a) What was the problem?
-The first main problem in Britannia mines is when they were mining - When they mined that meant there was more surface area that would be exposed to a lot of minerals and air which created moisture, and that creates a chemical reaction called Acid Rock Drainage (ARD). - They took the minerals from the water and released the extra below sea level. The mine closed in 1947 due to a fire all the tunnels that were empty started to fill with a lot of mineral water. -Soon it began to flood creeks that were connected to Howe Sound and the mineral water infected the water with toxins. - There were no owners to fix the problem |
b) why was it okay?
-Back then people thought all of the chemicals would go away and would not bother anything. It was not really their faults they were just misinformed. - But now we are starting to realize that it the problem does not just disappear we actually have to fix it.And now people will start to realize how amazing our marine life is and how it is affecting them. |
c) How was it fixed?
-EPCOR is a company who helps the environment with by coming up with ways to help and then putting their plans into action. -in 2004 EPCOR started to think of a plan to help Britannia mines. -they needed to redirect the entrance to the 4100 entrances because that’s where the treatment plan was. When it got there it started to cleanse the water. With the many things they did it saved a lot of marine life. - The government could have done something about this a lot sooner but they didn’t. They were given 100 million dollars to do research because apparently that’s all they needed to do and it took them 4 years to do that worthless research, however it took a lot less time for EPCOR and they already started with less. |
d) Why was it fixed and why now?
- Nobody really knew anything back then. Most Canadians try to keep our beautiful landscape clean but back then nobody really knew how to keep it that way. Now we are all informed and if you weren't it is just a click of a button away and you can look up anything you want to know on google. Our capability to find information has expanded immensely, and that allows us to be safe and keep our country clean. |