British Columbia Mine Reclamation Symposium

Winter road progressive soil remediation in the sub-arctic, abandonment and reclamation planning and the winter road environmental management system (WREMS) Barnette, Matt; Madsen, Erik; Hoos, Rick; Das, David; Matheson, Jeff

Abstract

The winter road now known as the Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road was built by Echo Bay Mine in 1982 to service the then-new Lupin Gold Mine on Contwoyto Lake. The Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road Joint Venture (JV) was formed by Echo Bay Mines and BHP Billiton Diamonds in 1999. Diavik Diamond Mines joined the JV in 2001. Echo Bay left the JV in 2006 following the closure of the Lupine Gold Mine. The approximately 600 km road is used each winter to supply mines and exploration camps in the Slave Geological Province to the northeast of Yellowknife. Since the preparation of an environmental baseline for the renewal of the License of Occupation under which the JV operates the winter road, environmental studies associated with the road have been placed on a web-based Winter Road Environmental Management System known as WREMS. As part of the JV’s environmental commitment to continuous improvement, the JV has retained EBA Engineering Consultants Ltd. (EBA) to undertake the progressive remediation of a number of historic petroleum hydrocarbon impacted sites on the winter road. The results of this progressive remediation are being stored on WREMS and incorporated into Winter Road Abandonment and Reclamation planning. These types of studies are valuable as they provide various stakeholders with certainty that the proposed remediation techniques will work in the Sub-Arctic.

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