| Principal Investigator: | Horrocks, Kimberley (1) |
| Licence Number: | 13928 |
| Organization: | De Beers Canada Inc. |
| Licensed Year(s): |
2021
2020
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| Issued: | Jan 18, 2006 |
| Project Team: | Karen Murchie, William Nalley, Bill Tibble, Sophia Granchinho, Sharon Vogel, Hilary Machtans, Edward Lem, Christopher Pullen, Katherine Gerein, John Virgil, Damian Panayi, Kelly Bourassa, Chris Madland, Richard Schryer, Brent Topp, Mark Ealey, Nathalie Cooper, Demitria Burgoon, Ken DeVos, Bill Purdy, Mark Digel, Allison Humphries, Jean Bussey |
Objective(s): To meet requirements under a land use permit, water license, and Fisheries Authorization, as well as to meet De Beers’ corporate commitments to the environment.
Project Description: The objective of this environmental monitoring program is to meet requirements under a land use permit, water license, and Fisheries Authorization, as well as to meet De Beers’ corporate commitments to the environment. Information collected during field sampling and observations will build on existing data and will be used towards: 1) contributing to monitoring data available for assessing and managing future potential environmental effects during construction and operations; 2) determining the natural range of variability for a number of environmental parameters; 3) identifying potential mitigation to reduce impacts to the surrounding environment; 4) refining the monitoring program for measuring environmental effects associated with the Snap Lake Project; and 5) contributing to regional studies for assessing and managing potential cumulative effects. The monitoring program will cover an assessment of aquatic and wildlife resources, vegetation, and air quality. Aquatics assessment will involve monitoring of water quality, zooplankton and phytoplankton communities, benthic communities, sediment quality, and fish health as outlined under the Aquatics Effects Monitoring Program (as stipulated in the water licence). Wildlife resources assessment will consist of a monitoring program which incorporates all Valued Ecosystem Components, involving the evaluation of direct and indirect effects of mining activity on caribou, grizzly bear, wolverine, wolf, and falcons through visual surveys (ground and aerial). Vegetation assessment will occur within Ecological Land Classification units and will involve monitoring permanent plots in test and control areas to determine species composition and plant health, as well as the effects of various reclamation methods on re-vegetation and soil properties. Air quality assessment involves operation of dust samplers on site, the collection and processing of meteorological data, and the collection of lichen and vascular plants to measure contaminant uptake levels from areas in proximity to dust fall. Transportation for these various activities includes truck, foot, helicopter, fixed-wing planes, snowmobiles, and boat. Results of these studies become part of the public record following review and acceptance by the appropriate government agencies, along with the Snap Lake Working group (which is made up of government agencies and aboriginal community members). The study will be conducted at Snap Lake and within the 33km radius of the base camp location (63° 39’ 9.5” 110° 59’ 39.4”) from January 18 to October 31, 2006. Specific locations of data collection are as follows: Snap Lake (63°39’ 9.5” 110° 59’ 39.4”), Northeast Lake (63° 39’ 31.2480” 110° 46’ 40.1160”), King Lake Outlet (63 ° 46’ 19.0200” 110 ° 38’ 36.3120”), and Stream 27 (63 ° 36’ 7.3” 110 ° 57’ 26.3”).
