noront eagle’s nest project - lakehead university...noront: eagle’s nest project •located ~500...

Noront Eagle’s Nest Project:

An alternative perspective...

Prepared By: Mike Hosszu, Gavin Sobil & Rosemarie Needham April 5th, 2012

Overview

• Noront Eagle’s Nest Project (Gavin Sobil)

– Plans and design

• Slurry Pipeline

• What’s the Issue?

• Local Environment (Rosemarie Needham)

– Systems in place

– Importance of land

• Alternative Energy Sources (Mike Hosszu)

• Food for Thought... Conclusion

• Questions?

Noront: Eagle’s Nest Project

• Located ~500 kilometers NE of Thunder Bay

• Discovery of a high grade deposit of nickel,

copper and platinum group element (PGE)

• Designed to be built as an underground mine

The “Slurry Pipeline”

• Buried slurry pipeline from site to Webequie

Junction ~90km

• Very thick steel with exterior protection and

interior liner

• Monitoring and

containment systems

• Minimize truck traffic

Pipeline Details

• Carbon steel piping with

High Density Polyethylene

(HDPE) liner .7‒1 cm

thick

• Pressure and flow

transducers spaced along

pipeline

• X-rays will inspect welded

areas to ensure that they

are done properly

Pipeline Repair

• Inspection of leaks

‒ “PIG” (pipeline inspection gauge)

‒ Multiple gauges

• Repairs done using helicopter; includes excavation, repair of damaged section & removal of contaminated soil

Pipeline Failure

Figure 1: Frequency of pipeline bursts in Canada from 1991 through to 2009 (Canadian National Energy Board)

Common Causes of Ruptures

Pipeline Integrity

• Affected by:

‒ Movement of vehicles

or equipment over

pipelines

‒ Construction activities

with soil disturbance

‒ Construction,

landscaping or grading

which may result in

contact with pipeline

Interior Erosion

• Impacts often underestimated

• Biofilms accumulate and change metal solution

interface making it more susceptible to physical

abrasion

• Physical erosion within pipeline interior is

affected by other factors, including temperature,

solids concentration and impeller speed

• Hardness, shape and size of particles can have significant impact on erosion

Health Concerns

• Minerals being mined

– Platinum (Pt)

– Palladium (Pd)

– Nickel (Ni)

– Copper (Cu)

• Linear constructions may result in

– a significant loss of biodiversity at local & regional level

– large edge effect

• Underground pipelines

– alter hydrology, thermal regime, soil structure and

vegetation of ecosystem

What’s the ISSUE?

(PDK Projects Inc, 2006)

Ontario’s Far North • 42% of provincial land area

• 3rd largest wetland in world—

Hudson Bay Lowlands

• 2/3 of HBL is peatland, 2nd

largest area of contiguous

peatland in world

• First Nations—24,000 people

in 34 communities

• Forests & peatlands store >

97 billion tonnes of carbon

• Filter Ontario's air, absorbing

12.5 million tonnes of carbon

dioxide Source: OMNR http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/en/Business/FarNorth/

Peatlands • > 30 cm of highly

organic peat

• Approx 90-95% water

when saturated

• Flooded forests,

shrublands, dunes and

meadows to continually

water-saturated

peatlands, fens, forests,

marshes and tundra

• 1-metre build up in

1,000 years

Peatlands play an important

function in: • Recharging aquifers

• Absorbing & filtering contaminants

• Regulating river flow

• Providing habitat

• Storing & releasing greenhouse gases

Figure 1: Diagram of the acrotelm and the catotelm (PERG, 2008)

Advantage of peatlands

• Decomposition of moss

plays a major role in

carbon accumulation

• Thickening of catotelm,

carbon is sequestered

• Rapidly decomposing

vascular plants have

lower carbon storage

Permafrost

• Composed up of dead plant and

animal material; prevents the

release of stored carbon dioxide

(CO2) and methane (CH4)

• Increased temperatures results in

permafrost melting

• Carbon source rather than a carbon

sink, i.e., “tipping point”

(US DOE.)

First Nations’ Land Water used for

– drinking

– food

– transportation

First Nations depend on

species of plants &

animals for sustenance

– traditional

– healthier

– cheaper

(Tough, F., 2000)

Energy

• About 50 remote communities obtain electricity from diesel generators

• 26 First Nations supplied by winter roads • 8 million litres of diesel transported at

minimum cost of $9 million/year

Electricity from diesel

• California Air Resources Board (CARB) reports

> 40 toxic air contaminants in diesel exhaust

• Cancer-causing contaminants—benzene,

arsenic, formaldehyde & nitrogen oxides

• Diesel particulates 1/5 thickness

of a human hair

• Deep inhalation of particles cause

them to penetrate deep into lungs

• Long term exposure to diesel

exhaust particles is highest

cancer risk of any toxic air

contaminant evaluated by CARB

Diesel health effects

Three options 1. Connect to Ontario grid

2. Explore “greener” energy generation

options

3. Do both

Conventional Hydro

• Reliable, efficient & proven technology

• Can create large amounts of power with a large

enough dam

• Steady flow &

amount of

power

• Floods large

areas

• Can affect fish

populations &

distributions

Run of river hydro

• Reliable technology

• Much less invasive on river systems

• Requires small dam-like structure, very little

flooding

• Creates less

power with

uneven flow

& no storage

• Community of

Deer Lake (NL)

saved $400 000 in diesel in 1999-2000

Wind power

• Very site specific, need to measure over a year

• Proven, reliable and getting cheaper every year

• Low maintenance costs

Solar power‒photovoltaic

• Lowest maintenance of all technologies

• No emissions or noise

• Modular—can be added to over time

• Currently expensive though panel prices have

dropped 50% in last 15years

Solar thermal-heat

• One of oldest “green” technologies in

existence

• Can be used for heating water &/or in-

floor heating

• Short payback time, typically 7-8 years

Community options

• Mine requires 25Mw of power

• Run of river less invasive than

conventional hydro

• If connected to grid, community can explore

clean technologies

to sell power to OPA

& reduce diesel use

Waterpower1,2,3 Power output Cents/kw hr. Years of

contract

≤ 10 MW 13.1 20

> 10 MW ≤ 50 MW 12.2 20

Landfill gas1,2

≤ 10MW 11.1 20

> 10 MW 10.3 20

Solar PV

Rooftop ≤ 250 kW 71.3 0

Rooftop > 250 ≤ 500 kW 63.5 0

Rooftop > 500 kW 53.9 0

Ground Mounted2, 4

≤ 10 MW 44.3 0

Wind2

Onshore Any size 13.5 20

Feed-in Tariff Rates for Renewable Energy Projects

FOOD FOR THOUGHT...

Looking at the past 2 centuries, up to 68% of wetlands in southern Ontario & 70% of prairie wetlands have been lost.

We continue to experience this loss today...

(Global Forest Watch Canada, nd)

Should we be using the

same approach with the

Far North?

Or should Canada take a

proactive planning

approach to protect this

environment which is so

critical to our future?