Imperial Metals has taken initial steps toward recommencing operations at the Mount Polley mine in British Columbia. Stripping operations began in November and about 344,000 metric tons (mt) of material were mined during the month. This work is being undertaken to complete the stripping required to enable milling operations to restart in 2022.
Mechanical and electrical contractors continue to work on refurbishing the plant, including work on tailings slurry and reclaim water pipelines and pumps, crushers, conveyors, screens, grinding mills and plant water systems. In early December, the crushing plant was commissioned and a trial of the crushing plant was successfully completed providing crush material for winter road maintenance. The Mount Polley management team is targeting the plant to be ready for a spring 2022 restart of plant operations.
On August 14, 2014, the tailings storage facility at Mount Polley failed in what was dubbed the largest environmental disaster in Canada.
