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.

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.