New Report Finds Red Chris Mine Pollution Rising in Stikine River Watershed

WRANGELL, Alaska – Southeast Alaska Tribal leaders are sounding the alarm after a new report by SkeenaWild Conservation Trust revealed serious environmental and structural failures at Newmont’s Red Chris Mine. Located in the British Columbia headwaters of the transboundary Stikine River, the mine is releasing significantly more contaminants downstream than originally predicted and has already caused documented loss of productive fish habitat.

The report cites government records showing that, since 2015, rising levels of contaminants, including selenium, nitrate, and sulphate, have leaked into waterways that ultimately feed into the Stikine.

“This confirms what we've feared for years: The Red Chris Mine is contaminating the Stikine River,” said Esther Reese, President of the Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission (SEITC). “The mine threatens everything we depend on, and it is unacceptable that BC regulators are allowing it to continue.”

The Stikine River flows west from British Columbia into Southeast Alaska, entering the Pacific Ocean at the town of Wrangell. For generations, its wild salmon have fed Indigenous families, supported local economies, and remained central to Tlingit culture. 

Red Chris is now seeking a permit amendment to transition from open-pit to underground block cave mining. Public comment on the proposal is open until April 10. The expansion would increase tailings production and place additional strain on a dam already failing to contain seepage.

The report finds the lake, built to hold 305 million cubic meters of water and acid-generating tailings, is leaking 23 percent of its water into the ground, including beneath the dams. Contaminated groundwater flows into downstream lakes, and as more mine waste is added, the rate of seepage increases. Newcrest has no plan to contain it.

BC approved the project in 2012 despite experts warning its tailings dam had key design flaws, including construction over glacial till with a weak foundation. The same contractor behind the Mount Polley tailings disaster built the Red Chris dam.

“We cannot let this become another Mount Polley,” said  Patricia Gilbert, mayor of Wrangell. “Allowing this mine to contaminate the Stikine is indefensible — the river is our food, our identity, our future.”

The failure of a modern tailings facility after only 10 years of operation shows that BC has not learned the lessons of the Mount Polley disaster. With multiple mining projects being permitted in the transboundary watersheds, the risks to Southeast Alaska’s wild salmon rivers are multiplied. The Galore Creek Mine, even closer to where the Stikine crosses the border and many times larger than the Red Chris, is fully permitted and moving toward construction.

Tribal leaders are calling on British Columbia to reject the permit unless it includes enforceable measures to stop contamination, improve dam safety, and strengthen downstream monitoring. SkeenaWild’s recommendations should be adopted as binding conditions, and the rights of downstream Indigenous Nations to protect their waters must be upheld.