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24-MMP-A6 Mining and the Environment · December 2018

Question 2 of 6: Mining Acts and Regulations

Nivaar worked solution (AI-drafted; not reviewed by a licensed engineer)

Notes on this paper

EGBC National Exam — Mining and Mineral Processing Engineering, 09-MMP-A6 Mining and the Environment, 2018-Dec. 3 hours duration, open book (any non-communicating calculator permitted). SIX questions are printed on the paper; FIVE questions constitute a complete exam paper, and only the first five questions as they appear in the answer book are marked. Most questions require a concise, point-form-acceptable answer rather than a full essay. Every question is solved in full below (including all six, not just the five a candidate would normally submit) so this set also serves as complete study material.

Reference texts: Government of Canada, Fisheries Act and the Metal and Diamond Mining Effluent Regulations (MDMER, the current name for the exam's "Metal Mining Effluent Regulations"); Government of Canada, Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA); Government of Canada, Impact Assessment Act (successor to the 2012 Canadian Environmental Assessment Act named in the exam); Government of Canada, Species at Risk Act; International Network for Acid Prevention (INAP), Global Acid Rock Drainage (GARD) Guide; Price, W.A., MEND Report 1.20.1, Prediction Manual for Drainage Chemistry from Sulphidic Geologic Materials (1997/2009); Canadian Dam Association (CDA), Dam Safety Guidelines (2013/2019); Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management (GISTM, 2020); Vick, S.G., Planning, Design, and Analysis of Tailings Dams (1990); ATSDR, Toxicological Profiles for mercury; BC Ministry of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation, Health, Safety and Reclamation Code for Mines in British Columbia.

Question 2: Mining Acts and Regulations (20 marks)

Question text not reproduced: the examination questions are © Engineers and Geoscientists BC. Open the official past paper (linked at the top of this page) to read the question, then follow the worked solution below.

A. Three Acts/Regulations – objective, year, custodian (9 marks)

Selected Acts/Regulations governing mining and the environment
Act/RegulationOverall objective & relation to mining (2 marks)Most up-to-date citation year (0.5)Custodian agency (0.5)
Canadian Environmental Protection ActFederal framework for pollution prevention and management of toxic substances (including metals and other listed substances released by mine sites); underpins the National Pollutant Release Inventory that mines must report to annually.1999Environment and Climate Change Canada
Canadian Environmental Assessment ActRequires an up-front federal environmental assessment of "designated projects" – new mines and major expansions above capacity thresholds – before a project can proceed, assessing effects on the environment, health and Indigenous rights and imposing binding conditions.2012 (superseded 2019 by the Impact Assessment Act)Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (now the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada)
Species at Risk ActFederal statute to prevent extirpation/extinction of listed wildlife species and support recovery, including protection of critical habitat that a mine footprint, water use or noise/light disturbance may affect.2002Environment and Climate Change Canada (Canadian Wildlife Service), with Fisheries and Oceans Canada for aquatic species
Check: candidates may reasonably choose any three of the four listed Acts/Regulations (the Fisheries Act is answered separately and in more depth in Part B, which is why CEPA/CEAA/SARA are selected here); "most up to date citation year" for a periodically re-enacted or replaced statute is genuinely ambiguous – the year of the current governing consolidation is given above.

B. Fisheries Act / Metal and Diamond Mining Effluent Regulations (11 marks)

i) Deleterious substance and two prescribed examples (3 marks). Under s.34(1) of the Fisheries Act, a "deleterious substance" is any substance that, if added to water, would degrade or alter – or is likely to degrade or alter – the quality of that water so that it is rendered or is likely to be rendered deleterious to fish or fish habitat or to the use by humans of fish that frequent that water; the definition also captures water that already contains such a substance in a quantity or concentration that would have that effect. The MDMER's Schedule 4 prescribes numeric maximum authorized concentrations for a defined list of deleterious substances in mine effluent, including arsenic and copper (other prescribed substances on the same schedule include cyanide, lead, nickel, zinc, total suspended solids, radium-226, and un-ionized ammonia).

ii) Authority to Deposit – the three conditions (3 marks). Absent a transitional authorization, a mine may deposit an effluent containing a deleterious substance under s.36(3) if: (1) the effluent's deleterious-substance concentrations and pH do not exceed the maximum authorized limits prescribed in Schedule 4; (2) the deposit occurs only through an identified, characterized final discharge point that is described and reported to the authorization officer as the Regulations require; and (3) the mine carries out the prescribed Environmental Effects Monitoring (biological and water/sediment quality monitoring) demonstrating the receiving environment is not adversely affected beyond what the standards anticipate.

Check: the exact wording of the "three conditions" varies by MDMER amendment year (Schedule 4 effluent-quality standards, Schedule 5 monitoring/reporting, and Schedule 6 Environmental Effects Monitoring are the current three-schedule structure) – the answer above captures the substance (meet effluent limits; use a defined/monitored discharge point; run EEM) that any version of the three-condition test requires.

iii) True/False (5 marks)

Metal and Diamond Mining Effluent Regulations True/False statements
#AnswerReasoning
1TrueSection 36(3)'s prohibition applies specifically to a deposit in water frequented by fish (or a place from which the substance may reach such water). A disposal area genuinely confined by anthropogenic or natural structures that is not itself a natural water body frequented by fish falls outside that prohibition – which is precisely why the MDMER's Schedule 2 listing process exists, to authorize the exception when a proponent instead wants to use an actual fish-bearing water body as a tailings impoundment area.
2FalseDilution of effluent with water or another effluent for the specific purpose of meeting concentration limits is expressly prohibited – a mine must treat effluent to the prescribed standard, not achieve compliance by diluting it.
3TrueIdentification and characterization of every final discharge point (location plans, design/maintenance description, receiving water body) is a standard MDMER reporting/notification requirement to the authorization officer.
4FalseAcute lethality testing is required on a quarterly (every three-month) basis for each final discharge point, not monthly.
5TrueEnvironment Canada's Reference Method EPS 1/RM/14 (Daphnia magna) is one of the two prescribed acute lethality reference methods, paired with EPS 1/RM/13 for rainbow trout.
Check: statement 4's exact testing frequency and the reference-method numbering in statement 5 are quoted from the MDMER as commonly cited in course notes; both have been subject to periodic amendment and should be checked against the current consolidated Regulations before relying on the specific figures in practice.