Myth:  “The Kensington Mine Lower Slate Lake Tailings project is the environmentally preferred alternative.” 
Truth:  The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s preferred alternative was dry land disposal of tailings because it was the only alternative that avoided the direct loss of the aquatic habitat in Lower Slate Lake and had the least potential to impact Berners Bay. 

See EPA’s comments here on why land disposal of tailings is better. 

The paste tailings plan is the best option for moving the mine forward in an environmentally sound way.  SEACC worked with Coeur for over a year to develop this plan and it would already be fully permitted if Coeur had not decided to abandon it and gamble with the Supreme Court.  Unlike the Lower Slate Lake Plan, the paste option would not destroy any fish bearing water body and would better protect Berners Bay as it would be located on the Lynn Canal Side of Lionshead Mountain.     

Myth:  “At closure and following reclamation, Lower Slate Lake will be almost three times bigger with productive wetland and open water habitat – a temporary use that will result in a net environmental benefit.”
Truth:  God has a better track record in making lake ecosystems than mining corporations do.  Dumping 4.5 million tons of chemically processed tailings into Lower Slate Lake will kill all aquatic life in the lake.   

It is unknown if the lake can be restored.  Restoration of any water body is a difficult task, particularly when dealing with chemically processed tailings.  For the Kensington, scientists tested to see if aquatic life could live on the tailings sediment with two organisms.  One organism had very low survival rates and the other survived but had significantly reduced reproductive rates.  The results showed the tailings were toxic by EPA standards.  Coeur tried to get around this fact by creating a plan of “capping” the tailings with clean material, but it is unknown if this would allow the lake to recover. 

Myth: “The tailings are benign.” 
Truth:  The chemicals and metals make the tailings discharge into Lower Slate Lake a toxic discharge, both from a legal and practical standpoint.  The tailings effluent will have a pH similar to ammonia, over 10, and contain concentrations of several metals, including aluminum, copper, lead, and mercury.  The effluent will contain a high level of suspended solids that will essentially smother all life in the lake. 

Read info on how toxic the tailings really are.

Myth: “Consistent with the Clean Water Act, the placement of these tailings in Lower Slate Lake has been approved and permitted by the Corps of Engineers, the EPA and the State of Alaska.”
Truth:  In May of 2007, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Army Corps of Engineers violated the Clean Water Act when it issued a “fill material” permit to Coeur Alaska to discharge 210,000 gallons per day of tailings slurry into Lower Slate Lake.

If the Kensington Mine is allowed to dump its tailings into a lake, it will set a dangerous precedent that could pave the way for other mines to use our waters as mine waste dumps. For example, the proposed Pebble Project, located in Southwest Alaska near the headwaters of one of the world’s most productive salmon fisheries, has revealed plans for a tailings disposal method that would destroy several streams and lakes, including Frying Pan Lake, in a giant tailings waste dump.

Read more information on the precedent setting nature of this case.  

Myth: “The Lower Slate Lake Plan  is consistent with the 1000’s of similar permits issued by the Army Corps of Engineers for placement of material in wetlands or other waters in Alaska each year; for example, for road building, parking lots, and residential and commercial building.”
Truth:  This is the first permit of its kind in the history of the Clean Water Act.  For a generation, since the passing of the Clean Water Act, Americans have protected our clean water by preventing mining companies from using lakes as tailings waste dumps.  The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers departed from America’s commitment to protect our clean water when it issued a permit to the Kensington Mine to dump its chemically processed tailings into a fish bearing lake.

Fill material is regulated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and has historically included material used to fill water bodies for construction purposes, such as the building of a bridge or breakwater.  The discharge at the Kensington is a toxic slurry generated from processing of ore and should be regulated as an industrial effluent.  In fact, EPA regulations in place since 1975 have prohibited dumping effluents from a froth flotation mill, which is what Kensington has built, directly into U.S. waters.

Click here for more information on the case.  

Myth: “At closure, only 3.5 acres of wetlands will be affected by the Lower Slate Lake Plan.  The dry stack alternative would permanently convert over 160 acres of wetlands and other special aquatic sites to dry land and be hundreds of feet high.”
Truth:  Coeur often plays fast with numbers by picking and choosing what figures it gives.  For example, above Coeur is using numbers for a dry land disposal method that is 13 years old and would hold almost 6 times the amount of tailings than the current design calls for (see below for the size of the paste tailings facility). 

Coeur’s claim that only 3.5 acres of wetlands would be affected by the Lower Slate Lake Plan is a gross misrepresentation and doesn’t count wetlands that would be impacted by roads, pipelines, and the treatment facilities based on the questionable assumption they would be successfully restored. 

Further, Coeur has given itself “credit” in the number of destroyed acres of wetlands by claiming that damming the lake and filling it with toxic material will create wetlands and aquatic habitat.  The Lower Slate Lake plan will destroy a 23 acre lake, 1,400 feet of stream, and approximately an additional 55-60 acres of wetlands. 

Truth is, the paste tailings plan is the best option for moving the mine forward in an environmentally sound way. 

Paste tailings disposal is similar to dry stack disposal, but the tailings contain more water and are a toothpaste-like consistency.  The tailings would dry and harden, and in some cases cement would be added. 

So why has Coeur pulled out of the paste tailings plan?  They've chosen not to tell.  Read more here.

The paste facility would be located on the Lynn Canal side of Lionshead Mountain.  This would better protect the incredible resources of Berners Bay, as Lower Slate Lake flows into Berners Bay.  A failure of the Lower Slate Lake tailings dam would result in pollution of Berners Bay.  The proposed location for the paste tailings facility is flat and contains no major water bodies.  This is important because the presence of water can cause pollution to flow and unintentionally transport or erode the tailings. 

The paste tailings facility would cover around 105 acres, including 69 acres of tailings disposal and 36 acres that consist of the water management systems, paste plant, and topsoil stockpiles. The embankment height would be approximately 75 feet. 

Like the existing waste rock piles and Comet Beach camp/barge landing facility, the paste tailings facility would be visible from Lynn Canal, but an option for reducing this visual impact was developed and included stockpiling and seeding a topsoil “visual barrier.”  The paste facility would not be visible from Berners Bay, contrary to claims by Coeur’s attorney.

All options for the disposal of mine waste will have some impacts on the environment.  There will be wetlands that will need to be filled (around 68 acres) for the paste tailings facility.  The majority of these wetlands will be forested wetlands and muskeg.  These types of wetlands are more common than the lake habitat found at Lower Slate Lake.  A significant portion of the forested wetlands where the paste tailings facility would be located were logged during the early 1900s. 

An additional benefit of the paste tailings plan is that there would be ample room for expansion with little additional disturbance.  This is important because past designs for the Kensington have called for the milling of significantly more ore than what is now proposed, indicating that the Kensington may expand operations beyond the planned 10 years mine life. 

For example, several years ago the Greens Creek Mine expanded operations to create additional tailings storage capacity.  The Lower Slate Lake option provides no room for expansion. 

Coeur chose to abandon the permitting for the paste tailings plan despite the fact that permitting was nearly completed.  The plan could have received all of its needed permits by now, so Juneau could have already had the mining and construction jobs associated with the Kensington.   

Do you want more facts from the agencies, a first hand account of negotiations with Coeur d’Alene Mines, or the nitty-gritty details? Call Rob at 907-586-6942 or rob@seacc.org.