Ajax moving some facilities south, pit to remain
KAMLOOPS — The tailings facility is being moved away from the Coquihalla Highway and the waste rock facility is being moved farther away from the city but the open pit will remain about two kilometres from the closest existing property.
“This new plan is an important adjustment to the Ajax Project that address community concerns while preserving the mine’s economic viability,” the company said in a release this morning.
KGHM Ajax Mining says over the past several months they have heard concerns over the proximity of the proposed facility locations and have decided to many of the facilities farther away from Kamloops.
“What we are looking at right now… any possibilities that we can optimize the distance between our facilities and the community,” External Affairs Manager Yves Lacasse said when the company announced a delay due to the discovery of more ore bodies last August. “We have heard the community and we see this as an opportunity.”
The key changes the company made to the plan include the redesign of the tailings storage facility from the proposed dry stack storage to a ‘more proved wet tailings technology’ that will be located closer to mine operations and farther from the Coquihalla and the relocation of a waste rock storage facility, ore processing plant, primary crusher and temporary stockpiles from within the city limits to 3.5 km from the nearest city neighbourhoods and outside of municipal boundaries.
The company believes the changes will reduce the potential disturbance from industrial activity, something they said previously would be only minimally felt by residents.
They also say the new arrangement concentrates mine activities and aims to decrease on-site truck traffic, emissions and dust.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Jennifer Stahn at jstahn@infotelnews.ca or call 250-819-3723. To contact an editor, email mjones@infotelnews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
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One response
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Good balanced reporting.It was good to get a sense of the history and previous news releases from the company. They actually said that the redesign had nothing to do with community concerns last year – seems like handy public relations to me.Also, they have not mentioned the “new ore bodies”.Where have they gone?Do they still exist?I believe that conventional tailings use significantly more water and cost less.There are pros and cons to each method, but that change certainly doesn’t address all of the concerns of the residents of Kamloops!
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