Mary River Project
Pre-Hearing Conference Presentation
Igloolik, and Pond Inlet, Nunavut
November 6-7 and 9-10, 2011
Outline
1. Mandate & role
2. Technical Review Recommendations
 Earth sciences
3. Questions
NRCan’s Mandate
Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) seeks to enhance the
responsible development and use of Canada’s natural resources
and the competitiveness of Canada’s natural resources products.
NRCan’s Role in this review
 Regulatory role – Explosives Act
 Earth sciences expertise:
 Permafrost and Geotechnical Science
 Coastal Geomorphology, Climate Change
 Geotechnical Engineering and Natural
Hazards
Technical Review Recommendations Permafrost and Geotechnical Science
 NRCan provided 12 recommendations
regarding:
 Maintaining waste rock pile frozen conditions
 Modelling to ensure a permafrost barrier the
diversion berms
 Railway terrain analyses
 Environmental monitoring and management
methods for the railway corridor
Technical Review Recommendations - Coastal
Geomorphology
 NRCan provided 27 recommendations
regarding:
 Coastal change due to ship wake
 Climate change impacts on coastal
infrastructure
 Slope and permafrost information for Milne
port and subsea permafrost presence at
Steensby port
 Shoreline change information regarding the
Milne Port freight dock effects on Philips
Creek spit
Technical Review Recommendations Geotechnical Engineering and Natural Hazards
 NRCan provided 7 recommendations
regarding
 Waste rock pile – sludge volume, stability,
post-closure monitoring
 Railway tunnel early warning systems during
rockfall events
 Spill contingency plans for borrow pits
Baffinland Iron Mine Corporation
(BIMC) Commitments
 BIMC’s commitments (October 28, revised
November 4) address 28 of NRCan’s 46
recommendations
 NRCan and BIM met on Oct. 20, 2011 to discuss
specific recommendations related to primarily to
wake effects and sediment movement at Milne
Port
NRCan Outstanding
Recommendations
• NRCan would like to clarify certain BIMC commitments
made during the technical meetings, e.g.,
• Ship wake assessment
• Hydrodynamic and sediment transport models
• NRCan can continue to work with BIMC to discuss and
resolve technical issues identified in commitments, e.g.:
•
•
•
•
Permafrost and the design approach for the waste rock pile
Remote sensing of bottom-fast ice
Existence of subsea permafrost
Estimates of sea level rise
Recommendations Not Fully Resolved:
Wake Effects and Coastal Change
 Clarification of the location of the proposed Eastern
Shipping Route between Koch Island and Cape
Jensen (#14).
 Upon final decision on the vessels forming the ore
transport fleet and the chartered freight vessels, the
modelled potential wake characteristics (# 16).
 NRCan’s recommendations seek an explanation why the
route between Koch Island and Cape Jensen was
modelled for wake effects, instead of the narrower
passage to the north and why a shorter distance was not
used, given that ships may travel closer to the shore.
Recommendations Not Fully Resolved:
Coastal Change
 Installation of permanent year-round wave gauges to
measure natural and wake-influenced waves in open
water and sea ice (#18).
 NRCan is looking for the FEIS to describe approach to
wave gauges in the Marine Mammal and Shipping
Management Plan.
 Consultation with NRCan experts in remote sensing
towards a determination of bottom-fast ice extents
and the potential existence of subsea permafrost in
Milne and Steensby Inlets (#36).
 A similar commitment related to the pack ice baseline
could be amended to address NRCan’s
recommendation.
Unresolved Recommendations: Waste
Rock Pile and Thermal Analysis
 Five recommendations (#1-5) concern demonstrating
that frozen conditions will be maintained within and
beneath the waste rock pile:
 Preliminary thermal analysis
 Collection of site data for thermal analysis in final
design
 Incorporation of climate conditions, change and
variability
 Long-term (100+ years) prediction of frozen
conditions
 Development of monitoring and mitigation/
management plans, criteria for selection of mitigation
measure in FEIS
Unresolved Recommendations: Waste
Rock Pile and Thermal Analysis
 Two recommendations (#40,41) for long-term stability of
the waste rock stockpile:
 Volume of sludge and distribution
 Influence on thermal regime and stability of stockpile
adjacent to SWM pond
 Further discussions planned on the approach to
determining the active layer for the waste rock pile and
rationale in the FEIS (in consultation with NRCan, EC
and AANDC).
 Commitment (#108) considered for thermal modelling as
part of detailed design should be confirmed in FEIS.
Qujannamiik!