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SAVE KISSISSING LAKE - STOP ACID MINE DRAINAGE Acid water from an orphaned mine remediation project has been flowing into Kississing Lake in northwest Manitoba since 2010. Heavy metal concentrations in our world-class fishing lake test consistently above the water quality limits deemed safe for aquatic life. No investigation has been made on impact to aquatic life in Kississing Lake. Recent pH tests show the acidic discharge 4.91, well below the low limit of 6.0. All efforts to stop the acid mine drainage have fallen on deaf ears at the federal and provincial levels. The community is asking for your support to save Kississing Lake. Stand up for clean water in Canada, demand a stop to the acid discharge. Contact: Communications: Debi Hatch tel (204) 468-2128 savekississing@gmail.com MANITOBA - CANADA QUALITY GUIDELINES Water Sample testing results for 11/06/2024 show that the water entering Kississing from Camp Lake have metals above both the Manitoba Water Quality Standards Objective Guidelines (MWQSOG) and the Canadian Water Quality Guidelines for the Protection of Aquatic Life (CWQG): MWQSOG CWQG : NEW WATER RESULTS SEPTEMBER 17, 2024
 GO FUND ME - SAVE OUR LAKE Fundraiser by Debi Hatch -Save our Lake |
 Camp Lake discharging into Kississing - 2019  Camp Lake surrounding school -2019  Brown water in tailings lake - September 17,2024 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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MEDIA TIMELINE Sherridon Acid Mine Drainage Media timeline Flin Flon Reminder $34.5M to clean up Sherridon tailings Jonathan Naylor Feb 11, 2009 3:00 AM An abandoned mine northeast of Flin Flon, described as one of the worst cases of acidic mine drainage in the world, is finally being cleaned up. The Manitoba government has committed $34.5 million over the next three years to neutralize and relocate old mine tailings in Sherridon. About 50 hectares of dried tailings remain from the Sherridon Mine, which was operated by Sherritt Gordon Mines Ltd. from the 1930s until to the early 1950s. The material has leached acid into nearby Camp Lake, overflow from which makes its way into Kississing Lake. "We generate jobs, we clean up the environment, and if you talk to the local community up there in the Sherridon area, they see a future in eco-tourism and you need a clean lake to do that," Premier Greg Selinger told CBC. The orange-red pile of toxic tailings, described by the Winnipeg Free Press as almost eight stories high, has concerned Sherridon residents for years. The tailings will be removed and neutralized with lime by Winnipeg-based Hazco Environmental Services, which secured the multimillion-dollar clean-up contract. The budget includes $500,000 to train people from First Nations and northern communities to work on the extensive project. Full article Sherridon or Mars? My first visit Wilderness Committee By Eric Reader - Friday, December 24, 2010 (excerpt from the article) Oxidized tailings at the reclamation site This was my first taste of what environmental horrors the mining industry is capable of. While riding around in Hazco's enormous truck, I notice the interior was stained orange just like the landscape, and soon, to my concern, were my shoes. I thought to myself, "if Mars had boreal forests, I'm pretty certain this is what they would look like." Rolling down the bumpy orange road, I peered out the windows in shock at what used to be a lake. I tried to hide my dropped jaw from the kind Hazco employee, as I was staring at islands of oxidized, orange and red oozy tailings and orange waters lapping at a brilliant orange beach. Several times I hopped out to take pictures, noting the distinct metallic scent carried in the breeze. Full article Is Manitoba the wild-west for the mining industry? Wilderness Committe - Friday, May 27, 2011 (Excerpt) The alarm bells are ringing in the Wilderness Committee office. You may recall hearing this past December about the disturbing dumping of orange, acidic, heavy-metal laden water into a northern boreal lake. Six months later both the Wilderness Committee and the community of Sherridon are still seeking answers to this serious 'malfunction'. It is evident that our government has bitten off more than it can chew when it comes to the mining industry's impact in Manitoba. After national media attention, I wrote several provincial and federal departments seeking explanation and accountability regarding the failure of the water treatment plant in Sherridon. What I received in return was shameful avoidance tactics at both federal and provincial levels of government. Full article No trust whatsoever': Northern Manitoba community wants consultation, not action, on mine rehabilitation Province began rehabilitating Sherridon's polluted lake in 2009, now wants to connect it to clean lake CBC News Posted: Aug 07, 2017 6:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: August 7, 2017 (Excerpt) A northern Manitoba community councillor says people in her area no longer trust the province to properly clean up pollution left behind by an old mine, eight years into the rehabilitation process. "We're the ones that are going to be left here once everybody packs up and goes back home," said Debi Hatch, a community councillor for Sherridon, Man., about 650 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg. "And we're going to be left with, does it work? Full article SHERRIDON ORPHAN MINE RECLAMATION PROJECT THREE STRIKES: THE LIMING OF CAMP LAKE By Gillian Ward - Posted 2019/12/17 Update 2019/12/19 (Excerpt) In an emailed statement, in part answering our question,' What was the rationale for spreading lime kiln dust on the ice of Camp Lake, without wetting it down'?, WaterToday received the following response from a spokesperson for Manitoba Conservation and Climate: "The application of lime to the ice of Camp Lake was first done in winter 2014 to manage the pH of Camp Lake and enable the safe discharge of some water from the lake for the purpose of water level management while the mine waste reclamation project proceeded. The application plan was modelled on similar lime applications used to treat lakes in Scandinavia and northeastern North America that had been acidified by acid precipitation. The applied lime was not wetted following placement in those applications and no adverse effects related to dust dispersal were noted in the studies, so the same approach was employed in this first lime application. Most of the 2014 application was completed without incident, but cold windy weather near the end of the application period resulted in some lime dust dispersal." Full article STUDY: RELEASE, TRANSPORT AND ATTENUATION OF METALS FROM AN OLD TAILINGS IMPOUNDMENT Science Direst March 3, 2005
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