In late 1994, Golder Associates' Saskatoon office was retained by Placer Dome Canada Ltd. (PDC) to assist in an environmental impact statement and biophysical assessment required for a gold mine located in northwestern Ontario. Golder's staff in Mississauga, Ontario had already been involved at this site performing such services as tailings pond site selection and hydrological surveys. Called the Musselwhite Project, this gold mine became subject to the new Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (CEAA) when the law came into effect in January 1995. The Musselwhite Project has since become the first mining project in Canada to require review under this Act.

The CEAA established, for the first time in a federal statute, a process for conducting environmental assessments of any projects that involve the federal government. The Act includes those projects that require federal permits or licensing; or those projects in which the federal government sells, leases or transfers control of land or contributes financially. The Musselwhite Project will require federal permits and licenses and, therefore, must meet the CEAA requirements.

The Musselwhite Gold Mine has a life expectancy of 15 years. Already 9.7 million tons of mineable reserves have been identified there. Pending approval by the government, the ore will be mined using a combination of open pit and shaft mining. Construction of the mine was scheduled to begin in November 1995. Several environmental control plans will be implemented at this site including cyanide recycling within the mill; treatment of tailings slurry using the Inco SO2/Air process; recycling of tailings pond supernatant to the mill to be used as process water; and directing of pit water, wastewater run-off, and site run-off to the polishing ponds for treatment prior to release.

Golder is designing the environmental assessment work with an overall ecosystems approach which follows not only the CEAA requirements, but also the guidelines of the Environmental Effects Monitoring (EEM) Program. The EEM Program guidelines are set by the regulatory groups Environment Canada and Fisheries and Oceans Canada. While the pulp and paper industry in Canada is the only area currently required by law to follow the EEM programs, similar programs are being developed for the mining industry. It is anticipated those requirements will be in place by the time the Musselwhite Project is in the operational phase.

The Musselwhite gold mine site

As part of the CEAA process, Golder developed a specific work plan for the Musselwhite Project that addressed environmental concerns. This environmental assessment work plan was based on discussions with regulatory agencies such as the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Environment Canada, Canadian Wildlife Service, and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans as well as First Nations in the surrounding area.

To date, several surveys have been completed, including: a late winter ungulate survey, furbearer track count and small mammal surveys, and a northern pike spawning survey. Also completed is a detailed fish habitat mapping of the project area, a lake sturgeon creel survey with the local First Nations, a collection of fish tissues for metals analysis, and passerine and waterfowl inventories.

The information collected has been incorporated into the Environmental Impact Statement. It will be used to document the existing fish, wildlife, water quality and habitat of the area, and it also will be used to assess the potential impacts of terrestrial and aquatic habitat loss, metals release to the environment, changes in water quality, and increased access to the wilderness areas around Musselwhite.

Work scheduled on the environmental assessment has been completed including: a detailed wetland community evaluation, a vegetation inventory and delineation of ecological land classes, additional fish spawning surveys, a benthic invertebrate study, a sediment collection program and an early winter ungulate survey.

In addition to fulfilling the requirements of the new CEAA and the EEM program, all information collected will be used to design reclamation plans - with the final goal being the restoration of the project area to as near baseline conditions as possible. Reclamation activities will likely include planting native trees, such as jack pine, and planting seed mixtures developed at the PDC Donna Lake Mine, which is located in the same region of Ontario.