Owners of B.C.'s Tulsequah Chief mine told to clean up site

The B.C. government is telling the ownerof the idleTulsequahChief mine near Atlinto clean up the site.

An environmentalinspection of the base metal mine done last month found it was not incompliancewith provincial permits. The owner, Chieftain MetalsInc., has had the mine in care and maintenancemode since June 2012.

The mine inspector'sreport highlighted concerns about acidic discharge into the Tulsequah River. There are no tailings facilities at the minesite.

Chris Zimmer,with the group Rivers Without Borders,saidthe assessment shows the site is worse than he thought.

"There are a number of facilities, including the waste holding ponds, that weren't constructed right and were never constructed according to plan.Monitoring of the pollution isn't happening," Zimmer said. "There's a lot of stuff at the site that just isn't happening.

"Not only do we have this continuing acid mine drainage problem, which has been leaking right into the Tulsequah [River], the water treatment plant there has been closed down for a couple of years."

Zimmer said he worries Chieftain Metals will say it doesn't have the money to deal with the problems. He'd like to see the mine shut down for good.

The company has three months to respond to the B.C. government's inspection report.