British Columbia Mine Reclamation Symposium

Henretta Creek reclamation project Pumphrey, John F.

Abstract

In December 1990, Fording River Operations completed a detailed Environmental Impact Assessment and Stage I Mining Report for the Henretta Valley area. In December 1991, Fording River Operations was granted its mining and reclamation permit from the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources. April 1997 marked the completion of mining activities in Henretta Valley. Mining activities required temporary relocation of 1,270 meters of Henretta Creek to enable mining of both sides and below the creek bed. Once mining of Henretta Valley bottom was complete, reclamation of Henretta was completed, the creek was reintroduced into the newly developed Henretta system. The first water flowed through the reclaimed Henretta Creek channel in late 1998 and the first high flow went through in the spring of 2000. Seven years of aquatic studies followed the completion of the project. Conclusions made in 2007 confirmed that the Henretta reclaim channel and Henretta Lake reclaimed systems have improved annually since its creation and in particular, Henretta Lake now supports a larger more productive population of fish than existed prior to mining.

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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International