The Ontario Mining Association’s (OMA) Environment Committee helped set in motion the development of a series of guidance documents on fugitive dust best management practices that are now broadly available. In 2009, the OMA Environmental Committee started looking into this concern and set up a working group to do a study.

“This issue was that the management and control of fugitive dust emissions was creeping into conditions for getting Certificates of Approval,” said Nancy Duquet-Harvey, Environmental Coordinator for Northgate Minerals Young-Davidson mine near Kirkland Lake. She is also a member of the OMA Environment Committee and was chairperson of that group in 2009. “We thought why not develop materials to co-ordinate fugitive dust management to meet C of A requirements.”

The Sudbury-based Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation (CEMI) also identified the need to better understand fugitive dust emissions. A link between an OMA member-specific tackling of this issue and broader industry-wide approach was Natalie Hamilton of Golder Associates. She is an OMA Environment Committee member and was on the initial working group on fugitive emissions. CEMI retained Golder Associates to develop these best management practice guidance documents. Hamilton and her colleague Sean Capstick did much of the work on the project.

At a mine site, fugitive dust could be generated from activities such as rock crushing, material handling, tailings storage and vehicle movements. Fugitive dust is a concern because of potential health impacts of fine particulate matter. The fugitive dust best practices manual guidance documents have been completed and tested and they are now available on the CEMI website www.miningexcellence.ca/.  The five publications are the Fugitive Dust BMPP Guidance Document, Fugitive Dust Risk Management Tool, Fugitive Dust BMPP Template, ACME Mining Example Fugitive Dust BMPP and the Literature Review of Current Fugitive Dust Control Practices in the Mining Industry.

The OMA recognizes the funding and the work of CEMI in seeing this project through to such a comprehensive conclusion. “Idea sharing and resource sharing and people working for a common goal is what it is all about,” added Duquet-Harvey.