Submarine/Subaqueous Tailings Disposal

The global mining industry uses high-risk mining practices and employs environmentally destructive mine waste disposal methods in Papua New Guinea (PNG) that are not tolerated in most other countries, including Canada. Canadian companies continue to severely affect major tropical rivers in PNG by using them as mine waste dumps. They have also dumped millions of tons of metal and chemical laden mine waste into PNG’s seas, and now, Nautilus Minerals out of Toronto plans to mine massive underwater sulphide deposits in the rich biologically diverse territorial waters of PNG.

A federal environmental assessment of Marathon PGM's proposed mine in northern Ontario started on April 16, 2010. One of two proposed tailings management options would have 61-million m³ of mine waste dumped into Bamoos Lake. Bamoos Lake is a deep, cold water lake with a naturally sustaining lake trout population. It is used as both an aboriginal and recreational fishery.

While dumping mine tailings into the sea via a submerged pipe is effectively banned in Canada under the Fisheries Act, Canadian companies practice so-called Submarine Tailings Disposal (STD) overseas.

Presentation by Catherine Coumans at the Scottish Association for Marine Science’s Conference on Deep Sea Mine Tailings Placement, 4th-7th November 2008 at Madang Resort, Papua New Guinea.

(Ottawa) The Auditor General of Canada has accepted two Environmental Petitions recently submitted by MiningWatch Canada, questioning how the federal government can permit the permanent destruction of entire fish-bearing freshwater ecosystems by mine wastes in light of the government’s stated commitment to sustainable development.

[Joint news release: Oxfam Australia, Mineral Policy Institute and MiningWatch Canada] Australian, Canadian, and US mining companies that persist in dumping billions of tonnes of toxic heavy metals such as mercury and lead into the rivers and oceans of some of the world's poorest countries are causing irreversible environmental damage as well as driving human poverty. This warning came from a coalition of human rights groups and mining watchdogs as mining ministers from the Asia-Pacific region gather in Perth this week for a summit.

Summary by Catherine Coumans, Ph.D., of findings from scientific reviews of the impact of tailings deposition via surface disposal into Calancan Bay, Marinduque, Philippines.

Four years after a massive spill at Placer Dome's Marcopper mine put some 4 million tons of tailings into the 26-kilometre long Boac river on the island of Marinduque in the Philippines Placer Dome remains uncertain about when the cleanup will be completed and about what the final costs will be. The reason Placer Dome faces ever rising expenses and cannot finalize the cleanup of the Boac River is because the company refuses to respond to persistent opposition in the Philippines to the company's plan to place the spilled tailings in the sea.

Submarine Tailings Disposal ("STD" in industry jargon) is the practice of dumping mine tailings into the sea through a submerged pipe. It is a serious and growing threat to ocean ecosystems especially in the Pacific. This package brings together case studies and background information on the ocean dumping of mine wastes. Published jointly by MiningWatch Canada and Project Underground, June 2002, in English and Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia). Available as a series of PDF files.

Provides a detailed description of Placer Dome's involvement.