Ch. 3 Land - Environment Yukon

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Hard Rock Mining Properties – Exploration Before the federal mining land use regulations were implemented in 1998, several companies voluntarily cleaned up their sites. ■ In Macmillan Pass, Pan Pacific cleaned up their property in the Jason Knoll area and 15 years ago initiated a trench, drill pads and roads reclamation program which Mining Related Legislation included the collection and testing of local grasses to revegetate disturbances. ■ Noranda has cleaned up its old exploration sites on claims throughout the Yukon. ■ In the Bonnet Plume area, Pamicon and Westmin have flown out fuel barrels left from oil and gas exploration in the 1970s. Existing Legislation: 1 Yukon Placer Mining Act (federal) allows the staking of placer claims and leases. 2 Yukon Quartz Mining Act (federal) allows for the staking of mineral claims. Development and production at minesites requires a Quartz Mining Licence issued under Part II of the Act. 3 Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (federal) requires the environmental impact assessment and review of development projects requiring federal approval, federal funding or federal disposition of land. 4 Territorial Lands Act (federal) regulates land use activities. This act does not apply to mineral claims but will apply to the building or maintenance of access roads to mineral properties. 5 Yukon Waters Act (federal) regulates water usage and controls the deposition of waste into Yukon waters, bridge and stream crossings. Because what happens to the land affects what is deposited in water, provisions in water licences often contain requirements related to land, such as measures to stabilize waste dumps. The Yukon Territory Water Board is responsible for the issuing water licences. 6 Fisheries Act (federal) provides for protection of fish habitat, alteration, destruction or disruption of fish and fish habitat including the regulation of stream crossings. 7 Yukon Quartz/Placer Mining Land Use Regulations (federal) regulate the exploration and placer mining activities including camp cleanliness, reclamation of trenches or mining cuts, roads and drillpads. Proposed Legislation: ■ Development Assessment Process Act will apply to all development activities that may have an adverse impact on the Yukon’s environment, people or communities. ■ Several other companies, such as Kennecot, on their Scheelite Dome property, Eagle Plains Resources on their Rusty Spring property, Cominco LTD on their JC property and several more, spent considerable time and money reclaiming or cleaning sites. While several mining companies have taken steps to clean up their remote sites, the effect of exploration in remote wilderness areas continues to raise concerns from environmentalists. This is especially clear when mineral exploration takes place in heritage river corridors, such as the Bonnet Plume, or within proposed park boundaries, such as around Tombstone Mountain. (see Chapter 3 Protected Areas) Coal Exploration Property Division Mountain Cash Resources Ltd reclaimed its Division Mountain property on an ongoing basis during its exploration programs. Care was taken not to disturb areas underlain by permafrost during road construction, overburden from drill sites was stock piled and then replaced, and trenches were backfilled and revegetated with native grass seed and local trees. Tree stumps and branches were placed back on the refilled trenches to restrict access, winter and summer, to recreational vehicles and to lessen disturbance to wildlife. Research Initiatives Mining projects in the Yukon are subject to environmental assessment under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (CEAA) and, soon, under the Development Assessment Process (DAP). Scientific uncertainty is a factor during assessment of mining projects due to new technology, different combinations of technology and northern environmental conditions, or simply different impacts from toxicelement releases to the environment. 5 0 ❧ Y U K O N S T A T E O F T H E E N V I R O N M E N T R E P O R T 1999
This creates uncertainty and delays in project development and may translate into higher development costs and increased potential liabilities to government. It would be beneficial to create a favourable environment to facilitate finding solutions before environmental problems in the Yukon arise. This approach was used for the Mine Environment Neutral Drainage (MEND) program. The MEND program was a cooperative effort between Canadian mining companies and provincial and federal departments. It was designed to develop and apply new technologies to prevent and control acid mine drainage. It is estimated that the liability due to acidic drainage has decreased by at least $400 million due to a research investment of $17.5 million over the eight year life of the program. The MEND program was completed in December 1997; however, in light of its success, a post-MEND initiative funded by NRCan and the Mining Association of Canada emphasizing technology transfer has commenced. The Mining Environment Research Group (MERG) is a cooperative working group of government agencies, mining companies, Yukon First Nations and non-government organizations for the promotion of research into mining and environmental issues in the Yukon. Participants bring their resources and knowledge to work cooperatively on mining environmental issues and projects in an advisory capacity. PROGRESS &CHALLENGES Progress since 1995 ■ Viceroy Minerals Corporation won the 1999 Robert E. Leckie Award for its ongoing reclamation work at the Brewery Creek gold mine near Dawson City. In the placer mining category, Tic Exploration cap- tured the award for its reclamation practices on Gladstone Creek. ■ Pamicon Developments Ltd undertook the clean up of the Fairchild property at Bonnet Plume on its own initiative. At the Copper Point camp, all garbage was picked up by hand and the disturbed area was re-seeded. ■ The Mine Environment Neutral Drainage (MEND) Program was designed to apply new technologies to prevent and control mine contamination through mine drainage. Challenges ■ Reclamation of abandoned hardrock mines. ■ Achieving oil and gas development with minimal environmental impacts, particularly in the area of carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide emissions. ■ The clean up of contaminants in old exploration sites and mines across the Yukon. 3.5 Solid Waste Not so long ago, one main word was used to describe the items that people no longer wanted. Everything from old tires to empty paint cans was called garbage and chucked into the local dump. Today we are much more sophisticated about the subject of garbage, both in how we define it and how we handle it. Solid and special waste are two classifications that we have for garbage today. There are strict definitions for each of these terms, and we have come a long way in setting regulations for managing different types of waste. Unfortunately, we now generate so much waste, and so many different types of it, that action to reduce and manage it is essential. Yukoners throw out on average almost two kilograms of trash per day. This adds up to about 700 kilograms of waste/person/year. But efforts are being made at every level to reduce this amount 1. There are federal and territorial objectives to reduce the 1988 volume of waste by 50 per cent by year 2000. In 1995, the City of Whitehorse was diverting 16 per cent of its waste stream. It has increased that amount to 21 per cent, and started new programs in 1999 to divert even more waste from the landfill. Since the publication of the 1995 State of the Environment Report, several major initiatives have been introduced to deal with waste in the territory. These include: City of Whitehorse: ■ 1998 Solid Waste Action Plan Yukon government Environment Act Regulations: ■ Beverage Container Regulation – amended in 1996 and 1998 ■ Contaminated Sites Regulations – January 1997 ■ Storage Tanks Regulations – January 1997 ■ Spills Regulations – January 1997 ■ Solid Waste Regulations – 2000 All of these initiatives will help both to reduce waste and manage it more responsibly. While more progress is still needed, a brief look at the past shows how much we have improved already in some areas. History of Yukon Wastes Before the Klondike Gold Rush, the territory did not have a garbage problem. First Nations had no dangerous wastes to worry about, and all of their garbage would have been organic. The World War Two era is often seen as the time when garbage, pollution and special wastes became an issue in the Yukon. When the Alaska Highway, the Canol Road and Pipeline, the airports of the C H A P T E R 3 L A N D ❧ 5 1
Page 1 and 2: The Yukon is situated in the northw
Page 3 and 4: number of humans is immense. As cou
Page 5 and 6: Different data sources for 1999 tha
Page 7 and 8: ■ protecting core areas within ea
Page 9 and 10: within the study area in February 1
Page 11 and 12: 3.4 Mining Mining has been an impor
Page 13 and 14: An environmental review committee,
Page 15 and 16: Reclamation and Abandonment When th
Page 17: first bar of gold on November 23, 1
Page 21 and 22: every year in the Yukon, but the an
Page 23 and 24: Direct Costs: ■ Picking up Whiteh
Page 25 and 26: The Yukon’s beverage container re
Page 27 and 28: Contaminant? In Carcross, the recen
Page 29 and 30: PROGRESS & CHALLENGES Since the 199
Page 31 and 32: with the objective of import replac
Page 33 and 34: still exist along the old trails an
Page 35 and 36: 3.8 Tourism Tourism is gaining impo

Ch. 3 Land - Environment Yukon

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?