B.C. First Nations should require full clean-up costs up-front for mines: new study | The Narwhal
Although mining companies are supposed to be liable for the costs of mine remediation in B.C., in reality, taxpayers are left on the hook for expensive clean-up of sites if a mining company goes broke because the province does not insist on up-front bonds in the form of cash or securities.
Instead,
pledges or guarantees based on the value of minerals are often accepted
when the provincial Chief Inspector of Mines decides on the form of
financial assurance.
That leaves B.C. taxpayers on the hook, with Auditor General Carol Bellringer estimating in her 2016 report
that there is a $1.43 billion gap between the total cleanup liability
of $2.79 billion and $1.36 billion held in financial assurance. Another
report by the watchdog group MiningWatch Canada estimated the figure to
be closer to $3 billion.
The expense of cleaning up mining messes, such as acid mine drainage, can be staggering.