Abandoned Mines
In 1999, the ECO received an application for investigation relating to the abandoned Kam Kotia Mine and Mill site near Timmins. Various site owners mined and processed zinc and copper there from the early 1940s through the 1960s. Subsequently, the 240-hectare site was abandoned, and then taken over by the provincial government in the late 1970s.
The applicants alleged violations of the Environmental Protection Act, the Ontario Water Resources Act, and the Fisheries Act at the Kam Kotia Mine. Specifically, the applicants alleged that mine tailings from the abandoned site were polluting both the Kamiskotia Creek and the Kamiskotia River, negatively affecting the health of fish and water fowl and destroying many hectares of forest wildlife habitat. The applicants also noted that on windy days orange acidic tailings dust caused visible air pollution.
The Ministries of Natural Resources and Environment investigated the allegations and confirmed the severity of environmental contamination to site vegetation, and to sections of both the Kamiskotia and Little Kamiskotia Rivers. MOE confirmed that six million tonnes of mine tailings and 200,000 tonnes of waste rock located on the site have generated acid discharge into the headwaters of the Kamiskotia River and the Little Kamiskotia River. The discharge to the rivers has the following characteristics:
- a pH of 2.5 (highly acidic)
- concentrations of copper exceeding Provincial Water Quality Objectives (PWQO) by 2,000 times
- concentrations of zinc exceeding PWQO by 1,000 times
- iron content exceeding PWQO by 1,000-2,000 times
- elevated levels of nickel, manganese, aluminum, magnesium, sulphate and ammonium.
In their responses to the applicants, both ministries indicated that the province has attempted to address the mine site’s public safety and environmental issues over the years by erecting fences and signs, commissioning several environmental studies, and developing an Action Plan. This Plan was deferred indefinitely due to the government’s concerns with the suitability of proposed clean-up “technology and concepts.” MOE noted that its several attempts to order former site owners legally to remediate the site proved unsuccessful. During the 1990s some exploratory work on the Kam Kotia site resulted in the development of a baseline environmental monitoring program, diversion of surface and groundwater flows away from Kamiskotia Lake and domestic wells, and rehabilitation and re-vegetation activities on the southern part of the site.
On February 24, 2000, the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines announced that the government was contributing three million dollars over three years from Ontario’s new Mine Rehabilitation Program “to begin clean-up” of the Kam Kotia site. According to MNDM, rehabilitation work will stop acid mine drainage from reaching nearby waterways and will also focus on “long-term rehabilitation options.”
In their responses to the applicants, MOE and MNR failed to acknowledge violations of the Ontario Water Resources Act and Fisheries Act and instead relied on the funding commitment to address the applicants’ concerns. But three million dollars will not be nearly enough to complete the site’s remediation. By some estimates, clean-up could cost over 15 million dollars. While the two ministries will collaborate with MNDM on the clean-up efforts, the ECO is concerned that the responses of both MNR and MOE to the applicants provided few details about the ministries’ roles and responsibilities, or about specific goals for the remediation efforts. While the ministries’ responses to the applicants should have included those details, staff from the three ministries subsequently met with the applicants and other members of the community to provide more information about the project. The ministries have agreed to keep stakeholders informed at key points in the rehabilitation project.
Abandoned mines are a grave problem, with over 6,000 of these sites located throughout Ontario. The mines are associated with both safety (often unstable ground) and environmental hazards. However, the issues need to be costed separately. Past MNDM reports have estimated the rehabilitation costs for Ontario’s abandoned mines at 300 million dollars. The costs of studying the impact of a single well-publicized site, the Deloro mine, were estimated at 12 million dollars. Yet the government’s four-year Mine Rehabilitation Program (MRP), announced in September 1999, commits a total of only 27 million dollars province-wide to address both public safety and environmental concerns.
MNDM’s plan to assess more than 3,000 former mine sites in the second year of the MRP is unrealistic. It is difficult to understand how it can apply its scarce financial resources to address both public safety and environmental hazards. These two issues need to be costed separately, since, as shown in the case of Kam Kotia, environmental costs alone are enormous.
MNDM needs to address the larger question of how to fund the exceptional expense of abandoned mine rehabilitation. The Kam Kotia mine site is only one of many environmental and public safety hazards caused by abandoned mines across the province. Because the problem of abandoned mines is long-standing and severe, the ECO urges MNDM to focus greater attention on the rehabilitation of abandoned mines and to use public consultation in the coming year to identify work- able, long-term solutions.
| Recommendation 15:
The ECO recommends that MNDM focus greater attention on the problem of abandoned mines and provide separate funding to address environmental issues. |
| This is an article from the 1999/2000 Annual Report to the Legislature from the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario. |
Citing This Article
Environmental Commissioner of Ontario. 2000. "Abandoned Mines." Changing Perspectives, ECO Annual Report, 1999-2000. Toronto, ON : Environmental Commissioner of Ontario. 105-107.
