Toxics/National Pollutant Release Inventory

News release: A crucial vote on whether to extend the debate of the Environmental Bill of Rights Act is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, February 3^rd. The Bill has been working its way through Parliament for a number of years now, and is a only few amendments away from completion and a third reading vote.

The creation of large volumes of waste, including solids, liquid effluents, and air emissions, is a fact of life for mining and mineral processing operations. Depending on the minerals’ natural geology and how they are processed these wastes can often be hazardous to the environment and human health. Solid wastes including waste rock and tailings are, by volume, the most significant waste generated by mining and mineral processing. Solid wastes are typically in the tens to hundreds of millions of tons of waste for a single mine. A rough estimate of Canadian production is 2 million tonnes a day. Based on information available from the U.S., it is safe to assume that mining in Canada generates a greater volume of toxic waste than any other industry in the country.

Environmental groups are encouraged that last month's Federal Court ruling ordering the federal government to collect and publish data on one of Canada’s largest sources of pollution will be allowed to stand. The decision relates to toxic materials such as arsenic, cadmium, lead, and cyanide, that are disposed into tailings ponds and waste rock dumps by the mining industry.