Environmental Agreement Annual Report 2005 & Environmental Impact Report 2006, Summary (BHP Billiton, 2006)
This combined Environmental Agreement Annual Report 2005 and Environmental Impact Report 2006 from BHP Billiton summarizes environmental monitoring and management at the Ekati Diamond Mine in the Northwest Territories, evaluating compliance with water licences and environmental agreements across air, land, water, and wildlife parameters. The report indicates that while Ekati operated within licence terms in 2005, monitoring has detected various environmental effects ranging from negligible to minor, including dust and metal deposition, changes in aquatic habitats, caribou avoidance of the mine site, and shifts in bird populations, with adaptive management strategies in place to address these issues.
- Date
- 2006
- Document type
- report
- Parties
- BHP Billiton Diamonds Inc., Rescan Environmental Services Ltd., Independent Environmental Monitoring Agency (IEMA), Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (DIAND), Wek'eezhii Land and Water Board, Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board, NWT Water Board, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Kitikmeot Inuit Association, Yellowknives Dene, Dene peoples, Dogrib peoples, Métis, Copper Inuit, Tlicho peoples
- Locations
- Ekati Diamond Mine, Lac de Gras, Lac du Sauvage, Coppermine River, Kugluktuk, Arctic Ocean, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Ursula Lake, Leslie Lake, King Pond, Long Lake Processed Kimberlite Containment Facility, Cujo Lake, Kodiak Lake, North Panda Lake, Grizzly Lake, Bearclaw Lake, Polar Lake, Nema Lake, Moose Lake, Panda Pit, Koala Pit, Sable Mine, Pigeon Mine, Beartooth Mine, Misery Mine, Fox Mine, Lac de Gras Narrows, Bathurst caribou herd range, Arctic barrenlands, Coppermine River Watershed, Nunavut
- Parameters
- air quality, dust emissions, fugitive dust, diesel emissions, greenhouse gas emissions, metals in air (aluminium, nickel, iron, magnesium), water quality, total suspended solids (TSS), water discharge, water treatment, sewage treatment, processed kimberlite, salt and metals in water, nitrate spills, ammonium nitrate, groundwater levels, permafrost, active layer, surface hydrology, lake dewatering, stream flow, aquatic habitat, phytoplankton, zooplankton, benthic invertebrates, periphyton, fish populations (lake trout, Arctic grayling, burbot, round whitefish, slimy sculpin), fish habitat, fish mortality, vegetation cover, plant revegetation, lichen, caribou abundance and movement, caribou avoidance of mine, caribou habitat, caribou vehicle collisions, grizzly bears, wolverines, wolves, foxes (red fox, Arctic fox), bird populations and nesting, bird collisions with vehicles, ptarmigans, falcons, geese, archaeological sites, heritage sites, land disturbance, project footprint, mine closure and reclamation, wind power generation, energy efficiency