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Status report on the performance of mines subject to Metal and Diamond Mining Effluent Regulations in 2020

A summary of effluent releases of final discharge points for metal and diamond mines located in Canada. 

Executive summary

This report presents a summary of the performance of Canadian mines in 2020 with respect to the prescribed limits and requirements of the Metal and Diamond Mining Effluent Regulations (Regulations). The annual report provides information on:

Approval for release does not signify that the content reflects the views and policies of Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC).

The owners and operators of mines provided the statistics contained in this report to ECCC. The Regulations require that owners or operators report information to ECCC, including:

ECCC compiled the compliance statistics presented in this report. They are based on the information provided in monitoring report submissions and do not include unreported data.

In 2020, 5 diamond mines and 141Footnote 1,Footnote 2 metal mines in Canada were subject to the Regulations. During the year, 3 mines became subject to the Regulations and 1 mine became a recognized closed mine. Seven mines subject to the Regulations did not provide 1 or more monitoring reports. The total number of exceedances for deleterious substances and pH reported by mines was 142. Mines reported 8 acute lethality test failures for fish and 46 Daphnia magna monitoring test failures.

Schedule 2 of the Regulations lists water bodies designated as tailings impoundment areas. In 2020, 16 waters or places were listed in Schedule 2 of the Regulations.

The report provides an explanation of the 2020 data sets published on the Government of Canada’s Open Data Portal.

ECCC enforces the Regulations in accordance with the Compliance and Enforcement Policy for the Habitat Protection and Pollution Prevention Provisions of the Fisheries Act.

For all purposes of interpreting and applying the law, users should consult the Regulations. Please consult the Metal and Diamond Mining Effluent Regulations, as registered by the Clerk of the Privy Council and published in Part II of the Canada Gazette.

More information on the Regulations is available on the Metal and diamond mining effluent web page.

Acronyms and abbreviations

As
arsenic
Bq/L
Becquerel per litre
BC
British Columbia
CN
cyanide
Cu
copper
DM
Daphnia magna
ECCC
Environment and Climate Change Canada
FDP
final discharge point
ID
facility identification
m3
cubic metre(s)
MB
Manitoba
mg/L
milligram(s) per litre
NB
New Brunswick
Ni
nickel
NL
Newfoundland and Labrador
NS
Nova Scotia
NT
Northwest Territories
NU
Nunavut
ON
Ontario
Pb
lead
QC
Quebec
Ra-226
radium 226
RT
rainbow trout
SK
Saskatchewan
TIA
tailings impoundment area
TSS
total suspended solids
YT
Yukon
Zn
zinc

List of tables

  1. Table 1. Number of exceedances for deleterious substances and pH from 2011 to 2020
  2. Table 2a. Performance summary: fish acute lethality tests in 2020, by region
  3. Table 2b. Performance summary: Daphnia magna monitoring tests in 2020, by region

List of figures

  1. Figure 1. Number of mines subject to the Regulations from 2011 to 2020
  2. Figure 2. Location of mines subject to the Regulations in 2020
  3. Figure 3. Total number of exceedances for deleterious substances and pH, against number of mines from 2011 to 2020
  4. Figure 4. Total effluent volume and deleterious substances released in 2020

1. Introduction

The Metal and Diamond Mining Effluent Regulations (Regulations) aim to reduce threats to fish, fish habitat, and the use of fish by humans by improving the management of deleterious substances in metal and diamond mining effluent.

Effluent must meet concentration-based limits for arsenic, copper, cyanide, lead, nickel, zinc, total suspended solids, and radium 226. Effluent must have a pH that is between a minimum and maximum level and must not be acutely lethal. The Regulations require effluent testing and reporting, as well as environmental effects monitoring studies.

Owners and operators of mines subject to the Regulations must report information to ECCC, including effluent monitoring results. The statistics in this report are based on data provided to ECCC by the owners or operators of mines. These statistics do not include data that were not reported to ECCC.

The Regulations also include an authorization for the use of water frequented by fish for mine waste disposal if certain conditions are met. Authorization requires an amendment to Schedule 2 of the Regulations. Owners or operators of mines can request an amendment to Schedule 2 of the Regulations. This would designate a water frequented by fish as a tailings impoundment area.

For additional information, visit the Metal and Diamond Mining Effluent web page.

2. Purpose

The purpose of this report is to summarize effluent quality data and compliance of mines subject to the Regulations, as reported to ECCC. This report also summarizes the water bodies that were newly designated as tailings impoundment areas under the Regulations. The report provides an explanation of the 2020 data sets published on the Government of Canada’s Open Data Portal. This report includes data reported to ECCC within the past 10 years, where appropriate, to support trends-based analysis.

ECCC compiled this summary to inform the regulated community, other stakeholders, and the public on the performance of mines subject to the Regulations. The material is for informational purposes only. For all purposes of interpreting and applying the law, users should consult the Regulations. Please consult the Metal and Diamond Mining Effluent Regulations as registered by the Clerk of the Privy Council and published in Part II of the Canada Gazette.

Approval for release does not signify that the content reflects the views and policies of ECCC.

3. Overview

3.1 Mines subject to the Regulations

A metal or diamond mine becomes subject to the Regulations when it:

In 2020, 141Footnote 1,Footnote 2 metal and 5 diamond mines in Canada were subject to the RegulationsFootnote 3. Figure 1 shows the number of facilities subject to the Regulations from 2011 to 2020.

Figure 1. Number of mines subject to the Regulations from 2011 to 2020

Long description

A stacked column graph displaying the number of metal and diamond mines subject to the Regulations between 2011 and 2020. The figure shows that the total number of metal mines generally increases from 112 in 2011 to 146 in 2020. The number of diamond mines remains constant at 5 mines for the years 2018 to 2020.  

Figure 2 shows a map illustrating the locations of mines subject to the Regulations.

A list of mines subject to the Regulations is available on the Government of Canada’s Open Data Portal in the Identification Report document (CSV file). This document includes the following information:

Please consult the Data Dictionary (CSV file) for additional information related to this document.

Figure 2. Location of mines subject to the Regulations in 2020

Long description

A map of Canada with the locations of mines subject to the Regulations in 2020. The mines are indicated with small blue circles. They are distributed throughout Canada and mostly concentrated in Ontario and Quebec.

3.2 Mines with new regulatory status

Each mine subject to the Regulations is required to report information to ECCC until it becomes a recognized closed mine. Three mines became subject to the Regulations in 2020:

A mine, Cantung Mine in Northwest Territories, became a recognized closed mine in 2020.

3.3 Final discharge points

A final discharge point (FDP), in respect of an effluent, means an identifiable discharge point of a mine beyond which the operator of the mine no longer exercises control over the quality of the effluent. Mines are required to manage all their effluent and only to discharge effluent through FDPs.

A list of FDPs of mines subject to the Regulations is available on the Government of Canada’s Open Data Portal in the Final Discharge Points document (CSV file). This document lists all the FDPs associated with each mine and their geographical coordinates.

4. Performance of mines

4.1 Reporting requirements

Owners or operators of mines subject to the Regulations are required to provide quarterly and annual monitoring reports until the mine becomes a recognized closed mine. Quarterly reports are due not later than 45 days after the end of the calendar quarter. Annual reports are due by March 31 of the following year.

Of the 146Footnote 1,Footnote 2 mines that are subject to the Regulations, 7 mines provided no effluent monitoring reports in 2020:

At the time of publishing, the number of facilities that provided incomplete reports was not available.

4.2 Prescribed deleterious substances and pH

The Regulations include provisions to allow the discharge of metal and diamond mine effluent into water frequented by fish, subject to certain requirements. The Regulations authorize the deposit of effluent that contains a deleterious substance if:

Owners and operators of mines are required to conduct regular monitoring of effluent and report information to ECCC. Reported information includes, for each FDP:

ECCC publishes effluent quality results, as reported by operators of mines, on the Government of Canada’s Open Data Portal. The frequency of testing varies depending on the individual mine and its performance. Under the Regulations, operators test the effluent at each FDP weekly for deleterious substances and monthly for acute lethality (fish toxicity). The operator of a mine is required to record the results of all tests. The frequency of testing can be reduced to once per quarter in the following instances:

For deleterious substances, ECCC compares the individual test results for each substance with the maximum authorized concentration in a grab or composite sample set out in the Regulations. All test results in a month for each substance are used to calculate monthly mean concentrations for each FDP. ECCC evaluates the performance by comparing the monthly mean concentrations to the maximum authorized monthly mean concentration limits set out in the Regulations. Those monthly mean concentrations reported to ECCC that are above the prescribed limits represent reported exceedances.

For pH, ECCC compared the individual test results for each grab sample with the prescribed range. ECCC evaluates performance by determining how many grab samples are within the prescribed range.

Figure 3 shows the total number of exceedances for deleterious substances and pH against the number of mines subject to the Regulations from 2011 to 2020.

Figure 3. Total number of exceedances for deleterious substances and pH, against number of mines from 2011 to 2020

Long description

A clustered column - line chart displaying the total number of exceedances and the number of mines subject to the Rgulations between 2011 and 2020. The column chart displays the total number of exceedances for deleterious substances and pH on the primary Y-axis. The line chart displays the number of mines subject to the Regulations on the secondary Y-axis. The figure shows that the total number of exceedances fluctuates slightly, but with a general increase from 2011 to 2020 and a marked decrease from 240 in 2019 to 142 in 2020. The total number of mines generally increases from 112 in 2011 to 146 in 2020.  

Table 1 shows the number of exceedances for each of the deleterious substances and pH from 2011 to 2020. For 2020, there was a decrease in exceedances for several parameters, including nickel, zinc, TSS, and pH low compared to 2019.

Table 1. Number of exceedances for deleterious substances and pH from 2011 to 2020
Substance/ Parameter 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Arsenic
 2 2 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Copper
 1 3 4 4 1 2 0 0 1 1
Cyanide
 1 5 3 1 1 0 0 1 1 0
Lead      0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Nickel
 5 5 3 9 2 1 1 7 28 19
Zinc
 4 4 3 6 0 1 2 9 25 15
TSS
 53 51 30 35 29 30 30 35 59 32
Radium-226
 1 1 7 4 5 6 2 0 3 4
pH Low
 4 2 3 10 10 10 3 12 115 69
pH High
 3 1 1 3 1 2 0 4 8 1
Total
 74 74 57 73 49 52 38 68 240 142

Table A1 in Appendix A lists the following for 2020:

4.3 Fish and invertebrate toxicity

Fish acute lethality refers to tests of effluent on mortality rate to rainbow trout or threespine stickleback. Invertebrate acute lethality includes the test results submitted for Daphnia magna monitoring tests. The biological test methods publications web page provides more information on the methods prescribed by the Regulations to determine acute lethality.

Tables 2a and 2b summarize the fish mortality and Daphnia magna monitoring tests results. Metal and diamond mines subject to the Regulations conducted a total of 1,343 fish acute lethality tests. Of those tests, 6 mines reported 8 fish acute lethality tests that resulted in greater than 50% fish mortality. Mines also conducted a total of 1,340 Daphnia magna monitoring tests. Of those tests, 17 mines reported 46 tests with greater than 50% mortality.

ECCC publishes the acute lethality test results and monitoring tests as reported by operators of mines on the Government of Canada’s Open Data Portal. ECCC publishes the data in 3 separate files:

Table 2a. Performance summary: fish acute lethality tests in 2020, by region
Region* Total # of Tests # of Tests with >50% Mortality # of Mines that Reported a Failure
Atlantic 182 0 0
Ontario 275 2 2
Pacific-Yukon 212 1 1
Prairie-Northern 213 0 0
Quebec 461 5 3
Total 1343 8 6
Table 2b. Performance summary: Daphnia magna monitoring tests in 2020, by region
Region* Total # of Tests # of Tests with >50% Mortality # of Mines that Reported a Failure
Atlantic 182 4 2
Ontario 288 2 2
Pacific-Yukon 212 3 3
Prairie-Northern 199 5 3
Quebec 459 32 7
Total 1340 46 17

* Regions are classified as follows: Atlantic region includes the provinces of New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. Pacific-Yukon region includes the province of British Columbia, and Yukon Territory. Prairie-Northern region includes the provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, the Northwest Territories, and the territory of Nunavut.

Table A2 in Appendix A lists the following for 2020:

5. Volume of effluent and loading of deleterious substances

In 2020, mines subject to the Regulations deposited 1,479 million cubic meters of effluent into waters frequented by fish. Figure 4 illustrates the total volume of effluent and loading of each deleterious substance deposited by the 146Footnote 1,Footnote 2 mines subject to the Regulations in the 2020 reporting year.

Figure 4. Total effluent volume and deleterious substances released in 2020

Long description

A diverging radial chart displaying the total volume of effluent and loading of deleterious substances released in 2020. The centre circle shows the total volume of effluent deposited, encircled radially by the total amount of arsenic, cyanide, copper, nickel, lead, radium 226, total suspended solids, and zinc deposited.

ECCC compiled the 2020 data using effluent quality information provided by owners and operators of mines in their monitoring reports.

6. Water or place designated as tailings impoundment areas

The Regulations authorize the deposit of mine waste (such as waste rock, tailings, and effluent) into a tailings impoundment area (TIA) that is either:

Water bodies are listed in Schedule 2 via a regulatory amendment of the Regulations. Various requirements must be met before the Minister of the Environment can recommend the amendment to the Governor in Council. The proponent must demonstrate that the proposed option to use water bodies frequented by fish to dispose of mine waste is the best option from an environmental, technical, economic and socio-economic perspective. The proponent must also develop and implement a compensation plan to offset the loss of fish habitat. Additional information is available on the Tailings impoundment areas web page.

At the end of 2020, Schedule 2 contained 64 listings that are associated with 27 metal mines. A complete list of waters or places that have been designated as TIAs (CSV file) is available on the Government of Canada’s Open Data Portal. In 2020, Schedule 2 of the Regulations was amended to list 16 waters or places as TIAs (see below).

Water or place listed on Schedule 2 of the Regulations in 2020

7. Compliance and enforcement

ECCC’s Enforcement Branch enforces the pollution prevention provisions of the Fisheries Act and accompanying regulations to protect and prevent harm to fish, fish habitat or human use of fish. ECCC enforces the Regulations in accordance with the provisions of the Compliance and Enforcement Policy for the Habitat Protection and Pollution Prevention Provisions of the Fisheries Act. The policy sets out a range of possible responses to offences that can be used by enforcement officers. These include warnings, directions, ministerial orders, injunctions, prosecution and civil suits by the Crown for the recovery of costs. When there is evidence of an alleged violation, an enforcement officer considers the nature of the alleged offence, effectiveness in achieving the desired result with the alleged offender, and consistency in enforcement in order to determine the appropriate response.

Appendix A: Performance summary of mine effluent not meeting effluent quality standards

This appendix summarizes the number of exceedances reported by operators of mines subject to the Regulations in 2020. The summaries include site identification (that is, mine/mill name and final discharge point name) and number of months of discharge. Table A1 summarizes the distribution of the non-compliant parameters for prescribed deleterious substances and pH. The column headings for each substance and pH include the effluent quality limits for those parameters. Table A2 summarizes the results of fish acute lethality tests and Daphnia magna monitoring tests.

Prescribed deleterious substances exceedances represent the number of monthly mean concentrations that exceeded the prescribed limits for a given month. pH exceedances represent the number of months that the pH range was exceeded. The parameters included are arsenic (As), copper (Cu), cyanide (CN), lead (Pb), nickel (Ni), zinc (Zn), total suspended solids (TSS), radium 226 (Ra-226), and pH.

Table A1. Exceedance summary for facilities subject to the Regulations in 2020 prescribed parameters and pH
Mine Name Final Discharge Point Name As 0.5 mg/L Cu 0.3 mg/L CN 1.00 mg/L Pb 0.2 mg/L Ni 0.5 mg/L Zn 0.5 mg/L TSS 15 mg/L Ra-226 0.37 Bq/L pH < 6 pH > 9.5
Bellekeno Mine KV-43 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0
Bonanza Ledge Mine Sediment Control Pond (SCP-NAG) 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0
Caribou Mine Polishing Pond Discharge 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
Carol Project W3-02 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Copper Mountain Mine SW07 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
Copper Mountain Mine SW27 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
Copper Mountain Mine SW38 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
Division Goldex Effluent final parc sud 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
Eagle Gold Mine FDP5 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
Eagle River Mill MILL-POL 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
Eagle River Mine Site EA-WR 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Ekati Diamond Mine Seep-019 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0
Ekati Diamond Mine Seep-081 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
Endako Mine H-1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0
Holloway Mine Site S8 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
La Mine Niobec Effluent d'urgence 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
La Mine Niobec Effluent Final 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Mine de Fire Lake Effluent final FL-2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
Mine de Fire Lake Effluent Final FL-BC (Fossé B et Fossé C) 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0
Mine de Fire Lake Effluent final garage Fire-Lake (FLG-1) 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
Mine de Mont-Wright Effluent ES-DLR-3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Mine de Mont-Wright Effluent ES-DLR-5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 21 0
Mine de Mont-Wright Effluent ES-DLR-7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 19 0
Mine de Mont-Wright Effluent final MS-7 0 0 0 0 4 5 2 0 6 0
Mine de Mont-Wright Effluent HS-2 TEMP 0 0 0 0 1 6 0 0 0 0
Mine Géant Dormant GD-E03 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
Nyrstar Myra Falls MF.11A - Runoff Myra Pond Effluent 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0
Porcupine Gold Mines PM122 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Projet Nunavik Nickel Effluent final EXPO 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
Red Chris Mine NRDD 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
Rio Tinto Fer et Titane inc. - HAVRE-SAINT-PIERRE 166 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0
Rio Tinto Fer et Titane inc. - HAVRE-SAINT-PIERRE Aiguillage Sud 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 0
Rio Tinto Fer et Titane inc. - HAVRE-SAINT-PIERRE Ancienne Croix 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 0
Rio Tinto Fer et Titane inc. - HAVRE-SAINT-PIERRE Rh Léo 0 0 0 0 10 0 3 0 0 0
Rio Tinto Fer et Titane inc.- Complexe de Sorel-Tracy 2.5 Effluent des Poudres 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 1
Rio Tinto Fer et Titane inc.- Complexe de Sorel-Tracy Effluent final QIT (point 1.4) 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
Tata Steel Minerals Canada Outlet of Sedimentation Pond 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0
Usine Camflo inc EF-VN 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
Wabush Mines - Scully Tailings Line Emergency Dump Basin 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0
Wolverine Mine Portal Water Treatment 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
Young-Davidson MWPFD 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Total - 0 1 0 1 19 15 32 4 69 1
Table A2. Exceedance summary for facilities subject to the Regulations in 2020: fish acute lethality and Daphnia magna monitoring tests
Mine Name Final Discharge Point Name Rainbow Trout Total Rainbow Trout Fail Threespine Stickleback Total Threespine Stickleback Fail Daphnia magna Total Daphnia magna Fail
Ekati Diamond Mine Seep-511 1 0 0 0 1 1
Mine de Mont-Wright Effluent ES-DLR-5 8 0 0 0 8 5
Mine de Mont-Wright Effluent ES-DLR-7 7 0 0 0 7 3
Mine de Mont-Wright Effluent final MS-7 10 2 0 0 10 2
Mine de Mont-Wright Effluent HS-2 TEMP 9 0 0 0 9 1
Casa Berardi Effluent final- Point A 7 0 0 0 7 1
La Mine Niobec Effluent Final 11 0 0 0 11 8
Nyrstar Myra Falls MF.11A - Runoff Myra Pond Effluent 12 0 0 0 12 1
Rio Tinto Fer et Titane inc. - HAVRE-SAINT-PIERRE Aiguillage Sud 16 0 0 0 16 2
Rio Tinto Fer et Titane inc. - HAVRE-SAINT-PIERRE Ancienne Croix 10 0 0 0 10 3
Rio Tinto Fer et Titane inc. - HAVRE-SAINT-PIERRE Rh Léo 25 2 0 0 25 3
Voisey's Bay Mine Site Treated Effluent Final Discharge Point 4 0 0 0 4 3
Huckleberry Mines Ltd. TRO - Tahtsa Reach Outflow 6 0 0 0 6 1
HBMS Flin Flon Metallurgical Complex North Weir 4 0 0 0 4 3
Porcupine Gold Mines Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) 6 1 0 0 6 1
Impala Canada Ltd. FDP1 6 1 0 0 6 1
Rio Tinto Fer et Titane inc.- Complexe de Sorel-Tracy EFF2.2-P84 13 1 0 0 13 0
Mine de Fire Lake Effluent final garage Fire-Lake (FLG-1) 1 0 0 0 1 1
Mine du Lac Bloom EFF-REC2 Effluent de l'unité de traitement eaux usées et bassins de recirculation 12 0 0 0 12 1
Projet Nunavik Nickel Effluent final Mésamax 6 0 0 0 6 2
Ming Copper-Gold Mine Waste Water Treatment System Discharge 12 0 0 0 12 1
Silvertip Mine Effluent Discharge 1 (ED1) 16 1 0 0 16 0
Birchtree Mine Birchtree Effluent Treatment Plant Discharge 4 0 0 0 3 1
Copper Mountain Mine SW09 2 0 0 0 2 1
Total - 208 8 0 0 207 46

Appendix B: Regulatory data available on the Government of Canada’s Open Data Portal

ECCC publishes data submitted by operators of mines subject to the Regulations on the Government of Canada’s Open Data Portal. ECCC has developed a Data Dictionary that includes a list and description of the data fields included in the dataset. Please consult the Data Dictionary (CSV file) for additional information on the data published.

Listed below are the data files published on the Government of Canada’s Open Data Portal in the order they are included in the Annual Report by ECCC. Descriptions of the data contained in each file are listed as sub-bullet points.

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