Former Banks Island Gold CEO Who Oversaw Abandoned Yellow Giant Mine Found Guilty of 13 Environmental Violations

A man who oversaw one of the most environmentally-damaging mines on the north coast in recent years has been found guilty on 13 charges.

Benjamin Mossman was CEO of Banks Island Gold, which operated the Yellow Giant Mine when it was shut down by the Province in 2015.

Located on Banks Island, west of Hartley Bay, the mine began operations in January of that year.

Not long after, the Gitxaala Nation began raising concerns over the mine’s operations, leading to a provincial inspection that July.

It found that the company had released tailings effluent into multiple sensitive waterways between September of 2014 and the inspection.

Officials ordered operations to shut down until the mine was within compliance, but the company would file for bankruptcy in 2016, abandoning the site.

Mossman had been charged with 29 violations under the Environment and Fisheries Acts, with chief geologist Dirk Merkert also named in nine.

While Merkert was found not guilty on all counts, Mossman was found guilty of 13 violations, all relating to the release of effluent.

The abandoned mine was also featured on this year’s Dirty Dozen list from the BC Mining Law Reform Network and SkeenaWild Conservation Trust’s annual report.