It was originally developed by Prime, a Pezim company.
It was on the Iskut River.
It is now closed out.
infomine.com
The DFO was involved in reviewing the use of the hovercraft on the water. Natch they have never looked at the impact of white water rafting.. funny thing about that.. Well the hovercraft used to flip the odd salmon fry over into puddles they had a hard time getting out of.. that I would say would not amount to much over time... but ooohhh it was a negative.. not a word too about local indian fishing which in latter decades has been increased by orders of magnitude due to increase mobility/methods.. and we know they sell the stuff .. it goes out in aircraft.. well that is not a small impact either.. gov looks the other way..
***************************************
Since 1990, there has been concern about the impacts arising from the operation of a hovercraft on the Iskut and Stikine rivers (Paquet 1995). The hovercraft, an AP.1-88 Hovercraft, has been used to service Cominco Ltd.'s Snip mine near Bronson Creek, a tributary of the Iskut River (Figure 1). In 1995, a review (Chilibeck 1995) was initiated with the primary objectives of determining "the extent, if any, to which the operation of the hovercraft CH-COM may: (a) constitute harmful alteration, disruption, or destruction of fish habitat in the Iskut River, BC, having regard to the definition of "fish habitat" as set out in the Fisheries Act, and (b) otherwise adversely affect fish in the Iskut River."
METAL MINING CITATION
This year the Citation for outstanding achievement for reclamation at a Metal Mine is awarded to Homestake Canada Inc. for their exceptional reclamation efforts at the Snip Mine.
The Snip Mine was an underground gold mine and mill situated in a remote area along the Iskut River in British Columbia's North Coast mountains. The mine operated from 1991 until 1999 when closure operations were initiated.
The site is now largely reclaimed. The mill, ancillary facilities and mine camp have been removed and all that is left is the original stone fireplace from the mine's chalet. A tree/shrub planting program combined with rapid natural revegetation has successfully reclaimed this area.
The tailings impoundment has also been a reclamation success and now serves a dual purpose. It is developing into a viable wetland habitat with the natural succession of vegetation and supporting waterfowl, and is also being used to collect drainage and sediment from three mine portals.
Underground workings at Snip have a potential to generate metal leaching/acid rock drainage. Closure of these workings involved the installation of two engineered plugs, which have flooded the lower levels, and the construction of a P trap on the upper portal to provide a barrier to limit the flow of air into the mine workings. Research and monitoring of seepage quality is continuing.
Even in this remote area with limited access opportunities, reclamation work has been completed to a very high standard, which demonstrates exemplary environmental stewardship and a desire to meet or exceed reclamation standards. |
