Post by Max on Aug 9, 2007 14:32:47 GMT -3
www.northernlife.ca/News/LocalNews/2007/08-08-07-slag.asp?NLStory=08-08-07-slag
Date Published | Aug. 8, 2007
It’s been about 25 years since slag poured down these hills. CVRD Inco representatives Jim Eddy (left) and Mike Peters are involved with the re-greening project currently underway.
BY BILL BRADLEY
Those ugly slag piles dominating Gatchell and the West End will be under a carpet of green grass over the next few weeks and months, said CVRD Inco staff Friday.
“We have embarked on a $4 million re-greening project, funded entirely by ourselves, to prove that even a mining company as large as us can still be a good neighbour to nearby communities like Gatchell and the West End,” said Jim Eddy, director of environment for CVRD Inco.
“We want to deal with the aesthetics, the dust and the noise of our operations so as to lower our footprint on the community,” said Eddy.
Phase One of the project involved using equipment to slope and grade the slag piles for a length of three kilometres between Dynamic Earth, then north-east towards Little Britain. That was accomplished between October and April, said Eddy.
“This is one of our biggest projects ever. We moved 300,000 tonnes of slag. We started across from Dynamic Earth, then skipped a stretch where we had already planted with a buffer strip of vegetation and then started again, finishing at Traverse St. in Little Britain, just before the turn-off to Clarabelle Mine,” he said.
Phase Two is now underway.
“Now we are applying clay over the top of the slag to a depth of 18 inches. Then we will hydro-seed in about two weeks, applying a slurry of grass seeds, fertilizer, lime and a very special mulch, called FGM, flexible growth medium, which is selected for its ability to handle the sloped conditions,” said Mike Peters, grounds supervisor and greenhouse manager for CVRD Inco.
“We are using a very strong mulch, used all over the world, comprised of wood fibre, organic glues and some synthetic fibre sprayed from two different angles to make sure it locks together. Its almost five times the cost of conventional mulch, but it works,” said Peters.
In next few years, trees and shrubs will be planted to further anchor the soil, said Peters.
“Some of the trees we will plant will have been raised in the CVRD Inco greenhouse in Copper Cliff - white spruce and red and jack pines. We also will purchase some of the deciduous trees from local growers,” he said.
Peters said people are unaware of the company’s history in environmental restoration.
“Re-greening goes back to 1917 in Copper Cliff. The 20-acres in the centre of Copper Cliff had been an ore-roasting yard. Inco made it into a public park and that’s where re-greening started. There was an agricultural department at Inco in 1917, and my dad, Tom Peters, joined the department in 1948, continuing the work for 45 years.”
Eddy said the project was funded entirely out of CVRD Inco operating costs versus from a capital costs budget, meaning the project is an example of environment concerns being a part of economic decision-making.
“This latest re-greening is great news for Gatchell and the West End,” said Ward 1 Councillor Joe Cimino.
“It shows that just because we have mining activity in the city near where people live, [the impact] is not necessarily permanent. In fact, I had a meeting with the community about putting up a play structure at the old St. Hubert School site on Traverse St., right across from the slag piles.
Cimino remembers the slag piles from his youth. “I used to climb those slag piles as kid though I wasn’t supposed to do it. Now, once re-greened, the view across the street from the playground will be that of a grassy slope with trees here and there. The black will have turned to green.”
Eddy said this embracing of sustainability means there may be more positive changes for the west end. “As most people can see, the amount of gases coming out of the top of the smelter are decreasing dramatically and will do so even more in the future. We are getting better at capturing the SO2 from the flue gases. In fact, we are finding markets for the acid we capture for the agriculture industry as a component of fertilizer and even in the mining sector here in north-eastern Ontario,” said Eddy.
The acid recovered is useful in mining operations but Eddy said that it is recycled during the process.
“We are committed to shrinking our environmental footprint. This is the modern way of doing business. In fact we are getting so good at reducing our stack emissions that, say in 50 to 80 years when it is time to close down our operations, I would speculate that the stack will have no longer been in use for some time prior - maybe though it will have been left up as a historical artifact.”
Date Published | Aug. 8, 2007
It’s been about 25 years since slag poured down these hills. CVRD Inco representatives Jim Eddy (left) and Mike Peters are involved with the re-greening project currently underway.
BY BILL BRADLEY
Those ugly slag piles dominating Gatchell and the West End will be under a carpet of green grass over the next few weeks and months, said CVRD Inco staff Friday.
“We have embarked on a $4 million re-greening project, funded entirely by ourselves, to prove that even a mining company as large as us can still be a good neighbour to nearby communities like Gatchell and the West End,” said Jim Eddy, director of environment for CVRD Inco.
“We want to deal with the aesthetics, the dust and the noise of our operations so as to lower our footprint on the community,” said Eddy.
Phase One of the project involved using equipment to slope and grade the slag piles for a length of three kilometres between Dynamic Earth, then north-east towards Little Britain. That was accomplished between October and April, said Eddy.
“This is one of our biggest projects ever. We moved 300,000 tonnes of slag. We started across from Dynamic Earth, then skipped a stretch where we had already planted with a buffer strip of vegetation and then started again, finishing at Traverse St. in Little Britain, just before the turn-off to Clarabelle Mine,” he said.
Phase Two is now underway.
“Now we are applying clay over the top of the slag to a depth of 18 inches. Then we will hydro-seed in about two weeks, applying a slurry of grass seeds, fertilizer, lime and a very special mulch, called FGM, flexible growth medium, which is selected for its ability to handle the sloped conditions,” said Mike Peters, grounds supervisor and greenhouse manager for CVRD Inco.
“We are using a very strong mulch, used all over the world, comprised of wood fibre, organic glues and some synthetic fibre sprayed from two different angles to make sure it locks together. Its almost five times the cost of conventional mulch, but it works,” said Peters.
In next few years, trees and shrubs will be planted to further anchor the soil, said Peters.
“Some of the trees we will plant will have been raised in the CVRD Inco greenhouse in Copper Cliff - white spruce and red and jack pines. We also will purchase some of the deciduous trees from local growers,” he said.
Peters said people are unaware of the company’s history in environmental restoration.
“Re-greening goes back to 1917 in Copper Cliff. The 20-acres in the centre of Copper Cliff had been an ore-roasting yard. Inco made it into a public park and that’s where re-greening started. There was an agricultural department at Inco in 1917, and my dad, Tom Peters, joined the department in 1948, continuing the work for 45 years.”
Eddy said the project was funded entirely out of CVRD Inco operating costs versus from a capital costs budget, meaning the project is an example of environment concerns being a part of economic decision-making.
“This latest re-greening is great news for Gatchell and the West End,” said Ward 1 Councillor Joe Cimino.
“It shows that just because we have mining activity in the city near where people live, [the impact] is not necessarily permanent. In fact, I had a meeting with the community about putting up a play structure at the old St. Hubert School site on Traverse St., right across from the slag piles.
Cimino remembers the slag piles from his youth. “I used to climb those slag piles as kid though I wasn’t supposed to do it. Now, once re-greened, the view across the street from the playground will be that of a grassy slope with trees here and there. The black will have turned to green.”
Eddy said this embracing of sustainability means there may be more positive changes for the west end. “As most people can see, the amount of gases coming out of the top of the smelter are decreasing dramatically and will do so even more in the future. We are getting better at capturing the SO2 from the flue gases. In fact, we are finding markets for the acid we capture for the agriculture industry as a component of fertilizer and even in the mining sector here in north-eastern Ontario,” said Eddy.
The acid recovered is useful in mining operations but Eddy said that it is recycled during the process.
“We are committed to shrinking our environmental footprint. This is the modern way of doing business. In fact we are getting so good at reducing our stack emissions that, say in 50 to 80 years when it is time to close down our operations, I would speculate that the stack will have no longer been in use for some time prior - maybe though it will have been left up as a historical artifact.”
