Bralorne-Takla mercury mine : innovative risk management and reclamation

British Columbia Mine Reclamation Symposium

Bralorne-Takla mercury mine : innovative risk management and reclamation Runnells, Joanna; McConkey, Trevor; Gillett, Tony; Power, Beth

Abstract

The historic Bralorne-Takla mercury mine is located north of Fort St. James, B.C. within the traditional territory of the Takla Lake First Nation (TLFN). The wastes, equipment, and other materials remained until B.C.’s Crown Contaminated Sites Program (CCSP) began investigations in 2005. Working in partnership with TLFN, remediation and reclamation was completed in 2017. Investigation confirmed the presence of unacceptable risks to human health and ecological receptors. The CCSP and the TLFN collaboratively identified remedial objectives including protecting of human health and the environment and returning the mine site to forest ecosystem. The remedial approach included capping mine openings, demolition of structures, off-site disposal of Hazardous Waste; consolidation of non-Hazardous Waste into two on-site landfills; revegetation; and implementation of administrative risk controls to protect future site users. The cover design included innovative elements to support forest growth. Selection of native species for seed mix, shrub and trees replanting focused on returning the mine site to a forest ecosystem and supporting traditional use of the land. Monitoring of covers, drainage systems, landfill gases, water quality, vegetation performance, and administrative (land use) risk controls is ongoing. Additional monitoring includes ambient mercury vapour monitoring and biomonitoring.

Item Metadata

Title	Bralorne-Takla mercury mine : innovative risk management and reclamation
Creator	Runnells, Joanna; McConkey, Trevor; Gillett, Tony; Power, Beth
Contributor	British Columbia Mine Reclamation Symposium; University of British Columbia. Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering
Date Issued	2018
Description	The historic Bralorne-Takla mercury mine is located north of Fort St. James, B.C. within the traditional territory of the Takla Lake First Nation (TLFN). The wastes, equipment, and other materials remained until B.C.’s Crown Contaminated Sites Program (CCSP) began investigations in 2005. Working in partnership with TLFN, remediation and reclamation was completed in 2017. Investigation confirmed the presence of unacceptable risks to human health and ecological receptors. The CCSP and the TLFN collaboratively identified remedial objectives including protecting of human health and the environment and returning the mine site to forest ecosystem. The remedial approach included capping mine openings, demolition of structures, off-site disposal of Hazardous Waste; consolidation of non-Hazardous Waste into two on-site landfills; revegetation; and implementation of administrative risk controls to protect future site users. The cover design included innovative elements to support forest growth. Selection of native species for seed mix, shrub and trees replanting focused on returning the mine site to a forest ecosystem and supporting traditional use of the land. Monitoring of covers, drainage systems, landfill gases, water quality, vegetation performance, and administrative (land use) risk controls is ongoing. Additional monitoring includes ambient mercury vapour monitoring and biomonitoring.
Subject	Contamination; Remediation; Historic mine; Takla; Closure; Waste
Genre	Conference Paper
Type	Text
Language	eng
Date Available	0002-01-01
Provider	Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights	Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
DOI	10.14288/1.0374935
URI	http://hdl.handle.net/2429/67939
Affiliation	Non UBC
Peer Review Status	Unreviewed
Scholarly Level	Other
Rights URI	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Aggregated Source Repository	DSpace

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British Columbia Mine Reclamation Symposium