NEWS photo Mike Wakefield SRITANNIA project Investor George Shank surveys the scene at Britannia Beach. Parmits have to be approved before the environmental mess can be cleaned up. Wednesday, July 14, 1999 — North Shore News — 3 Copper Beach seeking provincial permit OK Brady Fotheringham Contributing Writer AN investor spearheading a mine reclamation project at Britannia Beach fears that recent news arti- cles regarding the project have diminished the focus of the envi- ronmental cleanup project. The importance of cleaning up the aban- doned Britannia mine has been clouded by irrelevant issues, according to George Shank, a West Vancouver businessman and cleanup project investor. Shank stressed the need to cake the long- term approach when inveszing in a project like Britannia Beach. He originaily invested $500,060 in 1990 in the Britannia property and has since invested substantiatly more in the project. Shank said that shareholders who invested $949,000 collectively in a now-defunct com- pany called Copper Beach Recreational Funding Led. and who never saw their invest- ment come to fruition, may have decided ta wind up their investment toe soon, If not for certain decisions on the shareholders’ part “they would be sitting with us here in part- nership,” Shank said. Copper Beach Estates Ltd., headed by West = Vancouver —s businessman) = Tim Drummond, is attempting to address the environmental mess at Britannia Beach. Currently mine effluent from acid-rock drainage containing clevated amounts of cop- per, zinc and lead flow into Howe Sound through the underground mine shafts and dump direesly into the ocean. The effluent kills a high percentage of juvenile salmon and other marine life. A_ Department of Fisheries and Occans {DFO) report concluded that the waters around Britannia Beach are devoid of aquatic life. Copoer Beach Estates Ltd. has owned the property surrounding Britannia Beach and the old Anaconda copper mine that shut down in 1974 for 10 years. For the past sev- eral vears it has been working with different government ministries to sort through pro- posals submitted over the years to clean up the mine. Previous plans never went very far through the planning stages and weren't real- ized for various reasons. A key stumbling block has been the inabil- ity to turn the venture into a profitable enter- prise. Copper Beach Estates Ltd. has submitted an application to the province for an effluent permit to allow the development and opera- tion of a lime waste treatment facility. Copper Beach has also applied for a solid waste per- mit ro facilitate a landfill operation at the mine site. The company has also applied for a mine permit to implement the proposed works. The treatment plant and landfill will be contracted to Mt. Sheer Mine Reclamation Inc. The company will run the facility. Dump trucks, as many as 26 a day for cight months of the year, will wansporr heavy metal landfill up to the site, transferring the landfill at a transfer station to smaller trucks that would drive up a service road to the Jane Basin area on top of the mine. The fees charged for twansporting the landfill, as much as 150,000 tonnes annuaily, will pay for the $600,000 needed to operate the treatment plant annually. Four principle investors are paying for the $J1 million in startup costs needed to con- struct the plant and a diversion pipeline, according to Shank. “We've net been able to find a solution with a sustainable income that would permit See Geological page $ intersection cameras OK'd Cameras to catch drivers wha run red lights in North Van City Kevin Gillies News Reporter MOTORISTS beware: traffic-light cameras will be coming soon to North Vancouver City inter- section near you. On Monday night, city council authorized members frorn the provincial Intersection Safety Camera Program to work with city staff and the RCMP on establishing sites for the cameras, which automatically photograph cars that run red lights. Abbotsford Police Department Const. Daffydd Hermann told: councillors there will be between four and six different “sites” or intersections that will have the camera posts erected. “Intersection crashes are an urgent health care and social issue,” Hermann said, adding that the program will “help your local police and their ability to divert resources.” All costs associated with the program will be borne by the provincial Integrated Traffic Camera Unit (ITCU) — which already operates the photo radar program. The ITCU is operat- ed by tle Police Services Division of the Attorney General Ministry. And all the revenue from the $144 tickets will go to the provincial government. But, as Hermann said, “The success of the program is mea- sured in how many tickers are not issued.” He said the mere presence of the cameras changes driving behaviour. Hermann, an ITCU representative, cited several pro- grams worldwide — including London, England, New York City; and West Virginia — which showed drops of berwcen 10% and 69% in fatal intersection collisions after the cameras were installed. He said the exact number of sites and cameras for North Vancouver City has yet to be determined, but he added that “... we're looking at between four and six sites for your city.” City engineers and the North Vancouver RCMP will help decide which intersections will be outfitted with the cameras. The police have already identified six “high-collision” inter- sections that are candidates for the cameras: B Lonsdale Avenue and 13th Street; @ Lonsdale Avenue and 23rd Street; @ Lonsdale Avenue and Esplanade; St. George’s Avenue and 13th Street; @ Marine Drive and Fell Avenue; Marine Drive, Bewicke Avenue, Keith Road and 3rd Strect. While the camera posts will likely be erected at some or all of those six sites, only two will have cameras operating at any given time; the other four will have “data collection units” which don’t issue tickets. But drivers won’t be able to tell the difference between the data collection units and the cameras. “Jt just flashes as though there was a ticket,” Hermann said of the data coliection units. Vehicles that are already in the ‘intersection when the light changes to red will not be ticketed. The program is starting with 120 sites hosting 30 cameras throughout B.C. and could expand. Use of the program was unanimously endorsed by city councillors. “As an ambulance paramedic, I often see the aftermath of these collisions,” Coun. Darrell Mussatto said. Debris forces cancellation of fast ferry sailings From pagel mum of 37 knots to 25 knots near the islands will only add a “couple of min- utes” to the total trip time. But Falkins said the ferry will likely have to slow down more. “They were always aware of the fact that they would have to run slow in Howe Sound,” he said. “That’s the rea- son why they only save 30 minutes on the trip.” Meanwhile two PacifiCat sailings were cancelled Monday because debris was caught in one of the ferry’s warer jets. “What we're finding is that as the ves- sel is in berth loading and unloading there is this potential to ingest refuse,” said Whittier. “What we’re going to try to do ... is idle down the engines so that you’re not sucking in stuff as you’re waiting for peo- ple to load.” The 4 p.m. sailing from Nanaimo and the 6 p.m. sailin m Horseshoe Bay ’ were cancelled while divers tried to free the log ingested by the engine. Whittier said the problem is common. “Certainly other vessels in the world have experienced this,” she said. . era i i En eT ET ALY AR THIS teenager was released and five others arrested at a Lynn Valley 7-Eleven store on Monday. Stolen van stopped SIX teenagers were arrested on Monday after rid- ing in a stolen van in Lynn Valley. ~ North Vancouver RCMP Const. Heidi Hoffman said the Dodge van was stolen about a month ago in Burnaby. . Tt was used in an armed robbery in Vancouver a short time later. Hoffman said that police didn’t know what had happened to the van since then or how the teenagers obtained it.- ‘ On Monday, local Mounties received a report of an “erratic driver.” Officers were told to watch for the stolen van. . ; Const. Everett McLachlan spotted the van going by while the officer was dealing with a motorist he had stopped, said Hoffman. . * McLachlan followed the van. Other police officers were called. Police found the van Rarked at the 7-Eleven store at Mountain Highway and Lynn Valley Road. . Six teenagers were handcuffed in a dramatic early afternoon arrest. One of the teens was released at the scene. | The five others, one female and four males, were kept in police custody. The teens live in North Vanceuver and Vancouver. : ; Charges have yet to be laid. —Anna Marie D’Angelo