An environmental group is calling on Hudbay to decontaminate a former mine site outside Flin Flon, but the company says the property was properly decommissioned.
The Wilderness Committee says tests of water from the site of the former Spruce Point Mine show extreme toxicity and metal concentrations that exceed environmental guidelines.
“We’ve formally asked Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger to enforce the cleanup of this site, and to make sure [Hudbay] – not the provincial government – pays for the cleanup,” said the committee’s Eric Reder in a news release.
Hudbay told the Canadian Press that the mine site, located in Grass River Provincial Park, was turned over to the provincial government in 1994.
Hudbay said it was told the site is in such pristine condition that it is tough to tell there was ever a mine there, the news agency reported.
The Wilderness Committee is reiterating its opposition to industrial activity in provincial parks.
The group unsuccessfully opposed the development of the Reed Mine, co-owned by Hudbay, which is now in full production in Grass River Provincial Park between Flin Flon and Snow Lake.
