— Province will fill mine pit and add bat gates —

(OSOYOOS TIMES — October 31, 2007) —

The abandoned Lakeview Dividend Mine on the west side of Osoyoos will soon be safer, the result of a stabilization and reclamation project by the Province.
A gold mine, Dividend operated from 1912 to 1964, with some work stoppage during the years of the Second World War. In the succeeding decades, it has acted as a place to party for some of Osoyoos' residents.
An underground mine with a large opening, or 'glory hole' in miner-speak, Butch Morningstar describes Dividend as basically a big pit with a number of tunnels. Morningstar is Executive Regional Director of the Mining and Minerals Division of the B.C. Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources.
Now we're faced with a couple of issues around public safety, Morningstar said at a media briefing last week, adding that people like to go down into the tunnels.
There are three levels of them.
In recent years, residential housing subdivisions have begun encroaching on the area around Dividend, drawing extra attention to the safety issue.
Scheduled to begin in November, the construction will fill in the open pit. It will also remove the large rock pinnacle from the top of the mine, and install 'bat gates' “ grate-like devices designed to keep humans out while allowing free passage for bats.
There are two species of the winged creatures living in the mine, said Bill Steller. Steller is Senior Rockwork Engineer with EBA Engineering Consultants, the firm hired by the Province to conduct the work.
There is bat habitat on a couple of levels, Steller said. We're accommodating the bats to the point where they stay in the place.
As far as filling in Dividend's entrance, Steller said his hope is to use excavated materials from subdivision construction. He'll need enough dirt to fill 50,000 cubic metres.
The engineer said he also plans to use as much local labour as possible. He said the rough estimated cost for the project is $1.5 million.
Both the Province and EBA want nearby residents to realize that they may experience noise and even vibrations as a result of the construction. Those residents were given a construction notice, and will be kept up-to-date during the process.
Temporary roads will be replaced with native vegetation once construction is done.
The reclamation is scheduled to be completed by the spring of 2008.