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