United Reef asked to clean up waste rock dumped 80 years ago

The Ontario Ministry of the Environment has asked United Reef Petroleums (TSE) to clean up a lake contaminated by mining waste rock over 80 years ago. Because United currently holds the lease on the land around James Lake, near Cobalt, Ont., the company is being held responsible for the contamination, said Bernie MacIsaac, president of Canhorn Mining (TSE), United’s largest shareholder. The waste rock, measured in the tens of thousands of tons, was dumped in and around the lake in 1906-11, when iron ore was mined from a small deposit on the property, MacIsaac said. As a result of the dumping, the iron content in the lake is now too high to support aquatic life, including fish and vegetation. Contamination continues to seep into the lake from the surrounding waste rock.

Unite ha carrie ou onl mino gol exploratio o th Bes Twp property since leasing the ground in the 1950s.

In a similar case reported a few weeks ago, the ministry served orders against three mining companies and their directors in connection with a spill that dumped gold mine tailings into the Montreal River last October (T.N.M., Jan. 21, 1991). In that case, the tailings were produced during mining in the 1950s.

Although United has not yet received an order for the Best Twp. cleanup, MacIsaac said the company has been advised to hire a consultant to explore potential solutions.

“It could turn out to be pretty big money,” he said. MacIsaac is also worried that United’s directors will be implicated if the ministry serves an order against the company.