Miller Paving Limited

OSSGA Property Enhancement Award Submission – Gold Bars Gold Bar – Environmental Controls

Carden Quarry Pt. Lots 10 & 11 Conc. 3, Lots 8-10, Pt. Lots 11&12 Conc. 2, Carden Township, City of , Victoria County

356 Miller Road, PO Box 270 Brechin, ON L0K 1B0

SITE MANAGER: Robert Lindsay

WRITTEN BY: Kayla Donaldson, [email protected]

CONTACT: Cindy McCarthy, Manager Transportation & Compliance, SOARG Phone – 705.623.6748 Email – [email protected]

October 31, 2016 Carden Quarry Background

Carden Quarry is one of the largest operations within Miller’s Southern Ontario Aggregate Resources Group (SOARG), located northeast of the small town of Brechin, on the eastern shore of Lake Simcoe. Opened by Repac, the 332.1-hectare site has been operated by The Miller Group since September 1984. Formations in the Lake Simcoe region are middle Ordovician and were probably deposited in a supratidal to intertidal intracontinental shelf environment. Carden Quarry is situated within this region in a physiographic area known as the Carden Plain. The uppermost bedrock is limestone of the Formation, beneath which is limestone of the Formation.

These deposits are extracted at Carden and manufactured into numerous high-grade limestone products for concrete and asphalt as well as granular road grade. With a permanent processing plant in place, including a wash and an asphalt plant, Carden provides materials internally for Miller’s asphalt and concrete operations, as well as many external projects. External work includes such projects as this year’s Boundary Road reconstruction, only a few kilometers beyond the quarry gates, to further afield work including major extension projects on both of Highways 404 and 407. We also supply numerous municipal, ICI and private jobs throughout south central Ontario.

Carden also produces various chip and screenings products as well as pipe bedding material, gabions and rip raps. All production processes are controlled according to ISO 9001:2008 standards and tested in our ISO 17025 certified lab.

Early stages of the sites progressive rehabilitation plan are underway. This substantial undertaking will take several years and has started with berm slopes being created on the western face of the quarry.

Previous OSSGA Awards: Miller’s Carden Quarry was awarded an Environmental Achievement award in 2013, and a plaque and three gold bars (Entrance, Approach and Perimeter Screening, Office and Scale House Areas, and Communicative Signage) for the Property Enhancement Award in 2015. 2

Environmental Controls Gold Bar Submission

Dust Control

Dust control at the plant entrance is managed in a number of ways. The haul road into the quarry and areas around the office and scale house buildings, up to the scales, are paved. This area is swept and washed weekly at a minimum, as is the egress portion of Miller road for approximately ½ km south of our gate. This addresses tracking of limestone fines from the quarry, while keeping the dust cleaned up as much as possible.

Water truck: Miller Brechin’s new water truck which will be painted in Miller colours in the near future.

Haul roads within the Carden Quarry are slightly raised from the quarry floor, using materials such as plant reclaim or ¾ crusher run. Internal haul roads are kept graded by our company- owned grader and watered regularly. During the busy construction season and during dry periods when the quarry is inclined to become dusty, as much as possible, we keep a fulltime worker in the water truck. The water truck is used to suppress dust at the entrance, haul and access roads, around the stockpiles as well as in the plant and mining area.

When required, usually twice a year, a contractor is hired to spread magnesium chloride (MgCl2) on the major haul roads and around the stockpiles within the quarry. When this contractor is in to lay magnesium chloride within the quarry property, we also have him do the gravel road extending north from the quarry entrance to Brechin road. This is not part of our designated haul route but we do this as a goodwill gesture for our neighbours who may be travelling that roadway.

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The Grader: The grader ensures the interior haul routes are in good condition for trucks and Miller equipment.

Along the access road, berms and tree plantings help to prevent fugitive dust from exiting the site on the west and north perimeters, while on the south and east perimeters, there is an abundance of natural screening over considerable acreage, which has been maintained to help suppress dust.

Spray bars have been installed on plant conveyors and transfer points to provide dust suppression on material on conveyors and stock piles. The beneficial effects of wet material coming off the wash plant also helps to keep the stock piles and surrounding area dust free.

At the processing plant, water added into the bin and hopper structure that feeds the primary crusher, along with bars on conveyors and at transfer points, helps keep dust under control.

Use of the water truck, magnesium chloride where required, spray bars and additional water in the primary, are all part of Carden’s initiative to keep dust to a minimum within the mining area. This is an important and daily challenge, particularly during dry summer weather, to ensure minimal negative impact to our environment and the health and safety of Spray bar: The bar is used to suppress dust on our employees and neighbors. material, which reduces dust on the line and the stockpiles. 4

Monitoring

Through many different tests we ensure that our water meets quality and quantity standards for our quarry. We test and measure our discharged water, settling ponds, and our natural water channel (south of our main entrance).

We have a FlowMate meter which measures the flow rate of our quarry discharge and ensures that we stay within the defined limits of our daily discharge. Another FlowMate meter at our wash plant measures how much water we use to clean our washed materials. Data from these is downloaded and recorded for later analysis.

Major testing of all water sources is done on a monthly basis . We test and measure discharged water using a pH pen which measures our water for temperature, conductivity, mass of a chemical or contaminate within the water (ppm), and acidity or alkalinity (pH levels). Water samples are gathered from designated sites and sent off for testing.

Total suspended solids (TSS) in the water are also measured. High TSS levels can be detrimental to surrounding communities and local wildlife. We ensure that TSS levels within and outside of the quarry remain low as waters exiting the Carden Quarry flow into an adjacent wetland and eventually make their way into lower Lake Dalrymple.

The Beaver Pond

A Beaver Pond, which is part of our natural water system to the south of the property, has been enhanced and encorporated to act as a further filter to discharged water before it makes its way downstream, before exiting the property into the wetland that flows into lower Lake Dalrymple.

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The Beaver Dam is enhanced with armour stone to reiniforce the natural dam created by beavers and also allow for access to the far side of the pond.

Noise and vibration within the Carden Quarry are measured with siezmographs. Using a grounding mechanism, this small circular tool is placed on the ground and is usually covered with a sand bag so that no other vibrations can affect it while measuring the vibrations from the blast. A small microphone on the top of a tripod measures air vibrations to determine how loud the blast is.

Seizometer: This allows us to monitor noise and ground vibration durning a blast.

The devices are set up in three locations, just outside the quarry and closest to our nearest neighbours. We receive detailed reports from Austin Powder stating the results of our blast. The reports are kept filed for future reference.

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Carden Quarry schedules blasts only between 8 am and 4 pm so that residents are not disturbed in the early morning or late evening, when families are more likely to be home. Whenever possible, Austin Powder tries to direct blasts in a direction that will have the least impact on our neighbours. We also control noise with vegetated berms and tree screens. If a neighbour has a concern about our blasting, we will monitor at their home to ensure we are working well within our allowable limits.

Noises from our equipment can also be found irritating, so Carden Quarry has installed quacker back up beepers where the sound doesn’t travel as far but is still readily heard in the area directly behind the backing vehicle.

To further supress dust and noise and ensure less material loss, we have skirting along our transfer points. This skirting prevents material from spilling over when moving from one conveyor to the next which can cause unnecessary creation of dust. We have recently hooded our tertiary screen and are currently introducing more equipment enclosures such as dust covers for our conveyor transfer points. We are also looking at enclosing our belt lines completely.

Carden Quarry Crusher: Our tertiary screen has had hood and chute work to mitigate dust along the line.

Erosion Control

Drainage ditches are monitored monthly and are kept clean and litter free so that flowing water can make its way through the ditches or perculate through the ground very slowly. At several points along the ditches are gabion check dams used for slowing the flow of water and trapping debries as well as mitigating turbitity during severe weather conditions. Culverts are checked to ensure that they are litter free and to ensure they have not become clogged during extreme weather events. And furthermore, to ensure the culverts themselves are in good shape and have not sustained damage.

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Drainage Ditches: Kept clean and litter free. Gabion check dams are placed to slow the flow of water, trap debries and help mitigate turbidy. Culverts are maintained in good shape and the berm reinforced with armour stone.

Landscaping at the entrance and perimeter of the Carden Quarry is utilized to both help prevent erosion and provide dust control. Berms are kept grass covered and cut throughout the growing season. Trees, for the most part are coniferous and have been planted along the berm. T-post fencing is maintained along the north and west permiter of the property. This traditional fence has been used in this area to avoid the need for post holes, since there is not much over burden.

Part of the western berm has been reinforced with an armour stone walls which is not only aesthetically pleasing, but helps to support the berm and mitigate erosion.

Berms are kept cut and planted with trees to minimize dust and noise, and also provides a more pleasing view to our neighbours.

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Rip-rap is utilized in the quarry’s discharge channel; both in the walls that create cells along the channel and to line the banks. This helps to control erosion within the discharge channel and also allows any minimal amount of suspended particles in the water to settle out. This is the major channel where the cleaned water flows into a natural stream system maintained on the Carden Quarry site.

Discharge Channel: Rip rap is used to line the banks of the discharge channel and creae cells to further control suspended particles in the steam before it empties into the Beaver Pond.

After materials are washed, the water used to clean the materials is discharged into settling ponds. Here water flows through the system of ponds where finer granular materials settle to the bottom. The water in these settling ponds can then be reused in the wash plant.

The Settling Pond: Water flows through the settling pond allowing fine materials to sink to the bottom. 9

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Being leaders and advocates in Waste Management, the three R’s (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) are extremely important to the Carden Quarry, and to The Miller Group. Steps are taken to ensure that we recycle where possible and where not, items are appropriately disposed of.

The processing area at the Carden Quarry is managed with a mind to the philosophy MINE A TONNE, SELL A TONNE; always making every effort to make sure that every piece of material that is blasted at the face is sold in the market, with no wasted products. Some practices include blending fines into crusher run products, working with customers to adjust product recipes to match ideal plant output, and pursuing customers and jobs that maximum opportunity to use potential long products.

The Processing Plant

As fines can sometimes be an issue in quarries, Carden Quarry has begun, in recent years, to produce both agglime and manufactured sand. The Carden sales team works in the market with a mind to finding a home for these products. From time to time agglime can be used during rehabilitation to cap our berms.

When a piece of equipment in the maintenance facility is retired, the equipment is either sent to scrap or to auction. We will reuse as many parts off the retired machinery as possible. Parts are stored and used in the future for equipment repair.

Within our maintenance facility, waste oil from machinery is collected and stored in large tanks located near the building. When the tanks are full of used oils, we contact Safety Kleen who collect and recycle oil. At Safety Kleen, the waste oil is re-refined and made into motor oil to be reused.

Carden’s Maintenance shop is kept clean and tidy to ensure that contamination from oil or gas does not penetrate the ground.

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At the Carden Quarry, staff members are made aware of the importance of Reducing, Reusing and Recycling. Within employee areas such as the scale house, quality lab, main office, and lunchroom trailer, there are garbage and recycling bins that encourage employees to properly dispose of their waste. Miller has also provided a garbage bin at the end of the lab so that truck drivers can dispose of their waste to encourage drivers to not litter the roadways, quarries and job sites.

Garbage & Recycling Bins: The larger bin is for trucks and smaller bins are in each area, both to encourage recycling and proper waste management

Miller Employees and Truck drivers live by the Miller Motto: Go Safely. Go Clean. Or Don’t Go!

Contributors: Rob Lindsay, Bill Parsons, Vannessa Dewell, Cindy McCarthy, Kayla Donaldson 11