Ontario Falconbridge Limited 10050 Highway 101 East Post Office Box, No
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CONTENT COPY OF ORIGINAL Ministry Ministère AMENDED CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL of the de INDUSTRIAL SEWAGE WORKS Environment l’Environnement NUMBER 9831-72BH7Y Issue Date: May 16, 2007 Ontario Falconbridge Limited 10050 Highway 101 East Post Office Box, No. 2002 Timmins, Ontario P4N 7K1 Site Location: Kidd Metallurgical Site Lot 1, Concession 1, Hoyle City of Timmins, District of Cochrane You have applied in accordance with Section 53 of the Ontario Water Resources Act for approval of: modifications to the sewage works consisting of the Pastefill Tailings Pipeline from Kidd Metsite to Kidd Minesite, Jarosite Pond Area, Buffalo Paddock Area and the Tailings Management Area (TMA) for the collection, transmission, treatment and disposal of: tailings from the Concentrator; Jarosite Residue from the Zinc Plant, co-deposited with tailings or pumped directly to the Jarosite Pond Facility; Neutralized Weak Acid from the Zinc and Copper Acid Plants, co-deposited with tailings or pumped directly to the TMA; waste water collected from the jarosite pond containment area; waste water generated from the Process Plants, via various site ditches and holding ponds; lime treatment sludge generated by the tailings treatment process and the Kidd Mine Water Treatment process; granulated slag generated by the Copper Smelter; metal-bearing sludge and residue generated from periodic cleaning or decommissioning of process equipment; treated effluent from sanitary sewage treatment plants; site drainage, including seepage water from the TMA collected within a perimeter seepage collection ditch system; stormwater from the Buffalo Paddock Area; minewater inputs from the Porcupine Joint Venture Hoyle Pond Mine; and disposal of the CamChib tailings, waste rock and ponded tailings water in the Tailings Management Area, as follows: - approximately 3,000 cubic metres of ponded tailings water from the CamChib Mine Site; and - approximately 24,000 tonnes of tailings and 10,000 tonnes of waste rock from the CamChib Mine Site. consisting of the following: PROPOSED WORKS The Proposed Works consist of the following: JAROSITE POND AREA The Jarosite Pond Area (JPA) consists of the following (a) Jarosite Residue and Water Transmission System, (b) Jarosite Pond Facility and (c) Jarosite Containment Area. (a) Jarosite Residue and Water Transmission System The Jarosite Residue and Water Transmission System is used for the transmission of jarosite residue and waste water to the Jarosite Pond Facility and consists of a pumpbox and pumps and associated pipelines. Recycle water is returned to the Zinc Plant from the Jarosite Pond Facility and Catchment Pond. Excess waste water is treated with lime and discharged to the TMA for disposal. CONTENT COPY OF ORIGINAL (b) Jarosite Pond Facility The Jarosite Pond Facility consists of two (2) ponds, the Jarosite Pond (approximately 26.7 hectares in area) with a top elevation of 293.3 metres (Stage 2) and the Neutralization (gypsum) Pond (approximately 9.5 hectares in area) with a top elevation of 289.8 metres (Stage 2), that is contained by a series of embankments that support perimeter and internal roads. Each pond is equipped with a spillway that directs overflow to the Northeast Ditch System and the TMA for treatment. The Jarosite and Neutralization Ponds are used for the disposal and storage of jarosite residue and water and lesser quantities of treatment sludges from the Metallurgical Plant. (c) Jarosite Containment Area The Jarosite Containment Area is the area surrounding the Jarosite Facility encompassing approximately 110 hectares, and consists of a series of seepage collection ditches and recovery systems, a West Containment Berm (WCB) and pumping system to convey seepage water to the TMA and to the Jarosite and Neutralization Ponds, and a West Diversion Ditch (WDD) system to convey fresh water away from the containment area. BUFFALO PADDOCK AREA Construction of a containment berm, approximately 670 meters in length, located predominantly along the south boundary of the Buffalo Paddock Area and along the west side, with a top elevation of 285.5 metres and a water storage volume of 41,000 cubic metres, including a 25 metres wide overflow spillway draining westerly and a Ditch 5 Sump equipped with pumps and a pipeline operating at a design capacity of 164 litres per second discharging to the South Feeder Ditch of the Northeast Ditch System and the TMA. EXISTING WORKS The Existing Works consist of the following: PASTEFILL TAILINGS PIPELINE SYSTEM Construction/installation of concentrator facilities including, thickener underflow piping and associated pumping system; Pastefill Tailings Pipeline, intermediate pressure measurement point and terminal valve station; Pastefill Tailings Pipeline Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition System and instrumentation as well as Pipeline Leak detection System. SOUTHEAST SEEPAGE COLLECTION DITCH Construction of Southeast Seepage Collection Ditch per Phase I works as follows: - approximately 2.8 km long ditch along the southeast perimeter of TMA; and - approximately 25 m x 35 m x 1.5 m deep tailings line spill containment pond. TAILINGS MANAGEMENT AREA (TMA) The TMA consists of (a) Tailings Transmission System, (b) Tailings Impoundment Area, (c) Tailings Seepage System, and (d) Tailings Effluent Treatment System. (a) Tailings Transmission System The tailings transmission system is used for the transmission of tailings and waste water to the TMA and consists of the tailings pumpbox and pumps, and associated pipelines. The system also includes the facilities, pumps and pipelines, used to recycle water, which is returned to the Concentrator from the TMA. (b) Tailings Impoundment Area The tailings impoundment area encompasses approximately 1,200 hectares and is contained by a series of low-head embankments that support a perimeter road. The tailings impoundment is used for the engineered disposal of mill tailings and lesser quantities of copper slag, treatment sludge and jarosite residue. CONTENT COPY OF ORIGINAL The tailings impoundment has been used for the managed disposal of process wastes since the operation commenced in 1966 with tailings originally deposited in a conventional form. Since 1972, the tailings deposition method has used a thickened tailings technology to develop a conical tailings deposit with final slopes averaging approximately 2%. The method involves the thickening of the tailings slurry and its subsequent discharge from an elevated and central location to create a moderately sloped, cone-shaped tailings mound. Slag berms constructed within the TMA are used for management of wastes within the TMA. Overflow water from the tailings thickeners, and runoff and seepage from the TMA are collected at the perimeter of the cone, and are routed to the tailings effluent treatment system prior to discharge. (c) Seepage Collection System Seepage water from the TMA is collected in perimeter West and East seepage collection ditches and ponds, and returned to the TMA for treatment via gravity or pumping. (d) Tailings Effluent Treatment System Drainage from the TMA is treated using a conventional lime treatment process and final pH adjustment with carbon dioxide, or sulphuric acid as emergency backup. The tailings effluent treatment system described below employs two untreated water storage ponds (Ponds C and A), four lime stations (Lime Stations #1, #2, #3 and #4), a sludge settling pond (Pond D), an effluent polishing pond (Pond E), a carbon dioxide station and a final effluent control structure and monitoring point. The effluent treatment system may also include the occasional addition of lime and/or caustic soda (NaOH), flocculants or coagulants throughout the entire TMA. The components of the Tailings Effluent Treatment System are as follows: DITCH 10 Runoff from the Met Site, overflow from the catchment pond, waste water collected from the jarosite pond containment area, waste water streams from the Zinc and Copper Plants, stormwater from the Buffalo Paddock Area and minewater from the Porcupine Joint Venture Hoyle Pond Mine are collected in Ditch 10. Water in Ditch 10 mixes with treated water discharged from Pond A and the combined flows report to Channel A+10. If additional metal or suspended solids treatment is required in Ditch 10, lime, caustic soda, chemical flocculent or coagulant may be added throughout Ditch 10. POND A Effluent and runoff from the south portion of the TMA drain south- and westward around the inside of the perimeter embankment to Pond A. Lime station #1 is located at the discharge point from Pond A. Lime is added to the discharge water to elevate the pH values typically above 9.5 in order to precipitate heavy metals as hydroxides. If additional metal or suspended solids treatment is required, chemical flocculent, coagulant or caustic soda can be added here. Treated water discharged from Pond A reports to Channel A+10. CHANNEL A+10 Channel A+10 receives the combined flows from Pond A and Ditch 10 and is channelled northward to the top of Pond D where it is combined with discharge from Pond C. This water then reports to the north cell of Pond D. If additional metal or suspended solids treatment is required in Channel A+10, lime, caustic soda, chemical flocculent or coagulant may be added throughout the channel. POND C Effluent and runoff from the north portion of the TMA drain north- and westward around the inside of the perimeter embankment to Pond C. Similarly, decanted water from the tailings thickener(s) is channelled to Pond A and Pond C. Lime station #2 is located at the discharge point from Pond C. Lime is added to the discharge water to elevate the pH values typically above 9.5 in order to precipitate heavy metals as hydroxides. If additional metal or suspended solids precipitation is required, chemical flocculent, coagulant or caustic soda can be added here. Treated water discharged from Pond C reports to Pond D. CONTENT COPY OF ORIGINAL POND D Pond D is divided into north and south cells by a splitter dyke. The hydroxide sludge produced by the liming process is accumulated in Pond D, particularly within the north cell.