DISTURBING FACTS
ABOUT AJAX
·
The Interior Medical Health Officer
who initially reviewed the Ajax mining proposal viewed it to be unsafe and
believed it should not proceed further in the application process:
“ The proposed Ajax Kamloops open pit mine is ill
conceived and poorly situated, and therefore unsafe, and would represent…a
serious public health hazard for the city and peoples of Kamloops. …the EAO should therefore be ordered to
stop the review process for the proposal and remove it from further
consideration”. Despite this warning, the Ajax proposal
proceeded through the preliminary assessment process. Citizens will now have to battle the mining company and its
vast resources at the stage of formal application to try to stop Ajax.
·
The mine would be located as
close as 2 km. from an elementary
school and in close proximity to existing residences and a seniors’ care
facility.
·
The City is downwind and downstream of the proposed
mine. Prevailing winds would take
toxic emissions into the valley where people live and where it will sometimes
be trapped for days in inversions.
·
The proposed wet tailings storage
of toxic wastes would be located in the watershed of Peterson Creek. This creek flows through the heart of
the city and into the Thompson River , route of a world famous salmon run. Any waste from a breach or failure of the tailings dam (580 ft. high at one point) would potentially affect both people
and the Adams River salmon run.
·
The mine footprint would exceed 25 square kilometers, much of it endangered grasslands. Plans are afoot to extend the mining
operation to the northeast, bringing
mining activity even closer into the City and increasing the footprint
and the volume of toxic wastes produced.
·
The area of the City closest to
the proposed mine has unstable soil and
slides have occurred in the past. Building
the tailings facility on glacial till was reported to be a major cause of the
Mt. Polley tailings dam failure.
Glacial till is also present in the proposed Ajax mine footprint in
Kamloops, increasing the risk of slides and tailings dam breaches.
·
Ajax mine operations would take
approximately 12.2 billion litres of
water annually from Kamloops Lake and our semi arid environment. Volumes could increase to a capacity 14.6 billion litre drawdown
annually.
WHO IS GOLIATH?
The parent company proposing the Ajax mine
is among the largest mining companies in the world and is 32% owned by the Polish
government. It has
assets of billions of dollars. The
past history of this international mining giant includes:
·
A reported rating by “Greenbiz”
as one of the very worst carbon
polluters in Europe.
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Development without concern for the cost is
dangerous, especially when the potential cost is our health and damage to key
elements of the environment. We have to take a stand. We hope you can stand with us through your donation.
WHY WE NEED YOUR HELP
Ajax has not been approved YET. A formal application is expected very
soon for assessment. We must be
ready to scrutinize the application within very limited timeframes.
We urgently need to hire independent experts
who can critique the many thousands of pages of the mining application to
determine deficiencies and identify the key areas of risk to people’s health
and safety. Where
citizen concerns may go unheard, the input of credible experts has a greater
chance of influencing the assessment process. We need $25,000 to:
·
Hire unbiased experts to
provide reports on various parts of the Ajax application
(Including the following areas: health, air quality, water quality, geotechnical issues, socio economic issues, community planning, legal and financial issues). Early discussions with experts willing to help us suggest fees and
expenses ranging from $3000-$5000 per consultant.
·
Rent and set up a storefront
operation to distribute information to the general public regarding the
application
OTHER WAYS YOU CAN HELP
If you cannot contribute but still want to
help us, please share our campaign.
Get the word out! You can
share directly from this page with Indiegogo share tools. Please tell everyone you know about
what is happening in Kamloops.
Share with local media, share with your friends and family.
For more information please check
www.facebook.com/stopajaxmine
www.stopajaxmine.ca
www.KPHE.ca
www.kamloopsmomsforcleanair.com
Youtube “Is this the Future of Kamloops?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmyt50U3nSo
This site received a donation from the subject of
the planned review - KGHM Ajax. It is a conflict of
interest for us to accept funds directly from the proponent to be scrutinized
by independent reviewers. Thus, we cannot accept the $5000 donation. We are
working with Indiegogo to arrange for a refund to be made to KGHM as soon as
possible. We encourage everyone interested in a fair, independent review
of the application to continue donating to our target of 25,000 unbiased
dollars.
