Adams Mine is an abandoned open pit iron ore mine located in the Boston Township of the District of Timiskaming , 11 km (6.8 mi) south of Kirkland Lake in the Canadian province of Ontario . It is situated on the Canadian Shield .
119-578: The iron ore deposit was originally discovered in 1906, however there was little interest in iron ore as a result of the discovery of gold in the Porcupine and Kirkland Lake regions. The site saw renewed interest in the second half of the 1950s and was subsequently developed by the Jones and Laughlin Steel Corp of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania with first production in 1964. The Jones and Laughlin company operated
238-413: A minority government in the 1985 provincial election , although Harris was personally re-elected without difficulty. He kept the natural resources portfolio after the election, and was also named minister of energy on May 17, 1985. The Miller government was soon defeated on a motion of no confidence by David Peterson 's Liberals and Bob Rae 's New Democratic Party (NDP). An agreement between
357-523: A municipal solid waste (MSW) facility on fractured bedrock using hydraulic containment and no landfill liner . Proponents of the landfill plan pointed to its potential for spurring economic development in Kirkland Lake's struggling economy, while opponents pointed to environmental concerns such as the pit's unstable rock walls, which could potentially leach contaminants into the local groundwater supply. The original landfill proposal considering
476-438: A consequence of the processing of phosphate rock for the production of phosphate fertilizers. In addition to being useless and abundant, phosphogypsum is radioactive due to the presence of naturally occurring uranium and thorium , and their daughter isotopes . Depending on the price achievable on the uranium market , extraction of the uranium content may be economically lucrative even absent other incentives, such as reducing
595-569: A court case that went to the Supreme Court of Canada , Deane maintained that he was not under orders to shoot and was convicted of criminal negligence causing death. An inquiry, headed by commissioner Justice Sidney Linden, was called after the government of Dalton McGuinty was elected in 2003. On November 28, 2005, former- attorney general Charles Harnick testified before the Ipperwash Inquiry that Harris had shouted "I want
714-561: A factory and a company that would manufacture something else that's in, it's the same in government, and you know, governments have put off these decisions for so many years that restructuring sometimes is painful". The Harris government cut funding of major urban infrastructure projects upon assuming office. Though construction had already begun on the Eglinton West subway in Toronto, a proposed rapid transit line to ultimately link
833-434: A foreign country. Final point." Shortly after being sworn in, Harris faced his first crisis as premier. Protesters fighting land claim issues took over a provincial park 200 kilometres west of Toronto. During a confrontation with the demonstrators, Ontario Provincial Police acting Sergeant Kenneth Deane fired on First Nations demonstrators who had occupied the park, killing a protester named Dudley George . Members of
952-428: A great deal of controversy for southern Ontario and Michigan communities which endure the transport of waste through their communities. Critics continue to point out that Toronto's exporting plan avoids forcing the city and region to come to terms with the waste its citizens generate, however there appears to be little political will to reduce consumption and bring about a regional waste management strategy which will avoid
1071-613: A line into the Adams Mine facility during its years of operation. The mine is currently owned by an American investor named Vito Gallo, through a number company incorporated in Ontario, and is the subject of a NAFTA Chapter 11 arbitration between Gallo, on behalf of the numbered company, and the Government of Canada. The claim is that the Government of Ontario failed to pay proper compensation when it passed legislation that revoked
1190-519: A literacy test in order to graduate. A new provincial funding formula for school boards stripped the local boards of their taxation powers. In 2001, the Harris government introduced a plan to give a tax credit for parents who send their children to private and denominational schools (despite having campaigned against such an initiative in 1999). Supporters claimed it was fair given the public funding of Catholic schools, while opponents were concerned about
1309-685: A local Nurse Next Door Home Care franchise in Toronto with wife Laura. In May 2014, Harris co-led an independent Canadian mission to observe the Ukrainian presidential election . In 2018 Ontario general election , his son Mike Harris Jr. was elected as MPP for Kitchener-Conestoga , also a member of the Progressive Conservative Party. Today, Harris serves as the Chair of the Board for Chartwell Retirement Residences . During
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#17327730382271428-447: A pipeline then discharged so as to eventually descend into the depths. Practically, it is not an ideal method, as the close proximity to off-shelf depths is rare. When STD is used, the depth of discharge is often comparatively shallow, and extensive damage to the seafloor can result due to covering by the tailings product. If the density and temperature of the tailings product is not controlled, it may travel long distances, or even float to
1547-448: A policy of "teacher testing", requiring teachers to take examinations on a regular basis. Principals and vice-principals were removed from the [OTF]. Harris, along with Stephen Harper , was appointed negotiator by Prime Minister Jean Chrétien to face Quebec negotiators nominated by the separatist leaders of Quebec: Lucien Bouchard and Mario Dumont. At the time of the referendum campaign, Harris affirmed that "a separate Quebec would be
1666-476: A potential diversion of resources and students from the public system. Harris also broke with tradition to place backbench MPPs on Cabinet committees. Harris resigned as premier and MPP on April 14, 2002 and was succeeded as PC leader and premier by his long-time friend and minister of finance, Ernie Eves . Soon after leaving office, Harris joined the Toronto law firm Goodmans LLP , where he served as an advisor until 2010. Later in 2002, Harris also joined
1785-556: A province-wide vote to replace Grossman as the party's official leader. The 1990 provincial election was called soon after Harris became party leader. With help from past leader Larry Grossman , Harris managed to rally his party's core supporters with pledges of tax cuts and spending reductions. Due to his teaching background, Harris was personally endorsed by several local members of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF). The election
1904-414: A rise in homelessness and poverty. Supporters argued that high welfare rates had created disincentives to find entry-level jobs, and that poverty levels remained relatively unchanged between 1995 and 2005. Employment rates increased significantly during the late 1990s. The government rewrote labour laws to require secret ballot votes before workplaces could unionize. The previous NDP government's law outlawing
2023-582: A source of acid drainage , leading to the need for permanent monitoring and treatment of water passing through the tailings dam; the cost of mine cleanup has typically been 10 times that of mining industry estimates when acid drainage was involved. The greatest danger of tailings ponds is dam failure, with the most publicized failure in the U.S. being the failure of a coal slurry dam in the West Virginia Buffalo Creek Flood of 1972, which killed 125 people; other collapses include
2142-464: A wide range of methods for recovering economic value, containing or otherwise mitigating the impacts of tailings. However, internationally, these practices are poor, sometimes violating human rights. Tailings are also called mine dumps , culm dumps , slimes , refuse , leach residue , slickens , or terra-cone (terrikon) . The effluent from the tailings from the mining of sulfidic minerals has been described as "the largest environmental liability of
2261-433: Is HDPF – High Density Paste Fill. HDPF is a more expensive method of tailings disposal than pond storage, however it has many other benefits – not just environmental but it can significantly increase the stability of underground excavations by providing a means for ground stress to be transmitted across voids – rather than having to pass around them – which can cause mining induced seismic events like that suffered previously at
2380-567: Is a growing use of the practice of dewatering tailings using vacuum or pressure filters so the tailings can then be stacked. This saves water which potentially reduces the impacts on the environment in terms of a reduction in the potential seepage rates, space used, leaves the tailings in a dense and stable arrangement and eliminates the long-term liability that ponds leave after mining is finished. However although there are potential merits to dry stacked tailings these systems are often cost prohibitive due to increased capital cost to purchase and install
2499-708: Is a lower potential for seepage. However the cost of the thickening is generally higher than for conventional tailings and the pumping costs for the paste are also normally higher than for conventional tailings as positive displacement pumps are normally required to transport the tailings from the processing plant to the storage area. Paste tailings are used in several locations around the world including Sunrise Dam in Western Australia and Bulyanhulu Gold Mine in Tanzania. Tailings do not have to be stored in ponds or sent as slurries into oceans, rivers or streams. There
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#17327730382272618-522: Is an industrial waste generated during the processing of bauxite into alumina using the Bayer process . It is composed of various oxide compounds, including the iron oxides which give its red colour. Over 97% of the alumina produced globally is through the Bayer process; for every tonne (2,200 lb) of alumina produced, approximately 1 to 1.5 tonnes (2,200 to 3,300 lb) of red mud are also produced;
2737-523: Is being invested in finding better methods for safe storage and dealing with it such as waste valorization in order to create useful materials for cement and concrete . Coal refuse (also described as coal waste, rock, slag, coal tailings, waste material, rock bank, culm, boney, or gob ) is the material left over from coal mining, usually as tailings piles or spoil tips . For every tonne of hard coal generated by mining, 400 kg (880 lb) of waste material remains, which includes some lost coal that
2856-434: Is displaced during mining without being processed. The extraction of minerals from ore can be done two ways: placer mining , which uses water and gravity to concentrate the valuable minerals, or hard rock mining , which pulverizes the rock containing the ore and then relies on chemical reactions to concentrate the sought-after material. In the latter, the extraction of minerals from ore requires comminution , i.e., grinding
2975-417: Is partially economically recoverable. Coal refuse is distinct from the byproducts of burning coal, such as fly ash . Piles of coal refuse can have significant negative environmental consequences, including the leaching of iron, manganese, and aluminum residues into waterways and acid mine drainage . The runoff can create both surface and groundwater contamination. The piles also create a fire hazard, with
3094-421: Is required to identify and address those that are most at risk from a tailings facility or its potential failure." Historically, tailings were disposed of in the most convenient manner, such as in downstream running water or down drains . Because of concerns about these sediments in the water and other issues, tailings ponds came into use. The sustainability challenge in the management of tailings and waste rock
3213-423: Is to dispose of material, such that it is inert or, if not, stable and contained, to minimise water and energy inputs and the surface footprint of wastes and to move toward finding alternate uses. Bounded by impoundments (an impoundment is a dam), these dams typically use "local materials" including the tailings themselves, and may be considered embankment dams . Traditionally, the only option for tailings storage
3332-452: The 1990 leadership election . That same year, a provincial election was called in which Harris carried the PCs to a modest boost in support, though they still remained in third place. However, five years later, he led the PCs to a strong majority government in the 1995 provincial election . He later led the party to a second majority in 1999 . During his tenure as premier, Harris emphasized
3451-768: The Beaconsfield Mine Disaster . Usually called RTD – Riverine Tailings Disposal. In most environments, not a particularly environmentally sound practice, it has seen significant utilisation in the past, leading to such spectacular environmental damage as done by the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company in Tasmania to the King River , or the poisoning from the Panguna mine on Bougainville Island , which led to large-scale civil unrest on
3570-680: The COVID-19 pandemic in Canada , Chartwell and other for-profit facilities had "far worse COVID-19 outcomes than public facilities" after paying hundreds of millions to shareholders over the last decade. Since joining the board, Mike Harris has been compensated roughly $ 3.5-million for his services. In the inquiry following the Ipperwash Crisis , it was determined that while some protesters were carrying rocks, sticks and baseball bats, none were carrying firearms. The confrontation that led to
3689-786: The Carleton Farms Landfill site in Michigan , since the Keele Valley Landfill , as expected, had reached full capacity. In that fall's municipal elections, Adams Mine supporter Bill Enouy was elected mayor of Kirkland Lake. In 2001, the Harris government attempted to engineer a campaign of opposition among the Western Ontario communities affected by the Michigan deal, which was seeing hundreds of truckloads of garbage passing on Highway 401 daily;
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3808-541: The Fraser Institute , a right-of-centre libertarian think tank , as a senior fellow. It was there that he became involved with the ideals of Preston Manning , becoming a major influence in federal politics as well as Alberta. Harris served on the board of directors of the Manning Centre . In January 2003, Harris was named to the board of directors of Magna International . More recently in 2011, he
3927-604: The Municipal Act, 2001 , which is the legislation that enables incorporation and stipulates governance of Ontario's municipalities, excluding the City of Toronto , which is now subject to the City of Toronto Act, 2006 . The Municipal Act, 2001 provides lower and single-tier municipalities with the authority to incorporate as cities, towns, villages, townships, or generically as municipalities. The Harris government also passed
4046-757: The Ok Tedi environmental disaster in New Guinea , which destroyed the fishery of the Ok Tedi River . On average, worldwide, there is one big accident involving a tailings dam each year. Other disasters caused by tailings dam failures are, the 2000 Baia Mare cyanide spill and the Ajka alumina plant accident . In 2015, the iron ore tailings dam failure at the Germano mine complex in Minas Gerais, Brazil,
4165-560: The Ontario Teachers' Federation threatened to discourage, or even prevent, their members from acting as associate teachers for students in Nipissing University's Bachelor of Education program, which requires students to complete 12 weeks of practice teaching in a classroom. Nipissing University's $ 25 million Harris Learning Library, which opened in 2011, is named after the former premier. In 2012, Harris started
4284-626: The Principles for Responsible Investment . Mike Harris Michael Deane Harris OOnt (born January 23, 1945) is a retired Canadian politician who served as the 22nd premier of Ontario from 1995 to 2002 and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC Party) from 1990 to 2002. During his time as party leader, he guided the Ontario PC Party toward Blue Toryism , advocating for
4403-500: The Progressive Conservative government of Mike Harris made significant changes to the province's Environmental Assessment Act - this resulted in dropping the requirements for a needs assessment and investigation of alternatives to developing a landfill. Technically, this was irrelevant to the Adams Mine proposal as it had already passed all assessments requested of the project. This gave the provincial government
4522-552: The Public Sector Salary Disclosure Act in 1996, publishing so-called Sunshine lists annually to disclose wages and benefits of public employees earning over $ 100,000 per year, to increase accountability. The Harris government introduced several education reforms. The fifth year of high school in Ontario, (known as the OAC year), was eliminated. This created a double graduating class in 2003 (known as
4641-453: The archaea , bacteria , and the gas released from tailings ponds showed that those were methanogens . As the depth increased, the moles of CH 4 released actually decreased. Siddique (2006, 2007) states that methanogens in the tailings pond live and reproduce by anaerobic degradation, which will lower the molecular weight from naphtha to aliphatic , aromatic hydrocarbons, carbon dioxide and methane. Those archaea and bacteria can degrade
4760-539: The " Common Sense Revolution ", his government's program of deficit reduction in combination with lower taxes and budget cuts. Born in Toronto , Harris grew up in North Bay and worked as a ski instructor and schoolteacher before becoming a school board trustee in 1974. In 1981 , he became a member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for the riding of Nipissing . He became leader of the Progressive Conservative Party in
4879-542: The " double cohort "). Harris introduced Bill 160, (the Education Quality Improvement Act ), which mandated a standardized curriculum and province-wide testing for students. This included Grade 3 and 6 EQAO (numeracy and literacy) testing, as well as a Grade 10 Literacy test. Harris introduced a requirement for High School students to complete a mandatory 40 hours of volunteering in community service in order to graduate. In 1999, it introduced
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4998-510: The '905' for its telephone area code. The PCs' growth from 20 to 82 seats in the 130 seat legislature vaulted them from third place to a large majority government. Upon election, the Harris government immediately began to implement a far-reaching reform agenda to cut the large provincial deficit accumulated under the previous Rae government. One of its first major policy decisions in 1995 was to cut social assistance rates by 21.6%. The government argued that too many people were taking advantage of
5117-530: The Adams Mine for Toronto 's garbage can be traced to 1989. The following year, the government of Metro Toronto selected the Adams Mine as the preferred site for replacing the Keele Valley Landfill in Vaughan which was rapidly reaching capacity. On 2 April 1991, Ruth Grier , then provincial Minister of the Environment , stated that the provincial government would not allow Toronto to send its garbage to
5236-401: The Adams Mine proposal. This had the effect of permanently killing the 1996 plan. Charlie Angus , a local musician and author, was one of the community leaders who organized the campaign against the Adams Mine proposal. He subsequently ran for political office, and was elected to Parliament in the 2004 federal election . Toronto continued to export its trash to Michigan until 2006, causing
5355-457: The Adams Mine. In 1995, Metro Toronto began a formal assessment, and the project passed all environmental tests and assessments. The project was rejected at the final vote, in December 1996, to extend the Toronto option on the ownership of the mine because of erroneous information presented by Jack Layton in which he cited the cumulative cost of the project rather than the year by year costs. At
5474-658: The Common Sense Revolution. Although his policy of lower taxes grew the deficit , his deep cuts to social services, health care, education, and infrastructure spending were enough to eliminate the deficit and balance the budget in 1999. The Harris Government also faced the 1997 Ontario teachers' strike and gained criticism for its handling of the Walkerton E. coli outbreak and the Ipperwash crisis . In 2002, Harris retired as premier and PC leader, and
5593-619: The Elkview Mine in British Columbia. During extraction of the oil from oil sand, tailings consisting of water, silt, clays and other solvents are also created. This solid will become mature fine tailings by gravity. Foght et al (1985) estimated that there are 10 anaerobic heterotrophs and 10 sulfate-reducing prokaryotes per milliliter in the tailings pond, based on conventional most probable number methods. Foght set up an experiment with two tailings ponds and an analysis of
5712-470: The Harris government announced that several hundred nurses would be laid off to cut costs in the health sector. The government also implemented a series of hospital closures and amalgamations on the recommendations of a Health Services Restructuring Commission. Harris compared the laid off hospital workers to the people who lost their jobs after the hula hoop fad died down in the early 1960s, commenting "Just as Hula-Hoops went out and those workers had to have
5831-561: The Liberals and the NDP allowed a Liberal minority government to govern for two years in exchange for the implementation of certain NDP policies. This decision consigned the Tories to opposition for the first time in 42 years. Miller resigned and was replaced by Larry Grossman , who led the party to a disastrous showing in the 1987 election and announced his resignation shortly thereafter. Harris
5950-789: The Ontario R&;D Challenge Fund, the Ontario Innovation Trust and the Premier's Research Excellence Awards. One part of the Common Sense Revolution was to sell off various government-owned enterprises, the largest of which were to be Ontario Hydro and the Liquor Control Board of Ontario . Neither was actually sold off, but Ontario Hydro was split into five successor companies (the two largest being Ontario Power Generation and Hydro One , representing generation and distribution of power respectively) with
6069-553: The PET4K Processing Plant has been used in a variety of countries for the past 20 years to remediate contaminated tailings. The UN and business communities developed an international standard for tailings management in 2020 after the critical failure of the Brumadinho dam disaster . The program was convened by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) and
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#17327730382276188-505: The Porgera Gold Mine is focusing on developing a method of combining tailings products with coarse waste rock and waste muds to create a product that can be stored on the surface in generic-looking waste dumps or stockpiles. This would allow the current use of riverine disposal to cease. Considerable work remains to be done. However, co-disposal has been successfully implemented by several designers including AMEC at, for example,
6307-536: The Stoney Point Ojibway band occupied Ipperwash Provincial Park outside of Grand Bend , protesting a protracted land claims process . The Ipperwash Inquiry would later be called by the Liberal government of Dalton McGuinty , due to recalcitrance on Harris's part. In 1999 , the Harris government was re-elected for a second term with a majority government, helped largely by its political base in
6426-518: The Wasi Falls Resort fishing camp. Harris attended Waterloo Lutheran University (now Wilfrid Laurier University ) but left after a year. At the age of 21, following his father's purchase of a ski hill, Harris moved for two years to Sainte-Adèle, Quebec , where he became a ski instructor. After the end of his first marriage, he enrolled at Laurentian University and North Bay Teacher's College where he received his teaching certificate. He
6545-402: The archaea and bacteria metabolize and release bubbles within the tailings, the pore water can go through the soil easily. Since they accelerate the densification of mature fine tailings, the tailings ponds are enabled to settle the solids more quickly so that the tailings can be reclaimed earlier. Moreover, the water released from the tailings can be used in the procedure of refining oil. Reducing
6664-411: The company's dual-class share structure that he helped begin in 2010. He was later involved in a minor controversy, yelling and repeatedly swearing at a party official who asked him for his identification as he voted in the 2004 Ontario Progressive Conservative Party leadership election . In late May 2010, Nipissing University confirmed that Harris would receive an honorary doctorate. In response,
6783-525: The dams, causing environmental disasters , such as the Mount Polley disaster in British Columbia . Because of these and other environmental concerns such as groundwater leakage , toxic emissions and bird death, tailing piles and ponds have received more scrutiny, especially in developed countries, but the first UN-level standard for tailing management was only established 2020. There are
6902-416: The demand of water can also protect the environment from drought. As mining techniques and the price of minerals improve, it is not unusual for tailings to be reprocessed using new methods, or more thoroughly with old methods, to recover additional minerals. Extensive tailings dumps of Kalgoorlie / Boulder in Western Australia were re-processed profitably in the 1990s by KalTails Mining. A machine called
7021-559: The election is often considered to be Harris's performance in the televised leaders' debate. Harris used his camera time to speak directly to the camera to convey his party's Common Sense Revolution platform. The Rae government had previously lost much of its base in organized labour, due in part to the unpopularity of its " Social Contract " legislation in 1993 (which Harris, after some initial vacillations, eventually voted against). Harris's opposition to Rae's affirmative action measures helped him to capture some unionized-worker support during
7140-432: The election, particularly among male workers. Although there were regional variations, many union voters shifted from the NDP to the PCs in 1995 (instead of to the Liberals as expected pre-campaign), enabling the PCs to win a number of new ridings, such as Cambridge and Oshawa , which had long supported the NDP. In addition roughly half of the PCs seats came from the suburban belt surrounding Metro Toronto , often called
7259-417: The electorate, partly due to the state of the Ontario economy and its record debt and deficit amidst a Canada-wide recession. Lyn McLeod 's Liberals were leading in pre-election polls and were expected to benefit from the swing in support away from the NDP, but they began losing support due to several controversial policy reversals and what was generally regarded as an uninspiring campaign. The turning point in
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#17327730382277378-491: The filter systems and the increase in operating costs (generally associated electricity consumption and consumables such as filter cloth) of such systems. While disposal into exhausted open pits is generally a straightforward operation, disposal into underground voids is more complex. A common modern approach is to mix a certain quantity of tailings with waste aggregate and cement, creating a product that can be used to backfill underground voids and stopes . A common term for this
7497-581: The fucking Indians out of the park" at a meeting with Ontario Provincial Police officer Ron Fox, hours before the shooting occurred ( Canadian Press , 28 November 2005). Other witnesses have disputed this account, and Harris himself denied it in his testimony on 14 February 2006 at the inquiry. According to the Ontario Court of Justice history project, the Ipperwash Inquiry "found that the OPP,
7616-405: The future. Paste tailings is a modification to the conventional methods of disposal of tailings (pond storage). Conventional tailings slurries are composed of a low percent of solids and relatively high water content (normally ranging from 20% to 60% solids for most hard rock mining) and when deposited into the tailings pond the solids and liquids separate. In paste tailings the percent of solids in
7735-412: The global average is 1.23. Annual production of alumina in 2023 was over 142 million tonnes (310 billion pounds) resulting in the generation of approximately 170 million tonnes (370 billion pounds) of red mud. Due to this high level of production and the material's high alkalinity , if not stored properly, it can pose a significant environmental hazard. As a result, significant effort
7854-627: The guidelines that had been in place. An uprising developed at Queen's Park , the site of the Ontario Legislature, on June 15, 2000. The Ontario Coalition Against Poverty and other activists, including MPP of Toronto Centre , George Smitherman , protested the Harris ministry policies that were resulting in the transfer of wealth to the welathy from everyone else. Some of the protesters lobbed molotov cocktails , bricks, and bottles. Harris's government reduced Ontario welfare rolls by 500,000 people; critics contend these cuts led to
7973-402: The harm the radioactive heavy metals do to the environment. Bauxite tailings is a waste product generated in the industrial production of aluminium . Making provision for the approximately 70 million tonnes (150 billion pounds) that is produced annually is one of the most significant problems for the aluminium mining industry. Red mud , now more frequently termed bauxite residue,
8092-604: The hiring of replacement workers during strikes was repealed. Other changes brought in by the Harris government include standardized math and literacy student tests, known as EQAO . EQAO testing is conducted in Grade 3 and 6 (for math and literacy) and 9 (for math only). Teachers are not allowed to preview the tests ahead of time, eliminating the risk of 'teaching to the test'. School principals are required to discuss EQAO results during staff meetings, and plan their focus accordingly. In Grade 10, high school students are required to pass
8211-618: The intent was to force the city of Toronto back into Rail Cycle North's proposal for a landfill using the Adams Mine. The provincial government's campaign included a letter from Michigan Governor John Engler which expressed his state's opposition to accepting Toronto's garbage and explicitly supported the Rail Cycle North proposal, despite the fact that this was perceived as being at odds with Engler's usual positions on waste management. Staffers in Engler's office eventually revealed that
8330-624: The island, and the eventual permanent closing of the mine. As of 2005, only three mines operated by international companies continued to use river disposal: The Ok Tedi mine , the Grasberg mine and the Porgera mine , all on New Guinea. This method is used in these cases due to seismic activity and landslide dangers which make other disposal methods impractical and dangerous. Commonly referred to as STD (Submarine Tailings Disposal) or DSTD (Deep Sea Tailings Disposal). Tailings can be conveyed using
8449-538: The large exposed surface area of the minerals. The fraction of tailings to ore can range from 90 to 98% for some copper ores to 20–50% of the other (less valuable) minerals. The rejected minerals and rocks liberated through mining and processing have the potential to damage the environment by releasing toxic metals (arsenic and mercury being two major culprits), by acid drainage (usually by microbial action on sulfide ores), or by damaging aquatic wildlife that rely on clear water (vs suspensions). Tailings ponds can also be
8568-403: The largest and most widely covered of these moves, the individual cities that made up Metro Toronto were merged into a single city (called the " megacity " by the media and citizens); the amalgamation was not part of their pre-election policy platform. The Conservatives argued that the move would eliminate duplication of services and increase efficiency. Opposition parties were strongly opposed to
8687-652: The letter had been written at Premier Harris' request. From 2001 to 2003, Notre Development and the Rail Cycle North consortium continued to pursue avenues to revive the landfill proposal. In 2003, the Ontario Liberal Party , led by Dalton McGuinty , won the provincial election and on April 5, 2004, provincial Minister of Natural Resources David Ramsay and Minister of the Environment Leona Dombrowsky introduced legislation which revoked all certificates and permits related to
8806-469: The local medical officer of health . In late 2004, Koebel pleaded guilty to a minor charge in relation to the offence and was sentenced to one year in jail. The Walkerton tragedy had serious ramifications for Harris's government. Harris blamed the previous NDP government for loosening water standards. Harris called a public inquiry, headed by Justice Dennis O'Connor , which later noted that in addition to Stan Koebel's failure to properly monitor and treat
8925-441: The main north–south subway line of the city with the suburbs and airport, funding was cancelled shortly after Harris's election. Harris's government also cut health spending to counter the $ 30 billion cut in transfer payments from the Liberal federal government. It also introduced Telehealth Ontario, a 24-hour toll-free telephone help line with live connection to registered nurses. Harris also announced funding vehicles such as
9044-590: The mine until 1971 when it was sold to Dofasco Steel of Hamilton Ontario. The mine was operated in tandem with the Dofasco owned Sherman Mine. The mine closed in 1990 when the economically retrievable ore reserves were exhausted. The closure also made the Sherman Mine uneconomic and it was also closed. The closure of the two mines in the Timiskaming District along with the resultant job losses left
9163-471: The mining industry". These tailings contain large amounts of pyrite (FeS 2 ) and Iron(II) sulfide (FeS), which are rejected from the sought-after ores of copper and nickel, as well as coal. Although harmless underground, these minerals are reactive toward air in the presence of microorganisms, which if not properly managed lead to acid mine drainage . Between 100 million and 280 million tons of phosphogypsum waste are estimated to be produced annually as
9282-410: The move; the NDP took the unusual step of attempting to filibuster against the bill by reading out the name of every street in Toronto. In order to further reduce provincial commitments, financial responsibility for provincial income assistance programs was transferred or "downloaded" to municipalities, increasing the burden on municipal tax bases. The list of municipalities in Ontario was updated by
9401-439: The naphtha, which was considered as waste during the procedure of refining oil. Both of those degraded products are useful. Aliphatic, aromatic hydrocarbons and methane can be used as fuel in the humans' daily lives. In other words, these methanogens improve the coefficient of utilization. Moreover, these methanogens change the structure of the tailings pond and help the pore water efflux to be reused for processing oil sands. Because
9520-399: The natural topographical depression in the ground. Large earthen dams may be constructed and then filled with the tailings. Exhausted open pit mines may be refilled with tailings. In all instances, due consideration must be made to contamination of the underlying water table, amongst other issues. Dewatering is an important part of pond storage, as the tailings are added to the storage facility
9639-438: The necessity to export to distant landfills. The shipping of garbage to Michigan briefly became an issue in the 2004 United States presidential election when John Kerry , on a campaign stop in Michigan, promised to ban the import of Canadian garbage if he was elected. In September, 2005, the Michigan state legislature voted almost unanimously against accepting Toronto's garbage. During Toronto City Council deliberations over
9758-632: The ore into fine particles to facilitate extraction of the target element(s). Because of this comminution, tailings consist of a slurry of fine particles, ranging from the size of a grain of sand to a few micrometres. Mine tailings are usually produced from the mill in slurry form, which is a mixture of fine mineral particles and water. Tailings are likely to be dangerous sources of toxic chemicals such as heavy metals , sulfides and radioactive content. These chemicals are especially dangerous when stored in water in ponds behind tailings dams . These ponds are also vulnerable to major breaches or leaks from
9877-488: The permits that it had previously granted for the site to be operated as a landfill. Before the mine had shut production in the early 1990s, waste management planners from the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto were examining its potential for a massive landfill , with waste to be shipped north in sealed intermodal shipping containers by CN and Ontario Northland on a 700 km (430 mi) route. It would be
9996-449: The pits sustained numerous blasts daily, which some geologists claim have added to natural faults in the rocks. Other geologists and hydrogeologists have claimed that the site is well-situated for hydraulic containment (i.e. water flows in, but doesn't leach into surrounding groundwater or surface water systems). There are significant tailings left from the manufacture of ore concentrate at the site. The Ontario Northland Railway operated
10115-640: The plan of eventually selling them off. Public opposition to the sale of these money-making government enterprises postponed the government's plans. In 1999, Highway 407 was leased to a private consortium. Harris reduced the number of MPPs from 130 to 103 by redrawing riding boundaries to correspond to federal electoral districts. The Harris government passed Bill 26, the Savings and Restructuring Act , which undertook an extensive program of municipal mergers between 1996 and 2002. The province had 815 municipalities in 1996; by 2002, this had been reduced to 447. In
10234-513: The plant's roots can prevent water erosion, immobilise metals by adsorption or accumulation, and provide a zone around the roots where the metals can precipitate and stabilise. Pollutants become less bioavailable and livestock, wildlife, and human exposure is reduced. This approach can be especially useful in dry environments, which are subject to wind and water dispersion. Considerable effort and research continues to be made into discovering and refining better methods of tailings disposal. Research at
10353-538: The policies of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau . Harris sat as a backbencher in Bill Davis 's PC government from 1981 to 1985. He supported Frank Miller 's successful bid to succeed Davis as party leader in 1985 and took the role of rival candidate Dennis Timbrell to prepare Miller for the party's all-candidate debates. Miller was sworn in as premier of Ontario on February 8, 1985, and appointed Harris as minister of natural resources . The Tories were reduced to
10472-442: The potential to spontaneously ignite. Because most coal refuse harbors toxic components, it is not easily reclaimed by replanting with plants like beach grasses. Early mining operations often did not take adequate steps to make tailings areas environmentally safe after closure. Modern mines, particularly those in jurisdictions with well-developed mining regulations and those operated by responsible mining companies, often include
10591-501: The program, and that it acted as a disincentive for seeking employment. The government also introduced "Ontario Works", frequently referred to as " workfare ", a program that required able-bodied welfare recipients to participate in either training or job placements. Provincial income taxes were cut by 30% to pre-1990 levels. In addition, a new Fair Share Health Levy was established and charged to high-income earners to help pay for mounting health care costs. Shortly after assuming office,
10710-466: The provincial government led by Premier Mike Harris, and the federal government all bore responsibility for the events that led to George's death. The report also called on the federal government to issue a public apology and return Camp Ipperwash – along with compensation – to the Kettle and Stoney Point First Nation." In Volume 1 of the report it was noted that, Premier Harris's "comments" and "generally
10829-414: The region in economic hardship from which it has never fully recovered. Perched at one of the highest elevation points in the region, the mine stretched over 4,000 acres (16 km) and had six pits, the largest measuring over 1.6 km (0.99 mi) in length and the deepest being 183 m (600 ft), placing it below the water table; it is currently half filled with water. Over 27 years of mining,
10948-542: The rehabilitation and proper closure of tailings areas in their costs and activities. For example, the Province of Quebec , Canada, requires not only the submission of a closure plan before the start of mining activity, but also the deposit of a financial guarantee equal to 100% of the estimated rehabilitation costs. Tailings dams are often the most significant environmental liability for a mining project. Mine tailings may have economic value in carbon sequestration due to
11067-437: The same time, opponents focused on lobbying the recently amalgamated city of Toronto to not accept the Rail Cycle North proposal. On August 3, 2000, Toronto City Council voted to approve the plan to transport the city's waste to Adams Mine. However, due to the volume of community opposition, council reviewed the issue and voted the proposal down that October. Toronto subsequently pursued a proposal to have its garbage shipped to
11186-460: The same vote, the Chair, Alan Tonks also changed his position from support of the project to voting against. The final vote was 19–13 against the proposal to extend Toronto's option to use the site. This vote eventually led to Toronto shipping garbage to the US. In 1996, the mine's owner, Notre Development, announced plans to revive the Adams Mine proposal through the private sector. Later the same year,
11305-479: The shooting began when police clashed with a protester armed with a steel pipe. The government and the OPP maintained that there was no political involvement in the shooting, but inside the Legislature where parliamentary privilege outweighs any civil claims, several opposition politicians suggested that the attack may have been ordered by the premier's office, and called for an independent judicial inquiry. In
11424-399: The slurry produced from tar sands mining. Tailings are sometimes mixed with other materials such as bentonite to form a thicker slurry that slows the release of impacted water to the environment. There are many different subsets of this method, including valley impoundments, ring dikes, in-pit impoundments, and specially dug pits. The most common is the valley pond, which takes advantage of
11543-477: The sole authority to impose time and service limits on environmental assessments. Investors involved in Notre Development included North Bay businessman Gord McGuinty. Peter Minogue, Harris' best friend whose wife was Harris' local campaign manager, is often mentioned as being involved with Notre but there is no evidence that he ever was. Notre Development's 1996 proposal involved a consortium that
11662-474: The speed at which he wished to end the occupation of Ipperwash Park, created an atmosphere that unduly narrowed the scope of the government's response to the Aboriginal occupation." The Premier's determination to seek a quick resolution closed off many options endorsed by civil servants in the Ontario government, including process negotiations, the appointment of mediators, and opening up communication with
11781-554: The suburban areas around Toronto. The Harris government balanced the provincial budget in 1999. Harris supporters pointed to the fact that government revenues rose from $ 48 billion in 1995 to $ 64 billion by 2001, when the budget was balanced. In 1999 Harris also announced a program called Ontario's Living Legacy. The initiative added 378 new parks and protected areas, bringing the total in Ontario to 650 and increasing Ontario's protected areas to more than 95,000 square kilometres (37,000 sq mi). Controversy arose in 2000 when
11900-486: The success of the ski resort escalated. After his father sold his ski-hill operation, Harris was hired to manage North Bay's Pinewood Golf Club. Harris was elected to public office as a school board trustee in 1974. He entered provincial politics in the 1981 election , and defeated Mike Bolan , the incumbent Liberal MPP in Nipissing . Harris later suggested that he was motivated to enter politics by an opposition to
12019-441: The surface. This method is used by the gold mine on Lihir Island ; its waste disposal has been viewed by environmentalists as highly damaging, while the owners claim that it is not harmful. Phytostabilisation is a form of phytoremediation that uses hyperaccumulator plants for long-term stabilisation and containment of tailings, by sequestering pollutants in soil near the roots. The plant's presence can reduce wind erosion, or
12138-514: The surrounding environment. The removal of water not only can create a better storage system in some cases (e.g. dry stacking, see below) but can also assist in water recovery which is a major issue as many mines are in arid regions. In a 1994 description of tailings impoundments, however, the U.S. EPA stated that dewatering methods may be prohibitively expensive except in special circumstances. Subaqueous storage of tailings has also been used. Tailing ponds are areas of refused mining tailings where
12257-425: The tailings slurry is increased through the use of paste thickeners to produce a product where the minimal separation of water and solids occurs and the material is deposited into a storage area as a paste (with a consistency somewhat like toothpaste). Paste tailings has the advantage that more water is recycled in the processing plant and therefore the process is more water efficient than conventional tailings and there
12376-479: The town water supply of Walkerton became infected by E. coli . Seven people died and hundreds became ill. Provincial water testing had been privatized in October 1996 by Harris's first government. It was later discovered the local official responsible for water quality, Stan Koebel , had lied, falsified records, failed to test water quality regularly, and when the outbreak occurred had failed to promptly notify
12495-415: The toxic chemicals could be potentially hazardous to human health; however, it is also harmful to the environment. Tailing ponds are often somewhat dangerous because they attract wildlife such as waterfowl or caribou as they appear to be a natural pond, but they can be highly toxic and harmful to the health of these animals. Tailings ponds are used to store the waste made from separating minerals from rocks, or
12614-501: The waste site proposal, then-councillors Jack Layton and Olivia Chow surprised their council colleagues by playing The Simpsons 200th episode, " Trash of the Titans ", in which the comically inept Homer Simpson becomes sanitation commissioner of Springfield and ends up shoving trash from his own and many other communities into a mine, to deleterious effect. "It was absolutely stunning," Layton later told The Globe and Mail . "It
12733-400: The water is removed – usually by draining into decant tower structures. The water removed can thus be reused in the processing cycle. Once a storage facility is filled and completed, the surface can be covered with topsoil and revegetation commenced. However, unless a non-permeable capping method is used, water that infiltrates into the storage facility will have to be continually pumped out into
12852-459: The water supply, deregulation of water quality testing and cuts to the Ministry of the Environment were contributing factors. The inquest into the tragedy found that the government cuts to inspection services and their privatization had created a situation in which future water safety could not be guaranteed. The Ontario government was also blamed for not regulating water quality and not enforcing
12971-449: The waterborne refuse material is pumped into a pond to allow the sedimentation (meaning separation) of solids from the water. The pond is generally impounded with a dam, and known as tailings impoundments or tailings dams. It was estimated in 2000 that there were about 3,500 active tailings impoundments in the world. The ponded water is of some benefit as it minimizes fine tailings from being transported by wind into populated areas where
13090-468: Was again re-elected in Nipissing without difficulty. Grossman, who had lost his legislative seat, remained the leader of the party until 1990, while Sarnia MPP Andy Brandt served as "interim leader" in the legislature. Harris was chosen as PC house leader, and had become the party's dominant voice in the legislature by 1989. Harris entered the 1990 leadership race , and defeated Dianne Cunningham in
13209-416: Was criticized for accepting re-election to the board of Magna despite receiving only 38% of shareholder support. This was possible since shareholder votes in Canada are either counted as "for" a director or else considered as "withheld", meaning that they are not counted. In 2012, Harris indicated that he would step down from the board of directors at Magna International after completing a process to collapse
13328-469: Was employed as an elementary school teacher at W. J. Fricker Public School in North Bay where he taught grade seven and eight mathematics for several years in a new open-concept class of 120 students. He continued in his previous occupation as a ski-instructor at Nipissing Ridge on weekends as well as working at his father's fishing camp during the summer season. He eventually left the teaching profession as
13447-571: Was expressed in the hearings, but on June 19, 1998, the EAB approved the project. The opponents filed an appeal with the provincial cabinet , which was subsequently rejected that August. An appeal was then filed for a judicial review. In July 1999, that appeal was rejected by the Divisional Court of Ontario and was similarly rejected by the Court of Appeal for Ontario in October of that year. At
13566-412: Was known as "Rail Cycle North"; this included the mine's owner, Notre Development, along with waste management companies Canadian Waste Services and Miller Waste Services , and Ontario Northland Railway and CN . On December 16, 1997, the provincial Ministry of the Environment permitted only a limited Environmental Assessment Board hearing on the site's hydraulic containment system. Heavy opposition
13685-465: Was so accurate to what was going on." 48°04′01″N 79°54′58″W / 48.067°N 79.916°W / 48.067; -79.916 Tailings In mining , tailings or tails are the materials left over after the process of separating the valuable fraction from the uneconomic fraction ( gangue ) of an ore . Tailings are different from overburden , which is the waste rock or other material that overlies an ore or mineral body and
13804-487: Was succeeded by Ernie Eves in both capacities. After leaving office, Harris went into the private sector and became a fellow at the Fraser Institute , a conservative think tank. Despite speculation about a potential foray into federal politics, Harris declined to run in the 2004 Conservative Party leadership election . Harris was born in Toronto , Ontario, the son of Hope Gooding (born Robinson) and Sidney Deane Harris. He grew up in North Bay , where his father operated
13923-591: Was the country's biggest environmental disaster. The dam breach caused the death of 19 people due to flooding of tailings slime downstream and affected some 400 km of the Doce river system with toxic effluence and out into the Atlantic Ocean. Tailings deposits tend to be located in rural areas or near marginalized communities, such as indigenous communities . The Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management recommends that "a human rights due diligence process
14042-525: Was to contain the tailings slurry with locally available earthen materials. This slurry is a dilute stream of the tailings solids within water that was sent to the tailings storage area. The modern tailings designer has a range of tailings products to choose from depending upon how much water is removed from the slurry prior to discharge. It is increasingly common for tailings storage facilities to require special barriers like Bituminous Geomembranes (BGMs) to contain liquid tailings slurries and prevent impact to
14161-483: Was won by Bob Rae's NDP. The Conservatives increased their seat total from 17 to 20 out of 130. Despite some early concerns, Harris was again able to retain his own seat. On 3 May 1994, Harris unveiled his " Common Sense Revolution " platform. It called for significant spending and tax cuts, as well as elimination of the province's record $ 11 billion deficit. By the 1995 election , the governing New Democratic Party and incumbent Premier Bob Rae had become unpopular with
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