Meadowbank gold mine's incinerator is part of the all-important waste management infrastructure at the site which ensures the mine remains in compliance with its water licence. - photo courtesy of Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. |
Mines put manpower on waste
Tools, trained workforce and significant resources smooth the way for industry
Clean drinking water and safe disposal of sewage and garbage is essential in any community. In this third part of a three-part series, Nunavut News/North reporter Michele LeTourneau looks at how Nunavut hamlets struggle to provide water and waste services to residents.
Michele LeTourneau
Northern News Services
Published Monday, October 6, 2014
NUNAVUT
Mines and exploration companies are on top of their game in regards to water licence compliance, a stark contrast to communities.
"When we deal with small and big exploration companies or mining companies, these issues are non-existent," said Damien Cote, executive director of the Nunavut Water Board, referring to expired water licences, problems with reporting and monitoring and a wide range of non-compliance issues related to waste management on the part of communities.
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Dedicated workforce
Here is a list of personnel who work solely on water and waste management at the Meadowbank gold mine at any given time. The number of workers shown are for one two-week rotation. Double the numbers to get the total staff members assigned to the tasks.
- 2 environmental technicians
- 1 geotechnical technician - dikes
- 1 environmental co-ordinator
- 2 engineers - water and geotechnical
- 2 pumpmen
- 5 operators - sewage treatment plant, incinerator, hazmat and garbage
Source: Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd
Different water licences
The basic difference between a Type A and a Type B licence or permit is that a Type A activity is likely to have more significant environmental effects than a Type B activity because it involves a higher volume of water.
More information is required in an application for a Type A activity and require a more thorough review. Type A water licences, for example, require a public hearing. Type A licencees apply to use more than 300 cubic meters of water and Type B licencees apply to use less than 300 cubic meters of water.
Source: Nunavut Water Board |
"These are not onerous obligations on the licence holders. I'm not talking about the Baffinlands of this world. I'm talking about the little Joe Blow companies with little resources."
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However, a look at just how much effort and resources are required for compliance at a small exploration site and a large mine site puts the process into perspective. The details outlined here do not include reporting and monitoring - the focus is on waste management.
Cote acknowledges that when industry "wants to come in and disrupt what is, for all intents and purposes, a pristine environment, you can expect the public to give a great deal of attention to that venture. They go through a process at a time when there is nothing there."
Exploration companies and mines are making the investment and bringing in all the required infrastructure.
Nunavut News/North spoke with David Willis, land administrator with Peregrine Diamonds Ltd, a junior exploration company. Peregrine has four active projects: Qilaq, Nanuq, Nanuq North and Chidliak. The Chidliak site is located in the southern Baffin region and operates with a Type B water licence.
Chidliak might be considered one of those "little Joe Blow companies" mentioned by Cote. It is a seasonal camp, operating a couple of months in the summer and a couple of months in the winter, with 20 to 25 employees on site at any given time, occasionally going up to 40 employees on site.
Stephane Robert, Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd's manager of regulatory affairs, is the former superintendent of environment of the company's Meadowbank gold mine located in the Kivalliq region with about 480 people on site and a Type A water licence. (Six Nunavut communities are that approximate size or smaller.)
"When you apply for a water licence, the Nunavut Water Board wants to see that you're prepared," said Willis. "That you've thought about things, that you're prepared to address water and waste issues."
Aside from having approved plans, which include mitigation measures, both Willis and Robert explain that employees who come on their sites go through an induction - a program that explains everything an employee needs to know about the site, the operation and their responsibilities.
"The primary focus is prevention," said Willis. "Understanding the licence, understanding what could go wrong, what could cause problems in the future and avoiding that. All employees go through the induction, including emergency situations we may have to respond to. The terms of the permits - we can do this, we can't do that."
At Meadowbank, Robert said, "Induction is very broad, but specifically we talk about waste management, how we segregate the waste and how they can help us to do that."
But, he adds, "if you want people to do it, you need to have the infrastructure on site."
At Meadowbank, waste management infrastructure includes a landfarm, a landfill, an incinerator, a hazardous waste management area, tailing storage facilities and waste rock storage facilities. Even Chidliak's small site has a "fairly expensive incinerator."
As much as possible is removed from the site and returned to the south for recycling.
"We have a landfill, but the landfill is only for things that are not organic - plastic, wood, some steel," said Robert. "We try to send back the majority of the steel that we can."
That's the big picture, but the waste has yet to make its way to the right locations and that's up to each individual.
"If you want people to be part of it, you need to give them all the tools to do it," said Robert. "We have posters at different locations to explain the waste management system. Everything is colour coded - this colour is for garbage that touched food, another colour will be for wood, another for steel. In the shop, we'll have different bins for hazardous materials. Near the dorms, we have bins for old batteries, for spray cans, for pop cans."
Awareness means repetition. At Meadowbank, employees have morning meetings during which they talk about a variety of topics. A regularly recurring topic is waste.
"We talk about it as much as we can, we always come back to that," said Robert. "Because if we stop speaking about (waste management), in six months people forget. We do spot checks to make sure that people are doing everything correctly. We do weekly inspections for different components and one of them is waste management."
Chidliak, being small, with only a few dozen employees on site, doesn't make it any less rigorous.
"We're also instructed to separate out our garbage," said Willis. "We don't want aerosols going into the combustible garbage. Large metal objects that are not combustible are collected and flown out for disposal at the nearest landfill. Same with empty fuel drums. We steam clean them and have them crushed and then shipped down south for disposal."
About recycling, Robert said, "First thing, when we arrived in Nunavut, we saw that nobody did any recycling. We were like, 'What's going on here?' We started recycling. It took three to four years because it's a big piece to swallow."
All of this is not to say Chidliak and Meadowbank receive perfect inspection reports when the Aboriginal and Northern Development Canada inspector comes around for his annual visit, but what is clear is these companies have the financial resources and the staff to be responsive.
"In a way it's kind of like a teacher giving an examination," said Willis. "You study hard, you prepare well, you do your best but the teacher may come in and find a small mistake here or a small mistake there. They want to help you achieve 100 per cent even if you got 98 per cent."
As an example, Willis says the inspector recommended getting water meters to calculate more precisely the volume of water going into their tanks.
"We investigated water meters and have since purchased them. We're seasonal and small enough and, generally, nimble enough, that we can respond to suggestions fairly rapidly."
Meadowbank, part of a much larger company, is also swift in its response.
"You know, the inspector comes here to make sure we comply with the licence," said Robert.
"This licence is 45 pages. So for sure we'll find something. With waste management - for sure we'll find something. For example, we had some problems last year on one component. We had a seepage that went outside the waste rock area. That happened one time. We corrected it. But, yes, things can happen."
Having properly trained staff helps.
"Like I said, it's a big licence. But we have the team to make sure that if something happens we put the proper action plan in place, and the corrective measure in place, to make sure it doesn't happen again."
Robert says the company has an environmental committee made up with employees from different departments.
"We have an environment department, but the people in charge are not us. It's really the workers that are in charge. They help us to improve the system, give us some feedback to improve continually."
Willis sympathizes with communities and recognizes some key differences.
"When you're at camp, your level of consumption is probably less. You're living communally, eating communally. It's not like you're going out and purchasing groceries or goods and unwrapping them and having all that to deal with. We're not generating a lot because we're not, as individuals, consuming a lot."
Communities are dealing with the remains of past practices and struggling to improve their performance, while living next door to the accumulated waste of decades, but mines are beginning with a clean slate and are actually in a position to positively alter the public's perception of their industry.
"I find a lot of the mining companies are living with the legacy from 60 or 70 years ago," said Willis. "One of the things I could say about Peregrine, and the whole mining industry, is they're very conscious of doing the right thing and showing that they are good custodians of the land that they have been given the permits to utilize."
