Massive Canadian Mining Waste Spill Was Nearly 70 Percent Larger Than Previous Estimates

The mining waste spill that led to water bans for hundreds of British Columbians was almost 70 percent larger than previously estimated, according to the company in charge of the mine.
A tailings pond from the open-pit Mount Polley copper and gold mine in British Columbia breached in early August, sending what the B.C. government originally estimated as five million cubic meters (1.3 billion gallons) of mining waste slurry into nearby Hazeltine Creek. Now, mining company Imperial Metals estimates the spill at 10.6 million cubic meters (2.8 billion gallons) of water, 7.3 million cubic meters (1.9 billion gallons) of tailings and 6.5 million cubic meters (1.7 billion gallons) of interstitial water, or the water that sits between the spaces of the ground-up rock in the tailings pond.
“It’s a bit disconcerting — it speaks to the crudeness of the initial estimate,” Mining Watch Canada program director Ramsey Hart told the Vancouver Sun about the company’s new estimate.
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/09/04/3478981/canadian-mining-waste-spill-70-percent-larger/