suspend the process, claiming it might violate Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The proposal for a gold and copper mine less than three kilometres from a school and even closer to homes, with a tailings pond and dam sitting above a city of 90,000 people, has divided Kamloops residents and city council since an application for the Ajax mine was made by Polish mining company KGHM Polska Miedz more than six years ago.

Many of those living closest to the planned urban mine worry about the proximity of the tailings pond — a concern exacerbated by the disastrous 2014 Mount Polley tailings pond breach — and believe that, despite promised mitigation measures, toxic dust will be carried by prevailing winds that blow from the direction of the mine over their homes and that slope stability and watersheds could be affected.

The mine is too close and too big, said several residents of the nearest neighbourhood.

“We live just underneath the hill and the footprint of the mine is going to be so huge,” said Helen Newmarch, who has lived in the Aberdeen subdivision for almost 30 years.

“It’s not just the pit, it’s the immense tailings pond. It’s right on top of the Pearson Creek aquifer, which runs into the Thompson River,” said Newmarch, who chairs the Aberdeen Neighbourhood Association.

Site of the proposed Ajax Mine. Photo: Carol Linnitt/DeSmog Canada

The Thompson is on the migratory route of the legendary Adams River sockeye salmon run.

On the opposite side are Ajax supporters who point to the prospect of 500 well-paying, full-time jobs, 1,800 temporary jobs during construction, an estimated $84-million in annual tax revenue and continued company financial support for community activities.

The two viewpoints are reflected in the makeup of council with four members adamantly opposed to the mine and four councillors and Mayor Peter Milobar taking a wait-and-see attitude until KGHM responds to concerns.

The company made changes to its plans following the public input phase of the Environmental Assessment process and then asked the provincial government to put the provincial and federal Environmental Assessment process on hold to allow time for KGHM to respond to more than 2,000 questions raised by the public, First Nations and the province.

The B.C. Environmental Assessment Office will not restart the 180-day review time frame until it has been determined that the company has provided adequate responses.

Kamloops has a history of mining — although no other mines are as close to the city as the KGHM proposal — and, according to Mayor Peter Milobar the discussion centres on whether it’s an appropriate location for a mine rather than a classic industry versus environment battle.

“The proximity is pretty daunting,” said Randy Sunderman, whose Aberdeen neighbourhood home is about 2.4 kilometres from the mine site.

“It’s not only close, but it’s on the top of the hill so our first concern is around slope stability, we have a lot of underground streams around here.”

Proposed layout of the Ajax Mine. Image: Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency

The mine is going to be three kilometres long and one-and-a-half kilometres wide so there is likely to be constant vibration from blasting, Sunderman said.

“There is a lot of concern about how this is going to affect property values.”

However, yea-or-nay power lies with the federal and provincial governments, which is why, if the project is approved, the city wants a community benefits agreement with the company, possibly written into the permit.

“We are working with KGHM on what an agreement would look like if they were to get permitted and what sort of commitments they are willing to make to the community,” Milobar said.

But, Councillor Denis Walsh, one of the opponents, wants a stronger approach and has unilaterally written to Premier Christy Clark asking her to suspend the permitting process, claiming that fundamental flaws “may well constitute an abuse of fair process contrary to Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms.”

Walsh said plans to build a massive tailings pond above the city violate principles of natural justice.

“This is a direct threat to the lives and security of the persons living below,” he wrote.

“I remind you of the catastrophic failure of the Mount Polley tailings pond dam two years ago and point out that the proposed Ajax mine tailings pond is to be approximately five times larger than Mount Polley, even with proposed adjustments for thickened tailings and reduced water content. We can only imagine the dire consequences had there been a city of 90,000 residents just below Mount Polley dam.”

Walsh also criticized the province for ignoring the recommendation of Auditor General Carol Bellringer to separate mine oversight from the ministry that issues permits and wrote “the ability of the mines and environment ministries to monitor and enforce safe mining practices is a proven failure that must be corrected and for you to arbitrarily continue to ignore this reality is an abuse of fair process with the very large potential to harm Kamloops residents.”

Energy and Mines Minister Bill Bennett did not respond to DeSmog Canada’s questions about the process or timeframe.

For First Nations in the area, concerns are cultural as well as practical and the Skeetchestn and Tk’emlups bands, members of the Shuswap (Secwepemc) Nation Tribal Council, have undertaken their own assessment of the project.

The mine would be built on unceded traditional territory, said band spokesmen.

Known as Pipsell to the Secwepemc people, Jacko Lake is the site of "The Trout Children" story from local First Nations oral history. Photo: Carol Linnitt

“We are hoping by December to have a position to take forward to the provincial and federal ministers on where we stand in relation to the Ajax mine,” said Skeetchestn Chief Ron Ignace.

As in the larger community, there are differing viewpoints, but Ignace said community members have serious concerns, such as air pollution, the loss of grassland when there is only one per cent of the grassland ecosystem left, and the amount of water the mine would use.

“That one mine would use the same amount of water that the City of Kamloops uses,” he said.

Last year Skeetchestn and Tk’emlups filed a rights and title claim in B.C. Supreme Court to Jacko Lake and the surrounding area, part of the proposed mine site.

“We called upon the federal and provincial governments to do a declaration of title and both refused, so we have done our own declaration of title to force the governments to deal with us more seriously,” Ignace said.

#Kamloops Councillor Claims Ajax Open-Pit Mine Application Violates Canadian Charter https://t.co/C4JfWSHns1 #bcpoli #cdnpoli @LavoieJudith

— DeSmog Canada (@DeSmogCanada) October 12, 2016

To add weight to their case, some band members are hoping to meet with the Polish government, which holds a 32 per cent stake in KGHM, to remind them that Poland signed the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

“We are calling on them to respect the requirement of free, prior and informed consent regarding any decision around Jacko Lake,” Ignace said.

Jacko Lake, known as Pipsell to the Secwepemc people, is the site of the First Nations oral history story known as “The Trout Children” which sets out the need for protocol and stewardship of the land.

Meanwhile, mine opponents such as Newmarch and Walsh are concentrating on B.C. politicians.

However, it is difficult to get their attention and it is getting more complicated with a provincial election brewing, especially as Mayor Milobar is in the running for a Liberal nomination, Newmarch said.

“It is really hard to say with any confidence where our government stands on this,” she said.

KGHM donated $57,000 to the Liberals and $800 to the NDP between March 2013 and November 2015.

Walsh wants all governments to act on the precautionary principle and, if necessary, enshrine best practices in the permit.

“This is so unique. It’s the first urban mine in B.C. and we need to have safeguards,” he said.

“I can’t see this being decided before the election.”

Image: KGHM Old Afton mine via KGHM website

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Well, the disclosure statements are in and we now know (sort of) how much was spent trying to sway voters during B.C.’s local elections in November.

In addition to disclosures on how much candidates spent during the elections, there are also filings for more than 100 organizations registered with Elections BC as third-party sponsors. This is the first time third parties have been forced to register with Elections BC and report their spending — and at least two resource companies are in the mix.

Big third-party advertisers include Woodfibre LNG, which spent $18,248 on newspaper and radio ads in Squamish, where the company is proposing a liquefied natural gas export terminal. The company spent 17 times what it would be allowed to spend per capita during a provincial election, according to analysis by Integrity BC — a non-profit organization that campaigns to reform B.C.’s electoral finance.

That’s because B.C. still has no limits on spending during local elections — despite a task force recommending limits be implemented back in 2010.

Integrity BC’s Dermod Travis notes that all that spending didn’t work out so well for Woodfibre LNG. Patricia Heintzman won the mayor's chair with a spend of $11,842, defeating the more LNG-friendly incumbent Rob Kirkham.

KGHM Spends $8,600 on Ajax Mine Letter

Meanwhile in Kamloops, KGHM International spent $8,605 on a mailing about its proposed Ajax Mine — an open-pit copper and gold mine proposed within Kamloops city limits. The company writes in a post on its website that the letter was sent to a “group of Ajax supporters.” The letter included a list of all candidates running for Kamloops city council and listed their public positions on the Ajax mine.

“At a cost of $8,605 that was either one very large group or one very long letter,” Travis notes. “Didn't work out so well for the mine either when the results came in.”

Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Spending Remains a Mystery

As is often the case, the biggest story may be in what we don't know.

In October, Elections BC ruled that Kinder Morgan didn’t need to register as a third-party sponsor despite launching a major advertising offensive about its proposed Trans Mountain oilsands pipeline to Burnaby during the election. Due to that ruling, Kinder Morgan’s spending during the election will forever remain a mystery.

Photo: My Sea to Sky

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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.

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Part 3 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 and Part 2: The Price of the Ajax Mine.

Ryan Day is a marathon runner who is completing graduate studies in Indigenous Governance at the University of Victoria. He's also from St'uxwtéws, a community of the Secwépemc Nation near Kamloops, B.C. Last year, Day won the Kamloops Marathon, which is one of many outdoor sporting events that take place in the city that, because of a newly proposed open-pit mining project, faces the threat of losing its prized title as “Canada’s Tournament Capital.”

In a recent interview with DeSmog, Day told us that, as a runner, his goal is not the competition. It’s about “modeling a healthy lifestyle and being visible to others."

"The sport of running," he says, "has given me a great deal in my lifetime and if I am able to inspire anyone, particularly youth to take up the sport for fun or competition, that is important to me. Given that placing high in a race creates somewhat of a captive audience I also used it to model taking a principled stance on a very important issue, that of the proposed Ajax mine.”

His position on the KGHM Ajax mine proposal is clear. As a runner, he believes that the construction of the mine will absolutely impact the decision of marathoners like himself to come to Kamloops to run. “If the sport is competed outside,” he told DeSmog, “and there is a possible air quality issue, athletes will not want to risk their health and will seek the next alternative. Likewise, Kamloops may be less likely to win bids to host outdoor sporting events. Perhaps the 'Tournament Capital' may cease to be an accurate title for the city."

Day won't be through with his studies until late October or November of this year, yet he is already working in his field.

“I am working on the health transfer from Health Canada to the First Nations Health Authority, where we are taking a community driven and Nation-based approach to healing and creating wellness among our citizens. In this work I am required to make few compromises to my values as a Secwépemc person and able to support an agenda of authentic healing and wellness for our people. I have been able to apply my Indigenous Governance coursework directly, although my thesis-project is related to mining, Indigenous land title and rights, and economic uncertainty.”[view:in_this_series=block_1]

As a researcher in the field, Day says the debate over the supposed benefits of the Ajax mine is misleading.

“To talk about the benefits of the mine is to be distracted from the fundamental issue at hand: that of justice."

The proposed mine overlaps with Secwépemc Territory, says Day. The land, and the minerals it contains, has more value than its pure economic worth. "There is an ongoing fight for the recognition of our (Secwépemc) title and rights to these lands and in this fight with the crown our biggest bargaining chip is the value of those minerals in the ground."

For this reason, says Day, "the value for Secwépemc peoples is in the mine not going through."

Without a mine "the living Secwépemc peoples and their children have a better hand to play in having our land title and rights recognized in a substantive way."

If the Secwépemc people were to consider the viability of a mine on their territory, says Day, "the health of the land and water will be at the forefront informing the decision on when, how and if, those minerals will leave the ground." 

"It is important to keep in mind Ajax is just one mine threatening the Thomson River watershed.”

The question of economic benefits, however, still has importance to Day's community which, he says, is poor. Sure, says Day, some people might economically benefit from the mine but such 'benefit' seems far from the real kinds of wholistic economic and environmental health his community prizes. His community shouldn't be faced with a decision between environmentally sustainable living on the one hand and economic health on the other.

"The laws and policies of Canada and B.C. have systemically impoverished our people so that we are forced to take jobs we fundamentally oppose. I say fundamentally oppose because an open-pit mine and the technology involved is the definition of short sighted, whereas a Secwépemc worldview requires taking into account many generations into the future. When you are forced into doing something in opposition to your fundamental values how does this make you feel? Is this healthy?”

Day's main concern with the mine “is that of justice." And not just for his people: "Residents of Kamloops need to widen their vision and realize there is an entire ecosystem they are a part of," he says. "The policies of the federal and provincial government are attacking it and Secwépemc land title and rights are their first best defense."

Day says his biggest personal concern is for the region's water. He says the tailings facilities needed to support the mine will "last indefinitely, an imminent threat to the watershed."

Water, he says, is "the lifeblood of these lands."

Kamloops, like many other small towns, is being forced into a restrictive framework when addressing issues of employment and economic stability. One that Day thinks is becoming increasingly out of step with today's ecological limits. 

There is not rosy answer to the question of slowing economies, says Day. "The problem with economic stability is that if we remain stable on this course the destruction of this ecosystem and planet is inevitable. What we need is for people to begin thinking, I mean really sitting down and thinking seven generations into the future and making choices today with that in mind."

That thinking doesn't necessarily dismiss the possibility of resource extraction outright, says Day, but more investment in education and innovation might mean the safer extraction of our resources, and their greatest potential use. Tax dollars and royalty regimes should reflect this smarter use of resources, says Day.

"Therefore the onus is on the policy-making bodies, the federal and provincial governments to use [these] mechanism[s]."

Yet, the failure of past and current governments to adequately address these concerns leads Day to believe the time to properly address inherent legal title and land rights for Indigenous peoples has come.

"First Nations and non-First Nations people alike need to reject the permitting process of the provincial and federal governments on the grounds that they have no legal claim to the lands and at best have an incomplete claim to the lands… This puts fear into the investment community who demands certainty. This puts decision-making power in Indigenous peoples' hands. To be clear, I do not mean the federally delegated authority of the Indian Act Chief & Council but to the People who have collective land and water, title, rights and responsibilities to this place which has never been ceded in treaty or surrendered in war.”

Video courtesy of stopajax.ca.

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Part 2 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.

Despite concerns about public and environmental health, some Kamloops residents still support the KGHM Ajax open-pit mine proposal due to optimism about jobs and economic returns through federal and provincial taxes.

The perspective of the supporters isn't new. Resource exploration is common in the area. However, open-pit mines are a relatively recent development in B.C. According to the Ministry of Energy and Mines, which is responsible for the Core Review of the project, "Throughout the [last] century following the Fraser River Gold Rush, most mining activities in British Columbia took place underground. But in the early 1960s, the feasibility of open-pit production increased tremendously, and as a result, several huge copper mines opened, including Highland Valley Copper—the largest open-pit operation in all of North America." 

However, many Kamloopians are hoping that the future of Kamloops will head in a different direction. Today the city is known for a great many things besides resources. Since Kamloops  is “Canada’s Tournament Capital,” a growing university town with the Thompson Rivers University, where the largest employer is the Royal Inlands Hospital (RIH), the economics of the Ajax project may not be as simple as they seem.

Most Kamloopians are comfortable with a certain amount of mining activity and resource exploration so long as it doesn't put priorities like health and livability in jeopardy. What makes the Ajax project problematic is it’s potential to threaten other industries, drive down property values and distort the healthy-city image that the title, “Canada’s Tournament Capital,” implies.

Kamloops has been picking up speed as a highly desirable place for young families and professionals to start a life and career. Business opportunities are plentiful and the RIH is actively recruiting medical and administrative professionals. Prospective Kamloopians could be dissuaded from re-locating to a mining town.

Surrounding the southwest side of the city with an open-pit mine and adjacent tailings facilities, could bring about the destructive re-branding of Kamloops from Canada's Tournament Capital to mining town. 

Part of the role of Tournament Capital includes hosting events such as the Western Canada Summer Games (WCSG). When Kamloops hosted this hugely profitable event, the City enjoyed an estimated $9,000,000 according to KAPA. The City hosts other large events such as the recent B.C, Senior Games and the upcoming curling Briar, all of which add large sums to the Kamloops economy. 

According to the economic development company Venture Kamloops, "Rocky Mountaineer Vacations injects over $15 million into the local economy during the summer season, and Kamloops is a stopover point for bus tour companies travelling between the Lower Mainland and Rocky Mountains. Kamloops also caters to the business travel market with state-of-the-art meeting and conference facilities. Several major hotel chains have moved to Kamloops in recent years, and the $20 million expansion of the Kamloops Airport is now complete." [view:in_this_series=block_1]

In all, tourism adds $165,000,000 annually to the local economy according the research of two faculty member in the tourism department of TRU. 

In a recent interview with DeSmog, KGHM, a Polish mining firm, said they did not believe the open-pit mine would affect the city's brand. “We do not anticipate the Kamloops Tournament Capital brand will be affected. Visiting athletes come for the city’s tremendous facilities.”

According to the Kamloops Area Preservation Association (KAPA) there is more at stake than there is to gain. “Homes in Aberdeen, Pineview Valley, South Sahali, Knutsford and in Mt. Dufferin [will be reduced by] 5% to 25% for a total of between $135,000,000 to $675,000,000 based on average current home values of $300,000. These residents will not be in the mood to spend much at local businesses after their assessment notices arrive.”

KGHM claims that the project will offer about 1000 temporary construction jobs during the building phase and “500 full-time positions ranging from technical, to mining services, health and safety, and administrative.” Former City Councilor, Chair of the Economic Development committee and member of the City Planning Commission, Dianne Kerr says, ”the [jobs]" represent less than 1% of the Kamloops workforce. Not all of those jobs will go to local residents. With the recent federal decisions enabling foreign workers to be hired at reduced wage rates, the number of jobs for local people will be even more questionable.”  

Since 2008, the market for copper hasn’t been as promising as it has been in years past and prices continue to fall. KGHM International—one of the largest copper mining companies in the world—has been making headlines lately for bad financial projections and financial losses due to the falling prices of silver and copper.

According to a recent write-up in Reuters, the company “disappointed on Wednesday (AUG 14, 2013) with a lower-than-expected net profit in the second quarter as it suffered from falling copper and silver prices.

The state-controlled miner showed a stand-alone bottom line almost 60 percent lower year-on-year at 666 million zlotys ($210.1 million). Analysts polled by Reuters expected the profit at 761 million. This pegs the company's first-half net profit at 1.73 billion zlotys, a little over a half of its full-year guidance of 3.2 billion.”

The AJAX mine project is a low-grade copper-gold deposit, which means there is not a great deal of copper, but there will be a lot of waste to manage. The combination of a low-grade mine and falling copper prices may imply that though the company may promise full-time employment for the 23-year life of the mine, the economics may not support it. 

The company predicts that the mine will have an “annual production of 109 million pounds of copper and 99,000 ounces of gold.” The facilities will have a 60,000 tone-per-day (TPD) processing capacity. When asked about the nature of a low-grade mine in terms of economics, the they assured DeSmog that "KGHMI has experience in successfully managing low grade deposits to meet financial goals in accordance with our Zero Harm philosophy."

KGHM expects to make a contribution of “$550 million dollars in Federal and Provincial taxes, $210 million in British Columbia Mining Act Tax, and $110 million in Municipal tax. Additionally, all levels of government are expected to benefit from increased indirect taxation associated with the project arising from income, property, and consumer taxation from business and employees working for, or servicing, the Ajax Project.”

The researchers at KAPA wonder if the company isn’t being somewhat misleading. According to their breakdown Ajax will "result in a total profit of over $9 billion dollars that will leave the Kamloops area, [going] mostly to Poland and some to Victoria to fund projects such as bridges, roads and stadium roofs in the golden triangle” and Kamloopians may be forced to subsidize the project by building roads and offering energy cost incentives.  

“This is not a good deal for Kamloops,” said Dianne Kerr. “The costs to our City are just too great, both in human and environmental terms. What is truly sad is that those costs will go un-quantified because the assessment process does not require a high level socio-economic study."

*image via Wikipedia and KAPA

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Tony Brumell is a poet, a fisherman and a former miner, happily retired in Kamloops B.C. He’s the kind of man that doesn’t have an email address or a laptop. He drives a red pick-up truck with a wooden canoe strapped to the top—ready to cut into the lake at a moment’s notice. Tony is the first to point out that he shouldn't have to meet with us, that his time should be spent canoeing Jacko Lake and dreaming up new lyrical ideas. Instead he volunteers his time to take anyone who’ll listen on environmental tours of the proposed site for KGHM Ajax open-pit gold and copper mine.

It was a grey day in August—a luxury in the Okanagan where mid-summer temperatures can reach upwards of 40˚C—when we, a group of writers and researchers from DeSmog Canada, met with Tony and some members of local preservation organizations. Tony took us on his tour of the rolling hills and glassy lakes that could soon be replaced with a dusty open-pit mine and tailings storage piles.

As a miner and an environmental activist, Tony understands the scale and implications of the project very well. Throughout his career, he’s been involved in everything from blasting, scaling, slope stabilization to surveying. He knows exactly what a mine like Ajax will mean for Kamloops and he is extremely worried.

Tony and a group of folks from the Kamloops Area Preservation Association (KAPA) and Kamloops Concerned Citizens (KCC) met us fully prepared, with fruits from their gardens and chairs to sit on while they confessed their concerns about the project.

Dianne Kerr, a member of the KCC and KAPA, is a former City Councillor, Chair of the Economic Development Committee, and member of the City Planning Commission. She told DeSmog that she thinks the mine “[is] too big and too close.”

Kerr and KCC co-member, Sandra Abraham, helped to produce the informational video, “Is This The Future of Kamloops?” which outlines the many dangers for Kamloops residents with regards to mining developments.  

It has been the goal of Dianne and these organizations to inform the citizens of Kamloops of the disaster that could be at their doorsteps. KAPA and KCC are concerned that residents aren't taking the threat seriously enough. Since Kamloops has an extensive history of mining and resource-based developments, KAPA and KCC fear that may have set a precedent with residents and politicians that mining is generally benign.

Tony tells us the local mining projects of the past were “nothing of any significant size compared to the proposed KGHM pit." He adds that despite the small scale of previous mining activities, the area is only just beginning to recover the migration of wildlife that once flourished in these lakes and hills. A similar recovery from such a large project as Ajax isn't likely, says Tony.

“This mine will do things to this part of the country that will alter it forever. All of this habitat and recreational area will be gone.”

The Ajax project is much larger than anything ever proposed in Kamloops. While on our tour, Tony asked us to turn and look at Sugarloaf Mountain, the tallest peak in sight, roughly 1640 feet away.

“That is roughly the top of the waste rock storage. It’s going to be 550 feet high… it’s going to be 7000 feet from the eastern edge [which is] about 100 feet from the Coquihalla Highway.”

“And that’s not the big deal” he continued. “This thing is going to be 10,000 feet long. Do you know how long the Bennett Dam is? About 7000 feet—a billion cubic metres of tailings material.”

According to the current plans, KGHM plans to construct two massive waste rock dumps. There is concern that the massive weight from rock and tailings facilities and vast amounts of water for dust control could cause stability problems in the area caused by falling water tables.

Ajax is a low-grade copper mine, expected to be a 60,000 tone-a-day operation with a waste rock to ore ratio of 2.4-1. Which means for every tone that is removed, 2.4 tones will be removed as waste rock.  

Strategic ore stockpiles and waste rock storage piles will be anywhere from 310-725 metres away from the city and could reach as high as skyscrapers. The tailings pile would be loaded with the toxic chemicals used in the extraction process, which could wash away into aquifers and lakes via rainwater, snow, and road treatment. 

The open pit and the processing plant will require KGHM to blast into 20 to 25 square kilometres around the western perimeter of town. The nearest construction site will be a mere 1.25 km away from housing in the Aberdeen neighbourhood and the Pacific Way Elementary School.

KGHM told DeSmog that they are unconcerned about the proximity to the city. "There are many examples of open-pit mines in close proximity to communities and neighbourhoods – much closer even than the proposed Ajax Project. For example, our mine in Nevada is directly adjacent to a residential area." 

However, revised plans for the Ajax project have placed the construction somewhat further away from residential zones. When asked about these reconsiderations, they told DeSmog: "The company has listened to area residents and taken an opportunity to reconfigure the project to lessen their concerns."

Shown Below: KGHM Robinson Mine, Ely, NV.

According to the Ajax Feasibility Study done by Abacus Mining and Exploration Corp, “the project is expected to generate Criteria Air Contaminants (CACs) (particulate matter and atmospheric emissions) from surface disturbance and fossil fuel combustion during construction, operations, decommissioning and reclamation of the project. Fugitive dust is expected to be the major emission relevant to air quality and the primary concern for nearby residents.”  

Initial reports by the Ministry of Energy and Mines Responsible for Core Review have found that the mine is set to blast into rock containing arsenic, lead, aluminum, chromium, uranium, manganese, and strontium.

According to the Airshed Plan 2012, The City of Kamloops said, “there is no safe level of particulate matter.” However, the arid windy Okanagan climate may make dust containing these known carcinogens impossible to avoid.

Kamloops is in a valley susceptible to inversion, which can block the vertical movement of air, making particulate matter and diesel emissions a dangerous threat to local air quality.[view:in_this_series=block_1]

When asked if the Okanagan climate would be taken into consideration in their environmental assessments, KGHM told DeSmog that "[t]he consultants studying dustfall and air quality will use a complex computer model to predict the effects of mine operations. The model incorporates scores of input and factors three years of local weather data. Results are not yet complete. The studies are underway." 

Kerr says that KAPA and the KCC have asked for more extensive environmental assessments from the provincial and federal governments but so far they’ve received only evasive, uninformative replies. 

KGHM told DeSmog: "all the studies are being conducted by independent engineering consultants. Many of the studies will also be peer-reviewed. The final say on the adequacy of the studies rests with the provincial and federal governments, either of which could seek more information or question the work done."

KGHM expects to submit their application for an environmental permit by early 2015.

Until then, Tony Brumell will be offering his time to give tours of Jacko Lake, Inks Lake and Sugarloaf Mountain, always keeping a look out for the rare burrowing owl. There's no better way to learn exactly what's at stake. 

*images used with permission of KAPA and wiki.

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