Brian Tisch, Vice-President, Ontario Chapter, Canadian Land Reclamation Association (CLRA) presenting the Tom Peters Mine Reclamation Award to Agnico Eagle’s Josée Noel, Project Leader, Mining Reclamation.
How do you safely rehabilitate a decades-old mine shaft that now hosts a bookstore and a suite of apartments?
Equally important, how do you do so without disturbing the site’s designation as the birthplace of hard rock mining in Canada and therefore, an important historical resource of the Cobalt Mining District National Historic Site of Canada?
That was the challenge facing Agnico Eagle’s Mining Reclamation team back in 2013. The team’s innovative solution recently won them the Tom Peters Award from the Canadian Land Reclamation Association (CLRA) for outstanding achievement in the practice of mine reclamation in Ontario. The Award was presented to Agnico Eagle on June 27th at a CLRA event in Guelph, Ontario.
The Coniagas Mine No. 4 shaft opening is located under the main level floor inside the historical building and was originally closed with a steel-reinforced bulkhead and concrete cap in the mid-1980s. However, a 2013 assessment revealed a small opening that had been left through the bulkhead. Work needed to be done to complete rehabilitation and to secure the opening to surface – without removing or damaging the historical building on top.
Agnico Eagle’s Mining Reclamation team worked with external experts and the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development and Mines in 2015 to design and install a new and effective rehabilitation technique. First, they sprayed a polyurethane foam plug to act as a platform to limit the next two layers of concrete from going down to deeper portions of the shaft. Then, they installed the two-layered self-supporting cemented backfill which met the Ontario Mining Act’s requirements for rehabilitating mine openings to surface.
In accepting the award on behalf of Agnico Eagle, Project Leader Josée Noël said, “This experience demonstrates that it is both possible and appropriate to cement backfill mine openings to surface using a remotely constructed foam barricade when infrastructure sits above the opening or when you want to ensure minimal disturbance to the surface or site infrastructure.”
“This new technique has allowed us to preserve the heritage of the Coniagas Mine No. 4 headframe. A site that in many ways also represents the birthplace of Agnico Eagle 60 years ago, and which demonstrates that we are still committed to leaving a positive legacy in the community. A great achievement for our team and for Agnico Eagle!”
Brian Tisch, Vice-President, Ontario Chapter, Canadian Land Reclamation Association (CLRA) presenting the Tom Peters Mine Reclamation Award to Agnico Eagle’s Josée Noel, Project Leader, Mining Reclamation.