A Texada Island mining company has appeared before qathet Regional District’s (qRD) board of directors to outline its operation on the island.
At the April 8 regional board meeting, Zyrox Mining Company director Robert Papalia said his delegation was appearing before the board to shed some light on an application the company has before BC Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy. He said the company has shared recently via email with the regional district an environmental protection notice. This goes out as an authorization to discharge, he said.
“We have been wanting to come and give the board an opportunity to ask questions,” said Papalia. “It has been brought to our attention by [Electoral Area D] director [Sandy] McCormick that there would be discussion today about a potential letter to the ministry regarding this application, so we wanted to give an opportunity for you to ask questions about the project.
“I could give you a brief overview of what the application actually means and a brief history as well. We’ve been encouraged by residents of Texada Island to hold a community meeting to share some information we have and take questions.”
That will be happening on April 14 in Gillies Bay at the community hall at 7 pm.
Papalia said the application is not in relation to any exploration activities or production. He said it is about current discharges that are happening now and have been happening for multiple decades.
“The site has been operated by a number of different entities over many years,” said Papalia. “This is about us getting into compliance with the ministry of environment. There is an exchange of information going back and forth. We are collecting samples at regular intervals and we want to be sharing that data with the ministry of environment.”
Electoral Area D director Sandy McCormick said from Papalia’s presentation, she understood the discharge from Zyrox’s Yew mine is primarily seepage.
Papalia said there are two micro-pits onsite. One is lined and the other isn’t. He said the lined pond is isolated from the unlined pond.
“The water in the lined pond is rainfall,” said Papalia. “That is discharging via culvert to ground. On the north micro-pit side, that one has seepage going to ground. When water quality deteriorates, we perform treatment. That isn’t a frequently occurring activity.”
McCormick said monitoring is going on, and she asked if there is any way the public can better understand what is going on through that monitoring.
“That would help clear up a lot of misinformation if the public could actually see what those results were,” added McCormick.
Papalia said it was the company’s intent to get more technical data to the public.
“This is about transparency,” said Papalia. “The ministry of environment has stringent regulations and they are well aware of what we are doing. There has been a back-and-forth dialogue going on for many months now. They have seen the data and have a level of comfort with the information provided and the course of action that we have taken. We want to get the public up to speed.”
McCormick was told that an environmental monitoring business from Vancouver Island takes care of the environmental monitoring.
She said one of the main concerns expressed to her is what is in the discharge, and does it pose risk to the sensitive habitat?
“What residents are telling me is under certain conditions, when you get the atmospheric rivers and huge runoff, you can get a lot of water that flows from Priest Lake down to Van Anda Creek down to Emily Lake, out to the ocean,” said McCormick. “The concern is whatever is in the discharge can be harming the habitat.”
Project specialist Gerry Papini said the discharges are not going to Priest Lake.
“We have information we will be sharing with the public next week to show that,” said Papini. “We will be sharing our monitoring results and our mine plans with the community. We are convinced we can do a project which protects the environment.”
Later in the meeting, directors considered a recommendation that the board write a letter of concern to the director of environmental protection, with the ministry of environment and climate change strategy, regarding the application for permit under the Environmental Management Act from Zyrox Mining Company. The board carried a motion to send the letter.
Join the Peak's email list for the top headlines right in your inbox Monday to Friday.
