BC Environmental Assessment Office orders closure of illegal worker camp at Blackwater Mine

Artemis Gold has until Saturday (August 31st) to shut down an unapproved worker camp.

According to BC’s Environment Assessment Office, the company, which operates the Blackwater Gold Mine, south of Vanderhoof, did not get approval to build or run the facility on an electrical transmission corridor beyond the work site.

The order was issued in May.

An inspection record noted, the camp had a minimum of 48 accommodation units, along with three generators, and potable water storage.

Blackwater Gold’s environmental certificate issued by the province permits up to 1,000 people at its main construction camp as well as an operations base housing roughly 500 people.

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An Artemis Gold spokesperson issued the following statement to Vista Radio:

The Chu camp was an existing mining exploration camp which had been abandoned by the previous operator and was under the custody of the Ministry of Energy Mines and Low Carbon Innovation.

We saw an opportunity to assist the provincial government with clean up of the Chu camp site, while also ensuring our transmission line workforce was close to their job sites, minimizing general environmental and health and safety impacts.

In March of this year, the Ministry of Energy Mines and Low Carbon Innovation transferred the permit to occupy the Chu Camp location and operate a camp to Blackwater Mine.

As part of our agreement with the Ministry of Energy Mines and Low Carbon Innovation, we agreed to remediate the existing site, which contained old buildings and infrastructure left over from the previous owner, resulting in over $200,000 of investment by Blackwater Mine to clean up the site.

The Chu camp was used to house our transmission line workers and more recently accommodate and provide services to support efforts to fight wildfires in the area.

Recently, the Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) found the camp to be noncompliant with our EA certificate. We are committed to adhering to the order from the EAO.

The workers who were at this camp have already vacated the site and have relocated to our main camp at the mine. Work to demobilize the Chu camp location is well underway. We do not expect any issues with completing this work and complying with the Order.

Demobilizing from the camp has no material impact on the overall project schedule or costs for the build of Blackwater Mine.