Metal Mining

The objective of the Metal Mining Environmental Effects Monitoring (EEM) Program is to evaluate the effects of metal mining effluents on fish, fish habitat, and the use of fisheries resources as well as to function as a performance measurement tool to inform the adequacy of the regulations.

In 1993, Environment Canada initiated the multi-stakeholder Assessment of the Aquatic Effects of Mining in Canada (AQUAMIN) to examine the effectiveness of the 1977 Metal Mining Liquid Effluent Regulations (MMLER). The AQUAMIN Final Report, released in 1996, included the conceptual design of a tiered EEM program for metal mining.

The Metal Mining Effluent Regulations (MMER), which were proclaimed in June 2002, under the Fisheries Act, requires metal mines to conduct EEM. The EEM requirements are stipulated within the MMER in Part 2, Section 7 and in Schedule 5.

Metal mines in Canada are in different EEM phases due to initial differences in the timing of studies as well as the timing of new mines entering the EEM program. The first EEM interpretive reports of the results of biological monitoring studies in the field were received in 2005. For mines that had initially submitted reports of their historical data, their first EEM interpretive reports were received in 2006. Effluent and Water Quality Monitoring reports are submitted annually, no later than March 31^st.

Using the data from each Phase, Environment Canada has published National Assessments of Metal Mining Environmental Effects Monitoring.