Seabridge Gold’s Brent Murphy wrote a letter to SkeenaWild and BC Mining Law Reform Network highlighting inaccurate information regarding the KSM Project published in the map/press release titled ‘New Map Shows Dozens Of Mine Pollution Threats In BC’.
In the map ‘BC Contaminated Mine Sites’ the KSM Project was identified as a mine site with acid rock drainage concerns. This is an inaccurate and highly misleading statement. KSM Project is not a mine, it is a potential mining project.
The report also failed to mention that Seabridge Gold has been collecting surface water quality monitoring data for the KSM Project in upper Mitchell Creek, upstream of the confluence with McTagg Creek, since 2007. The Mitchell Glacier is receding over time, which has exposed the Mitchell deposit. This exposure causes naturally occurring acid rock drainage due to oxidation of the sulphide mineralization within the bedrock. This acid rock drainage is not caused by the KSM Project. The naturally occurring acid rock drainage has already impacted the water quality of Mitchell Creek, Sulphurets Creek and the Unuk River, long before and irrespective of the proposed KSM Project. Water quality in these watersheds cannot therefore be characterized as pristine.
The letter also includes pictures to demonstrate the existing natural conditions around the KSM Project, factual information about KSM Project’s Water Treatment and Tailings Management Facility, Environmental Assessment, and the voluntary environmental remediation work at the Johnny Mountain Mine at our Iskut Project.
Read the letter here
