Lynn Lake - Mine tailings - a visit with Mayor Audie Dulewich and Municipal Administrator Helen Gibson

While in Leaf Rapids on September 6, we visited with Mayor Audie Dulewich and Municipal Administrator Helen Gibson. The top photo shows Mayor Dulewich and Garry Zamzow who was travelling with me.

In their board room, is a big chart of the area. It is a Tailings Assessment Map. The map documents the impact of deposits of 21.8 million tonnes of mine tailings on 212 hectares of land.
Moreover, tailings were used to construct roads in the community and to fill in land sites for a variety of other purposes. One part of the community is built on acid rock waste (tailings). This is visible as the red lines on the middle photo.

There is a huge problem with building on top of mine tailings. The acid rock in the tailings is eating away at the water pipes and they are now very fragile. The acid rock tailings are leaching into many of the nearby waters and residents have concerns about the drinking water.

After our visit in the town office, we went to see the tailings pile themselves. When we arrived at the tailings site, we found winds sweeping across the site and blowing the toxic acid mine tailings all over the place. When the winds calmed later on, the place looked like a desert. The problem we have in Manitoba is we have an NDP government which has done virtually nothing in more than seven years in power. The Gary Doer NDP claim to be concerned about the environment, and yet they have sat by while this site has been getting worse and worse. It is time for major action here.