Base de données de recherche des TNO

Régions: Sahtu Settlement Area

étiquettes: contaminants, environmental assessment, site remediation, mining impacts, fish sampling, bioaccumulation, vegetation, sediment, benthic invertebrates, site decommission, cumulative effects, tissue sampling, metal concentrations, tailings disposal

Objectif(s): This 5-day sampling program will involve fisheries, aquatic, and vegetation studies at/in the vicinity of the abandoned Port Radium Mine site. The studies will include: 1) sediment metal concentration analysis, to determine if remediation of the sediments in Great Bear Lake is required; 2) benthic invertebrate metal tissue analysis; 3) benthic invertebrate diversity; 4) whitefish myomere and liver tissue metal concentration analysis (20 samples); 5) water metal analyses; and 6) plant, lichen and mushroom metal concentration analysis (259 samples). All samples will be analyzed for the presence of five biologically significant metals (antimony, arsenic, lead, nickel and zinc). Samples will be compared to existing metal concentrations and biotic diversity in neighboring areas of the Northwest Territories, including Great Slave Lake, to provide a better understanding of potential temporal or spatial effects of the abandoned mine site on the biotic community. If it is determined that the presence of tailings in Great Bear Lake at the Port Radium Mine site has had detrimental effects on the biotic community, it may be possible to determine the mechanism by which the tailings have affected the community and develop a mitigation strategy to negate or minimize these effects.