Seabridge Gold Responds to Inaccurate Information About the KSM Project’s Tailings Management Facility Published in the Report by The Center for American Progress

Seabridge Gold’s Brent Murphy wrote a letter to Michael Freeman, Policy Analyst, The Center for American Progress, pointing inaccurate and misleading information about the KSM Project in his April 18, 2023, report titled ‘U.S. Diplomacy Can Prevent Canadian Transboundary Mining Pollution on the Northern Border’.

  • In the report, Michael stated that “One of the KSM Project mine dams will be the tallest of its kind worldwide”, which is incorrect.
    • Cerro Verde and Antamina mines in Peru, and the Bagdad mine in Arizona are currently operating safely with dams of similar or greater height than the proposed KSM Project.

  • Referencing the report titled The Risk of Tailings Dam Failure in British Columbia commissioned by BC Mining Law Reform and SkeenaWild Conservation Trust and prepared by Steven H. Emerman, Michael stated that KSM TMF “earned the most severe failure consequence category possible (“extreme”) by the engineer of record, meaning it is predicted to kill 100 or more people if a catastrophic breach were to occur.” This statement is also inaccurate.
    • The KSM TMF was assigned a consequence classification of “Extreme” based on the potential environmental consequence category and not due to any risk of human fatalities. In line with standard dam safety practices, the consequence classification for KSM’s TMF was assigned without consideration of likelihood or credibility and assuming the potential failure has occurred.
    • Furthermore, the TMF location was carefully chosen after a thorough analysis of 14 different sites and consultations with local Indigenous groups. The remote location was selected for being the most secure site from an operational and closure perspective and was found to have the best environmental and waste management approach.

Brent has respectfully requested Michael to either remove the misleading information about the KSM Project or add accurate facts to the report, so the readers can draw an informed conclusion.

You can read the letter here

To learn more about KSM’s Tailings Management Facility you can also watch the video here.

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