The investigation into what caused 25,000 litres of lead refinery electrolyte solution to leak into the ground below Teck’s lead refinery building is still ongoing, according to officials.
The leak happened June 13, and preliminary indications at the time pointed to a failure in the sealing system of the electrolyte holding area.
“They are still looking at identifying the cause of that leak as well as determining appropriate remediation measures to take to prevent that from occurring again,” said Richard Deane, manager of energy and public affairs with Teck.
Temporary repairs to the holding area that leaked have been completed and long-term repairs are currently underway.
Testing on the other two holding areas have been completed and no issues were found.
There are a number of monitoring wells in the contaminated area and Teck is currently assessing what kind of additional monitoring may be required to determine the exact nature and location of the material, explained Deane.
Based on that information, Teck will decide how to remediate the material and over what time frame that will occur.
“There are probably a number of options and different time frames involved and that will be looked at as we move forward.”
There still is no set timeline as to when the investigation will be completed.