Britannia Mine, BC

​An innovative water treatment facility is cleaning up one of North America's largest sources of heavy metal pollution. For more than 70 years, the Britannia Mine has been an ecological concern. Every day, hundreds of kilograms of heavy metals entered British Columbia's Howe Sound through contaminated acid rock drainage that came from the now abandoned copper mine.

In March 2005, along with our partners, we signed an agreement with the B.C. Government to clean up the mine water. Eight months later, the Britannia Water Treatment facility was up and running. The facility treats an average of 4.2 billion litres annually, removing an average of 226,000 kg of heavy metal contaminants. The amount of copper removed yearly is the equivalent of preventing 30 million copper pennies from entering Howe Sound.

We have a 20-year guaranteed performance contract with the province to operate and maintain the mine and water treatment facilities.

​Environmental Considerations

Water System Affected

British Columbia's Howe Sound

Environmental Benefits

• Plants and marine life have returned to Howe Sound which was a dead zone for decades.
• An on-site micro-turbine driven by the outflow of the mine water provides a source of renewable electricity for the treatment facility.
• We developed the plant's treatment systems to meet strict new water effluent regulations with a focus on high operational reliability.
• The Discovery Centre at the plant facility allows the public to learn more about the on-going work to clean and restore this historic area. Tours and presentations are conducted in cooperation with the Britannia Mine Museum.

Awards

• Government of British Columbia Premier's Award for Innovation and Excellence 2007
• Fraser Basin Council Caring for Ecosystems Award 2006

Britannia Water Treatment Plant

• ISO 14001:2015 certified environmental management system
• Designed to treat up to 12 million litres of mine water daily
• A state of the art SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) computer-based system monitors the plant operations and water quality on a continuous basis.

Process

The treatment facility uses slaked lime to precipitate the dissolved heavy metals out of the mine water. The heavy metals removed include:

• Copper
• Iron
• Zinc
• Aluminum
• Manganese
• Cadmium

The lime/sludge mix that settles to the bottom of the stilling basin is de-watered and stored offsite. After a final test of the pH and turbidity levels, the treated effluent flows down a 1,700 m outfall into Howe Sound.

Britannia Mine Realtime Data

Realtime and historical data of the Britannia Mine water treatment plant can be seen below. The data updates every 15 minutes.