Tuesday, May 18, 2010
8:00 Registration Opens and Coffee Served
9:00 Opening Remarks from the Conference Chair
Hugh Wilson
Vice President, Environment and Community Affairs
Tyhee NWT Corp. and
Vice President, NWT
NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines
9:15 Guidelines for Closure and Reclamation – Working Groups of the Land and Water Boards of the Mackenzie Valley
Ryan Fequet
Regulatory Specialist (Mining)
Wek’eezhii Land & Water Board
- Closure and reclamation planning – lessons learned
- What is the process for developing a closure and reclamation plan?
- Who needs to be involved, and at what stages?
- What do regulatory authorities want to see in a closure and reclamation plan?
10:00 Meadowbank Gold Mine – Reclamation Planning Update
Stéphane Robert
Environmental Superintendent
Meadowbank Division, Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd.
Larry Connell
Corporate Director of Sustainable Development
Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd.
The Meadowbank Gold Mine is Nunavut’s newest mine, in production since January of 2010. The project is located 75 km north of the community of Baker Lake and experiences extreme Arctic winter conditions. The Mine will produce on average 350,000 ounces of gold per year from 3.1 million tonnes of ore from three open pits. Development of the mine required construction of in-lake dikes to allow the dewatering of sections of Second and Third Portage Lakes that sit on top of the deposits.
This case study will discuss:
- How reclamation planning was incorporated into the early mine development planning for this project
- Update on how the major components of the Meadowbank Project are to be closed out and reclaimed, specifically:
- Open pits and the associated dewatering dikes
- Waste rock dumps
- Tailings containment area
- Mine infrastructure
- How this early reclamation planning is expected to evolve as the mine enters production
- How reclamation security was assessed
10:45 Networking Coffee Break
11:00 Con Mine Reclamation and Remediation
Bill Lyle
Director, Reclamation and Closure
Newmont Mining Corporation
- What remediation and reclamation work has been done so far?
- Discussions concerning the site reclamation/closure plan and future activities
- What proposals are on the table for the sustainable use of the site’s structures?
- What is required for Newmont to have its reclamation security refunded?
- Recovering gold during closure and reclamation
11:45 Estimating Reclamation Security and Getting it Refunded
Brad Thrall
Chief Operating Officer
Alexco Resource Corporation
- How do regulatory agencies estimate reclamation cost and calculate security?
- How to resolve discrepancies between corporate and regulatory estimates for reclamation cost?
- How does security for progressive reclamation work?
- How do companies get their reclamation security refunded?
12:30 Networking Luncheon for Delegates and Speakers
1:45 Remediation of Contaminated Soil and Debris from a Remote Site with Difficult Bedrock Terrain in the Canadian Arctic: The Radio Island Experience
Tyler Barkhouse
National Initiative Lead Oil and Gas
AECOM
Radio Island, located off the southern extremity of Resolution Island at the southeastern tip of Baffin Island, was operated as a navigational aid and weather station from 1929 to 1961. The island is about 1 km long and 0.5 km wide. It is situated on Canadian Shield bedrock and consists entirely of parallel rock ridges with soil restricted to isolated pockets in gullies. There are no roads or airstrips. All that remained on this site after its closure in 1961 were two buildings left from the original site, the remains of four others, a light beacon tower, and various types of debris scattered over the island by high winds.
This session is a case study of the unique challenges faced by the engineers and contractors in carrying out this remediation project under harsh and unpredictable weather conditions and extremely difficult terrain. We will discuss:
- Unique site logistics
- The use of soil bags for collecting and transporting contaminated soil
- The collection of various types of debris from isolated bedrock gullies
- Equipment challenges to adapt to steep bedrock terrain and small narrow bedrock gully excavations
- The use of helicopters in the remediation work
- Establishing a sealift accessible area on an adjacent island
- Polar bear control
- Water treatment from natural ponds located in bedrock gullies
- Hazardous materials handling
- Soil sampling techniques and challenges
2:30 Partnering with Government and Community — Reclamation and Remediation Efforts at Keno Hill
Clynt Nauman
President and CEO
Alexco Resource Corporation
- A view of remediation technologies, new and traditional to be considered at Keno Hill
- What is important to INAC?
- How to effectively engage communities and various levels of government in the closure/reclamation/restoration process
- Assessing the needs and requirements of surrounding communities
- Managing uncertainty and unforeseen environmental and social liabilities in the long-run
- What do Alexco and its partners envision for Keno Hill upon completion of reclamation and remediation activities?
3:15 Networking Refreshment Break
3:30 Reclamation of the Nanisivik Mine Site, Baffin Island, Nunavut
Geoff Claypool
Geological Engineer
BGC Engineering Inc.
- Importance of progressive reclamation planning
- Construction and performance of permafrost aggradation covers
- Freeze-back of a tailings deposit in closure
- Overcoming logistical challenges of mine closure in an arctic environment
- Implementation of a post closure performance monitoring plan
- Closure of mine openings and open pits
4:15 Reclamation Planning at EKATI Diamond Mine
Helen Butler
Senior Advisor Reclamation and Closure
BHP Billiton, EKATI Diamond Mine
- How to focus reclamation plans
- Timing of reclamation—when is the right time to start reclamation activities?
- Ensuring signoff and liabilities release
5:00 Conference Adjourns
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
8:00 Registration Opens and Coffee Served
9:00 Opening Remarks from the Conference Chair
Hugh Wilson
Vice President, Environment and Community Affairs
Tyhee NWT Corp. and
Vice President, NWT
NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines
9:15 Revegetation Considerations for Northern Mine Sites
Anne Naeth
Professor, Ecology and Land Reclamation
University of Alberta
- Results of revegetation and soil reclamation on processed kimberlite at BHP Billiton and Diavik
- Environmental impacts of revegetating in the North
- Appropriate plant species for revegetation
- Impact of very short growing seasons on revegetation plans
- Off site impacts of unvegetated mine waste materials including fugitive dust on adjacent ecosystems
10:00 To Cover or Not To Cover? Using Soil Covers in Cold Regions
Maritz Rykaart
Principal Geotechnical Engineer
SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc.
- Closure objectives and where soil covers fit in as a closure strategy
- Discuss cold region effects on mine waste
- Details pertaining to cold region phenomena on covers, focusing on frozen ground effects and cold region hydrologic phenomena
- Discuss information pertaining to other less-technical but key cold region effects on cover performance
- Explore potential benefits that cold region phenomena could have on application of covers
- Case studies of what cover types are most suited for cold regions
10:45 Networking Coffee Break
11:00 Managing Mine Waste in the North — A Risk Management Approach
Harvey McLeod
Vice President
Klohn Crippen Berger Ltd.
- What are the unique opportunities and risks of long term management of waste in the North?
- What effects will climate change have on frozen core tailing dams and closed impoundments?
- Why use risk assessment and what the risk assessment method does
- What risk reduction measures should be taken for long term closure?
- Applications and method – analysis of closure options
- Example results on mine closure planning
11:45 Understanding Acid Rock Drainage and Metal Leaching in the North
Scott Davidson
Senior Geoscientist
EBA Engineering Consultants Ltd.
- Northern cold climate effects on ARD and ML processes
- Discussion concerning appropriate number and distribution of samples
- Applicable criteria and guidelines for northern practitioners
- Discussion of techniques and methods for prediction and monitoring of potential effects from ARD and ML
- Infrastructure and processing modifiers that influence ARD and ML in northern environments
- Anticipating the effects of past ARD and ML from current reclamation and remediation
- Incorporation of ARD and ML testwork into water quality predictions
12:30 Networking Luncheon for Delegates and Speakers
1:45 Using Bio-Assays in Remediation Planning and Monitoring of Contaminated Sites in the Mackenzie Delta
Gordon Johnson
Global Lead – Environment
WorleyParsons
Valerie Veenstra
Ecologist
WorleyParsons
Randall Warren
Manager, DAR and Drilling Waste
Shell Canada Energy
- Review of the basis of published default criteria
- Application of site specific risk assessment
- The use of bioassays to fill assessment gaps and evaluate suitability of remediation
- Case History: Camp Farewell
- Case History: Northern Drilling Sites
2:45 Climate Change Adaptation – Actions in the North
Tanuja Kulkarni
Environmental Analyst, Climate Change Adaptation Program
Indian and Northern Affairs Canada
- Adaptation — key research findings in the North
- Northern adaptation — unique perspectives, role of traditional knowledge, building partnerships
- Federal support for adaptation work
- Territorial frameworks — three approaches to adapting to climate change
- Current projects
3:30 Recap from the Conference Chair
Conference Concludes
Conference Details
