PAG rock and the Porteau Cove Rock Slide on the Sea to Sky Job
PAG means "potentially acid generating"....I won't go into the deep details, but some kinds of rock interact with water to produce an acid tainted environment. This isn't the stuff that might burn you hands, but it will eat at reinforcing steel over time. It is generally considered to be an environmental problem in large mines where water run-off can poison the downstream areas and oceans ( see Britannia mine site history ) On the Sea to Sky highway job, the PAG sites were identified by engineers and geo-techs and flagged for removal from the site. All of the ID'd PAG material was trucked to this site at Porteau Cove, and loaded onto this barge. I have no clue where it was shipped to, or whether it was dumped in one of the government approved ocean dumping grounds ( yes, we actually have those...there is an active one just off Point Grey) These are photos from the fly-overs and photo shoots during the construction of the new highway Metro Blasting ...