Mercury found by Mowson Pond

The big forest fire in 2009 revealed an old mercury smelter next to Mowson Pond. The former smelter could be spotted easily from the road up to Tyaughton Lake. Curious passers-by have started to take a closer look. As soon the Ministry of Forest, Lands and Natural Resource became aware of the situation they sealed off the area from the public and arranged a remediation plan for the site clean up. 

 

Specialists from four different companies were hired by the government to clean up the mercury.
(picture WSF)

 

Mercury is toxic. It can cause chronic and acute poising upon entering the body through the respiratory tract, the digestive tract or directly through the skin. It accumulates in the body eventually causing severe illness or even death. For these reasons the government had to come up with a solution. In the news we have been informed that it is one of the worst case of mercury contamination in BC. So we headed to Mowson Pond to investigate the scene by ourselves.   

It is not unusual to find contaminated sights in the Chilcotin area, for example traces of the toxic element can be still find in the mines of Cinnabar. Mercury was needed for gold mining production which was very popular in the 19th century. The element easily forms alloys with other metals, such as gold, silver, zinc and cadmium. These alloys are called amalgams. Amalgams are used to help extract gold from its ores. 

 

But as an exception Mowson Pond mine was actually used for commercial mercury production from 1963 until 1966. Mercury is usually produced from cinnabar rocks, also known as mercury ore. To make pure mercury,it has to be extract from these rocks. During this process the facility and the surrounded ground became contaminated.

  

One of the workmen informed us that they only found small traces of the pure mercury, informed us one of the workmen. A team of four specialist from four different companies within the environmental field were hired by the government for the clean-up. Next to a remediation and demolition supervisor for example there was also an archeologist to monitor that no artefacts got damaged during the process.

 

The location of the smelter was next to a steep slope down Carpenter Lake.
(picture WSF)

 

Mercury is not usually found free in nature and is primarily obtained from the mineral cinnabar.  Since the liquid metal stays in the same spot the risk of distribution is very limited. By observing the site we found out the smelter was located next to a deep slope so a strong rain or melted snow in the spring could have wash the mercury down into Carpenter Lake. Beside this the contaminated bricks and surrounding ground needed to be taken away. The smelter had a 15 foot deep shaft and parts of walls were left. In the end it came up to a total amount of 3,300 kg (11 soil bags) of contaminated material which went to a disposal facility in Ontario.

   

It took several days to clean up the spot. Now when you drive by where the mercury smelter was you won't find any sign of it. The remediation program filled up the shaft and covered up the entire spot with soil. In the end a mixture of native shrubs and grass were seed on top of it. There is no trace left and no harm for people and the ecosystem.

 

3,300 kg of contaminated material. (picture WSF)