MPMC Weekly Testing 22nd Sept 2016

Over the summer months we have been tracking and logging the 2016 Mount Polley Mine Company weekly reports.

The data is logged on a rather large MS excel spreadsheet.

This allows us to look at trends and areas of concern, of which there are a few. Each week we will enter a short report on the latest test results and how they compare to the permitted amounts. We will also outline any changes or additions to the permits and provide links where possible.

For this week we will take a brief overview of some of the issues.

1. During 2016 the Nitrate levels have remained high. Although the levels have not exceeded the 9.7mgs/L stated in the permit, they have rarely dropped below 90% of the permitted amount.

2. Sulphates also remain on the high side, again not exceeding the 720mgs/L stated in the permit, but have hovered around 550mgs/L for the year.

3. As you will be aware the Copper levels exceeded the permitted amount of 0.012mgs/L during March and April 2016. We did express our concern to the Ministry of Environment. The first reports of exceeded levels were discovered on the 29th March 2016 testing, which wasn't published until 14th April 2016- almost 2 weeks later. Levels were exceeded for another 4 weeks, but nothing was reported until 28th April 2016. We had endured nearly 5 weeks of exceeded copper levels before knowing about the issues.

4. We have also noticed that when reporting there have been errors with the permitable number for Iron and Zinc. The permit states that the permit level for Iron is 0.11mgs/L and Zinc is 0.0083mgs/L. The reports refer to a permit level of 1.0mgs/L for Iron and .03mgs/L for Zinc. Some weeks reports have the correct permit level, some don't.

5. Finally we remain disappointed that Quesnel Lake is still a dilution zone for "treated" mine effluent. Since June 9th 2016 report 2, 462,227m3 hasbeen discharged from the Treatment Plant.