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IKALUKTUTIAK/QAMANITTUAQ - Two of Nunavut's lakes have received federal approval to be turned into tailings ponds for gold mining projects in the territory.

Tail Lake, part of Newmont Mining Corp's Doris North Project in the Kitikmeot, and the northwest arm of Second Portage Lake, part of Agnico-Eagle's Meadowbank Project near Baker Lake, were both reclassified as tailings ponds on July 9, according to the Canada Gazette.

An amendment to the Fisheries Act, which is legally required to protect fish-bearing waters, allows lakes to be reclassified as tailings impoundment areas (TIAs). Fish are removed from the lakes, and mining companies are permitted to use the lakes to store tailings from mining projects.

Joan Scottie, a resident of Baker Lake, said that as a member of the Hunters and Trappers Organization and as an elder in the community, she does not believe adequate information about the tailings pond was provided.

She said she recently read a news article online where tailings ponds were being referred to as toxic dump sites, and she is now concerned about contaminates that may be deposited into Second Portage Lake.

Cadmium at the Meadowbank mine and soluble copper at Doris North are expected to be the most difficult contaminates to manage.

"There's a lot of questions because we don't even know when it was classified from the tailings in the first place to a toxic dump site for mines, what's the difference there?" Scottie said. "We don't understand as simple hunters."

These issues were brought up during a recent HTO meeting, and Scottie said members expressed concern that the information they had previously been given about Second Portage Lake came only from individuals with vested interests in the Meadowbank Project.

"The feeling I got is that we need to be educated in all areas of terms of meanings of technical words. We need experts and professional, unbiased information from other sources," she said. "We're not getting any help from our government or our aboriginal organization or even our hamlet council."

Larry Connell, regional manager of environment for Agnico-Eagle said the reclassification process had to go through many governing bodies, including the Kivalliq Inuit Association.

"What you should know is this mine is built on Inuit-owned land, and the Inuit made it very clear that they did not want a tailings pond built on land, they wanted it done this way because this lakebed was going to be de-watered anyway," Connell said.

The northwest arm of the lake will be drained to allow for an open pit gold mine and the mine tailings will be deposited on the lakebed, he said.

Steve Hartman, acting director of lands for KIA said based on the options presented by Agnico-Eagle, the decision to turn a portion of the lake into a tailings pond was considered the best choice.

"We've looked at the various alternatives and based on the available alternatives, the best one is Portage Lake," Hartman said.

Monetary compensation was also given to KIA for use of the lake under article 20 of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, but the amount could not be disclosed due to confidentiality agreements.

Under regulations, mining companies must provide a habitat compensation plan to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans showing how the company will counterbalance the loss of fish habitat in the lakes.

"We're building these underwater reefs just off the end of our dike so we replace the habitat that's been lost to the fish in this bay," Connell said.

Other methods of compensation will also be implemented, and the total cost for the plan is not yet known.

The fish that are removed from Second Portage Lake will be distributed to community members in Baker Lake and will most likely be used as dog food, Connell said.

The Newmont Mining Corp has also provided a habitat compensation plan for the use of Tail Lake near Cambridge Bay. Implementing the plan is estimated to cost about $3.5 million, according to Canada Gazette.

Alex Buchan, manager of community and external relations for Hope Bay Mining, a subsidiary of the Newmont Mining Corp, said the Doris North Project's habitat compensation plan involves removing boulders from a stream north of Tail Lake to aid Arctic char that spawn there.

Tail Lake currently contains approximately 1,200 lake trout and an indeterminate number of ninespine stickleback, Buchan also said. Though the plan aids a different species of fish than those found in Tail Lake, Buchan said the plan was approved by the DFO.

"It is a more important food fishery for people and it is within 10 kilometres of the project area, so I think it is more important for us to do a project that is within the proximity of our project that will definitely help fish have better habitat," he said.

The fish from Tail Lake are also likely to be distributed to communities surrounding Cambridge Bay.

The Doris North project is expected to last two years, but has been put on hold until sometime next year, Buchan said. The total incremental cost of using Tail Lake as a tailings pond is expected to cost $11.9 million.