Contract awarded for dam safety inspection review

Tailing dam at Highland Valley Cooper near Kamloops. — Photo courtesy Tailings.info

The Ministry of Energy and Mines has selected Hatch Ltd. to assist with the oversight of the process for independent third-party reviews of dam safety inspections for every permitted mine tailings storage facility in British Columbia.

Permitted mines are required to conduct a dam safety inspection each year. As part of the response to the tailings storage facility breach at the Mount Polley Mine, the Chief Inspector of Mines accelerated the deadline for this year's inspections to Dec. 1, 2014, and added a requirement for these inspections to be reviewed by an independent qualified third-party professional engineer from a firm not associated with their tailings facilities.

The order also included a requirement for a third-party review of the dam consequence classifications by Dec. 1, 2014. A dam's consequence classification is based on the potential impact to population, environment, cultural values and infrastructure should it fail, and is set according to the Canadian Dam Association Dam Safety Guidelines. Under the order, mines with high-, very-high or extreme consequence classifications will be required to submit Dam Break Inundation Studies and Emergency Preparedness and Response Plans which have been reviewed by a qualified professional engineer.

Hatch Ltd. was awarded the $305,000 contract and will assist the Ministry of Energy and Mines with reviewing all of the submissions to ensure consistency and compliance, work with First Nations and establish a platform to release all submissions to the public in approximately eight weeks.

Hatch has a proven track record with more than 60 years' experience in engineering and geotechnical design including work on numerous tailings and hydroelectric projects throughout the world.

There are currently 98 permitted tailings impoundments at 60 operating and closed metal and coal mines in B.C.