FINAL REPORT ON BASELINE HYDROLOGY FOR THE PROPOSED NICO PROJECT Submitted to: Fortune Minerals Limited Suite 1902, 140 Fullarton Street London, Ontario N6A 5P2 Prepared by: Golder Associates Ltd. #300, 10525 – 170th Street Edmonton, Alberta T5P 4W2 December 2010 08-1373-0017.2000 Fortune Minerals Limited - i - 08-1373-0017.2000 Baseline Hydrology December 2010 TABLE OF CONTENTS SECTION PAGE 1 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................... 1 2 STUDY AREAS ........................................................................................................... 2 2.1 REGIONAL STUDY AREA .............................................................................................. 2 2.2 LOCAL STUDY AREA ..................................................................................................... 2 2.3 PROPOSED NICO PROJECT ACCESS ROAD (NPAR) STUDY AREA ....................... 2 3 METHODS .................................................................................................................. 5 4 CLIMATE ..................................................................................................................... 6 4.1 DATA SOURCES ............................................................................................................ 6 4.1.1 NICO Project Climate Station .......................................................................... 6 4.1.2 Regional Climate Stations ................................................................................ 6 4.2 CLIMATIC PARAMETERS ............................................................................................ 11 4.3 CLIMATE DEPENDENT HYDROLOGICAL PROCESSES ........................................... 12 4.3.1 Actual Evapotranspiration .............................................................................. 12 4.3.2 Lake Evaporation ........................................................................................... 13 5 HYDROLOGY ........................................................................................................... 16 5.1 DATA SOURCES .......................................................................................................... 16 5.1.1 NICO Project Hydrometric Data ..................................................................... 16 5.1.2 Regional Hydrometric Data ............................................................................ 16 5.2 REGIONAL DRAINAGE ................................................................................................ 16 5.3 LOCAL DRAINAGE ....................................................................................................... 19 5.4 CLIMATIC WATER BALANCE ...................................................................................... 20 5.5 HYDROMETRIC MONITORING ................................................................................... 22 5.5.1 Hydrometric Monitoring Methods ................................................................... 22 5.5.2 Hydrometric Monitoring Locations ................................................................. 26 5.5.3 Field Data ....................................................................................................... 31 5.5.4 Flow Data ....................................................................................................... 36 5.6 LONG TERM FLOW RECORD FOR DRAINAGES WITHIN THE BURKE AND LOU WATERSHEDS ..................................................................................................... 42 5.6.1 Correlation From Baker Creek to the Burke Creek (B-1) and Lou Creek (L-1) ..................................................................................................... 42 5.6.2 Long Term Discharge Record for Watersheds Upstream of Burke and Lou Creeks .............................................................................................. 44 5.7 LONG TERM FLOW RECORD FOR THE MARIAN RIVER ......................................... 45 5.8 LOCAL INFILTRATION ANALYSIS ............................................................................... 49 5.9 REGIONAL FLOOD MAGNITUDE AND FREQUENCY ................................................ 52 6 SUMMARY ................................................................................................................ 53 6.1 STUDY AREAS ............................................................................................................. 53 6.2 CLIMATE ....................................................................................................................... 54 6.2.1 Methods ......................................................................................................... 54 6.2.2 Results ........................................................................................................... 54 6.3 SURFACE WATER HYDROLOGY ............................................................................... 56 6.3.1 Local Drainage ............................................................................................... 56 6.3.2 Water Balance ................................................................................................ 56 6.3.3 Long Term Flow Record Derivation .............................................................. 57 Golder Associates C:\Documents and Settings\jgibson\My Documents\SharePoint Drafts\HYDROLOGY Baseline_Final-BT Dec13.docx Fortune Minerals Limited - ii - 08-1373-0017.2000 Baseline Hydrology December 2010 6.3.4 Flood Magnitude and Frequency ................................................................... 60 7 REFERENCES .......................................................................................................... 62 8 GLOSSARY .............................................................................................................. 63 8.1 ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ........................................................................... 63 8.2 UNITS OF MEASURE ................................................................................................... 63 LIST OF TABLES Table 4-1 Regional Climate Station Information ...................................................................... 8 Table 4-2 Monthly and Annual Actual Evapotranspiration (mm) ........................................... 13 Table 4-3 Monthly and Annual Lake Evaporation (mm) ........................................................ 14 Table 5-1 Selected Regional Hydrometric Stations ............................................................... 18 Table 5-2 Sub-basins within the Lou and Burke Lake Drainages .......................................... 19 Table 5-3 Stream Discharge Monitoring Cross-sections ....................................................... 26 Table 5-4 Lake Stage Monitoring Locations .......................................................................... 28 Table 5-5 Staff Gauge Elevations and Benchmark Locations, NICO Project Area ............... 33 Table 5-6 Instantaneous Discharge Measurements in m3/s, NICO Project Area .................. 34 Table 5-7 Observed Water Elevations ................................................................................... 35 Table 5-8 B-1 (Burke Creek) Daily Average Discharge (m³/s) ............................................... 38 Table 5-9 L-1 (Lou Creek) Daily Average Discharge (m³/s) .................................................. 39 Table 5-10 M-1 (Marian River) Daily Average Discharge (m³/s) .............................................. 40 Table 5-11 Measurement Periods and Maximum Daily Average Discharges at B-1, L- 1, and M-1 .............................................................................................................. 42 Table 5-12 Results of Infiltration Analysis ................................................................................ 51 Table 5-12 Results of Flood Frequency Analysis .................................................................... 52 Table 6-1 Summary of Monthly and Annual Mean Climatic Parameters, NICO Project Area ........................................................................................................... 55 Table 6-4 Annual Maximum Flood (m³/s) at Specific Return Intervals (year) ........................ 61 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2-1 Hydrology Regional Study Area for the NICO Project ............................................. 3 Figure 2-2 Hydrology Local Study Area for the NICO Project ................................................... 4 Figure 4-1 Selected Regional Meteorological Stations ............................................................. 7 Figure 4-2 Mean Monthly Total Precipitation – Yellowknife Airport and Snare Rapids (1993 to 2004) .......................................................................................................... 9 Figure 4-3 Mean Monthly Total Precipitation – Yellowknife Airport and Gamètì Airport (2001 to 2007) ........................................................................................................ 10 Figure 4-4 Mean Monthly Air Temperature – Yellowknife Airport and Gamètì Airport (2001 to 2007) ........................................................................................................ 10 Figure 5-1 Sub-basins in the Lou Lake and Burke Lake Watersheds .................................... 17 Figure 5-2 Flow Diagram for Sub-basins in the Lou Lake Drainage ....................................... 21 Figure 5-3 Flow Diagram for Sub-basins