NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Principal Investigator: Bailey, Alexandra
Licensed Year(s): 2016
Summary: The primary objective of this research is to analyze near-surface tailings from the tailings ponds and shoreline at Giant Mine in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, and to distinguish the arsenic-hosting phases in both the bulk tailings and the fine fraction of the tailings from the site. The research team will initially take near-surface samples of tailings - from which windblown dust may be ...

Principal Investigator: Van Den Berghe, Martin
Licensed Year(s): 2016 2015
Summary: The purpose of this study is to determine whether the arsenic present in regional lake sediments is of natural or anthropogenic origin, and whether these lakes act as a sink (capture) or a source (release) of arsenic in the overlying lake waters. By evaluating the relative stability of arsenic species in these different chemical media, the research team may establish the long term trends of arseni...

Principal Investigator: Chételat, John
Licensed Year(s): 2015
Summary: The main objective of this study is to investigate the ecosystem health of Yellowknife Bay. We will address the following questions through a field study: 1) What is the quality of water and sediment in Yellowknife Bay (focusing on metals, nutrients and cyanobacteria)? 2) What are the main sources and transport pathways of metals accumulating in the food web of Yellowknife Bay? 3) How much of ...

Principal Investigator: Chételat, John
Licensed Year(s): 2014 2013
Summary: Yellowknife Bay on Great Slave Lake is a water body of cultural, subsistence and recreational importance for the Yellowknives Dene First Nation (YKDFN) and residents of Yellowknife. The ecosystem health of Yellowknife Bay has been impacted by historical mining releases of metals (particularly arsenic), as well as long-range atmospheric transport of metals such as mercury from far-away human emissi...

Principal Investigator: Reimer, Kenneth J.
Licensed Year(s): 2012
Summary: The objectives of this research is to: determine total arsenic and arsenic species in edible and non-edible mushrooms from contaminated and uncontaminated locations (mine properties and roadsides/parks); determine total arsenic and arsenic species in plants including Labrador tea, horsetails, buffaloberry, fireweed and berries (if available) from contaminated and uncontaminated locations (mine pro...

Principal Investigator: Nash, Tyler J
Licensed Year(s): 2012
Summary: The objective of this research project is to assess the sediment quality of Baker Creek. This will be achieved by analyzing factors influencing arsenic mobility from sediments to overlying water and assessing the toxicology of the sediments using exposure tests on indicator organisms. Core samples of Baker Creek sediments will be taken by the researchers using aluminum pipes driven into the gro...

Principal Investigator: Reimer, Kenneth J.
Licensed Year(s): 2010
Summary: The objectives of this research are to: 1. Determine total arsenic and arsenic species in water from Kam Lake and Meg Lake, 2. Determine total arsenic and arsenic species in porewater (which is a link between sediments and overlying water) from Kam Lake and Meg Lake, 3. Determine plankton communities, and total arsenic and arsenic species in plankton fractions, 4. Determine arsenic in food sou...

Principal Investigator: Bromstad, Mackenzie J
Licensed Year(s): 2010
Summary: The objective of this project is to understand why arsenic trioxide (As3+) is still present in soils around Giant Mine, how long it will remain there, and if the set of circumstances leading to persistent As3+-rich soil may apply to any other places previously assumed to be As3+-free. In terms of current mine remediation, future human contact with the site, and ecosystem health, it needs to be und...

Principal Investigator: Drysdale, Jessica A
Licensed Year(s): 2009
Summary: The objective of this study is to identify how arsenic is bound in the sediments, and determine the role of microbial activity in arsenic mobility. It is anticipated that the results of this research will benefit the design of a constructed wetland, which is expected to be part of site remediation. The researchers propose to sample sediments and surface and pore water from the Ho-Hum Lake wetla...

Principal Investigator: Sealey, Heather N
Licensed Year(s): 2009
Summary: Arsenic was introduced to Ho-Hum Lake when it was used as a tailings pond during mining activities at Terra Mine, of the Silver Bear Mines Group. The objective of this study is to determine how arsenic is being removed from the lake water by a wetlands area. The intention for collecting data will include water and sediment sampling in Ho-Hum Lake, Moose Bay, and the wetlands between them. Seq...