An old mine north of Revelstoke is one of 60 across the province for which a dam inspection report has been ordered.
The B.C. government ordered last Monday that independent inspections be conducted of all mine tailings ponds in B.C. by Dec. 1.
The Goldstream Mine tailings pond, which has been closed since 1996, is one of 96 tailings ponds for which an inspection is required. It is located just above south bank of the Goldstream River, about 100 kilometres north of Revelstoke.
The mine was developed by Noranda in 1983 and was later sold to Bethlehem Resources, who ran the operation from 1991 to 1995. The mine has been closed since then.
Bethlehem Resources and Imperial Metals merged in 1996. The company sold the Goldstream mine to Barkersville Gold Mines in 2010. Barkersville intends on moving the mill on the site to a mine near Wells, B.C.
Imperial Metals is the owner of the Mount Polley mine where a tailings pond breach on Aug. 4 resulted in the release of 10 million cubic metres of water and 4.5 metres of slurry into surrounding bodies of water.
The Times Review has requested copies of all inspection reports for the Goldstream Mine. We are currently awaiting a response.
