Representatives of Utah Moms for Clean Air and Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment have warned citizens of Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada, of the dangers of allowing a large open pit mine close to their community. They point to the example of Rio Tinto subsidiary Kennecott’s Bingham Canyon mine near Salt Lake City – the mine that provided most of the metal for last year’s Olympic medals.
“We live in Salt Lake City, home of the world’s deepest open pit mine. Nowhere else in the world is there the juxtaposition of a mine as large as the Utah Rio Tinto copper mine right next door to a large city — 1.5 million people. Facing a proposal for a similar mine, residents of Kamloops asked us to visit their city and share our perspective on what it’s like to be next door neighbors to an enormous mine.”
See http://www.vancouversun.com/business/bc2035/Kamloops+should+weigh+impact+gold+mine+environment/8166648/story.html.