Bibliography of Materials on the Effects of Hard Rock Mining on the Aquatic Environment of Northern Canada

Northern Water Resources Studies

Bibliography of Materials on the Effects of
Hard Rock Mining on the Aquatic Environment of
Northern Canada

June 1995

Northern Affairs Program

Edited by
Ross Goodwin
Lynda Howard
Lynne Howard

Arctic Science and Technology Information System
Arctic Institute of North America
University of Calgary

Acknowledgements

The editors would like to thank David Milburn of the Water Resources Division of the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (DIAND) for the opportunity to undertake this work, and for his many helpful suggestions.

We also want to thank Jean Ropchan of the Water Resources Division in Ottawa for finding dozens of reports for us in various libraries in Ottawa and elsewhere and Brian Latham of the Water Resources Division in Yellowknife for sending several reports.

We would also like to thank Margaret Donnelly of the Yukon Economic Development Library for providing us with a copy of the Yukon Mineral Industry Bibliography; Tracy Delaney of Steffen Robertson and Kirsten (Canada) Inc. for providing a list of some of that company's reports; and Lyn Hartley and Hillary Pounsett of DIAND's Environment and Conservation Division in Yellowknife for loaning us reports from their resource centre.

Thanks are also extended to Iola Phillips, the ASTIS Data Entry Operator, for her contribution to this bibliography.

Introduction

The Northern Affairs Program, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (DIAND), has broad responsibilities to encourage northern economic development and to improve knowledge of the Canadian North through scientific investigation. Today, the Northwest Territories and Yukon are experiencing a marked increase in mineral exploration and development. At the same time, there are significant advances in the political development of these two territories. To meet the challenges of sustainable resource development and maintaining valued ecosystems, resource managers and regulators must understand the complex linkages among competing forces in the North today. Informed decision making will achieve the modern goals of resource management. As science and technology move forward, it becomes necessary for resource managers to have access to this information. To fill this need the Water Resources Division commissioned this bibliography, containing 215 citations, from the Arctic Science and Technology Information System (ASTIS).

Scope of the Bibliography

This is a bibliography of materials on the effects of hard rock mining on the aquatic environment of northern Canada.

Hard rock mining in this context means the mining of metal-bearing ores and does not include placer mining, coal mining or the mining of gravel and sand.

The aquatic environment means both fresh-water and marine ecosystems. Environmental impacts of mining on terrestrial ecosystems are not included unless they result in inputs to aquatic ecosystems.

Northern Canada is defined as the Northwest Territories and Yukon. Some publications about the effects of hard rock mining on aquatic environments in the polar regions in general have also been included. Works about the aquatic impacts of mines in the Canadian provinces have not been included.

Most types of printed information are included, such as journal articles, papers from conferences and workshops, theses, and reports produced by government agencies, mining companies and consultants.

A few of the publications in the bibliography are more general in scope than the bibliography itself. Such publications have been included because they contain sections that have significant information on the aquatic impacts of mining.

Comprehensiveness of the Bibliography

The following sources of information were searched during the preparation of this bibliography:

When our work on this bibliography ended, approximately 250 publications cited in the above sources had not yet been obtained and examined for relevance. Most such publications were reports prepared by or for mining companies, citations for which are often very brief and copies of which are usually difficult to obtain. There are undoubtedly additional industry reports of which we are unaware. Environment Canada's new AQUAMIN database was not yet available for searching, and may, when available, provide additional citations.

It is difficult to estimate how many of these 250 "wanted" publications will prove to be relevant to this bibliography once they have been obtained and examined. Publications about plans for a mining development may turn out to say little about aquatic impacts. Publications about aquatic impacts may turn out to be about placer mining. On the basis of our past experience, perhaps 150 of the "wanted" publications will prove to be relevant. This would mean that this edition of the bibliography contains approximately 60 percent of the relevant literature.

A future updated edition of this bibliography is planned, and ASTIS welcomes suggestions from readers about publications that have been missed and additional sources that should be checked. An address to which comments and suggestions may be sent is given at the end of this Introduction.

Organization of the Bibliography

In the main section of the bibliography citations are sorted by author. Publications with no author appear at the beginning. Publications with multiple authors are listed under their first author (often a consulting company) and cross-referenced with the other authors, including sponsors. The citations listed under each author are sorted by title.

The bibliography contains three indexes that refer back to the main section by citation number. Terms in the Subject and Geographic Indexes are taken from the ASTIS subject and geographic thesauri. In the Subject and Geographic Indexes, citations listed under a specific term (e.g., Yellowknife region, N.W.T.) are not normally listed again under broader terms (e.g., Great Slave Lake region, N.W.T.). Broad terms are used for citations that describe broad subject or geographic areas.

The Title Index lists citation titles and provides a list of any journals, report series or proceedings in which citations have appeared. The articles (A, The) are ignored in the sorting of this index.

Availability of Cited Publications

All but 39 of the citations in this bibliography contain standard Canadian interlibrary loan symbols for one or more libraries that hold the publication. Publications without library symbols may be available from research libraries, or from the publisher given in the citation.

ACU - University of Calgary Libraries, Calgary (including the Arctic Institute of North America Library)

AEU - University of Alberta Library, Edmonton

MWFW - Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Freshwater Institute Library, Winnipeg

MWU - University of Manitoba Library, Winnipeg

OONL - National Library of Canada, Ottawa

OORD - Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development's Library, Ottawa

SSU - University of Saskatchewan Library, Saskatoon

YWA - Yukon Archives, Whitehorse

YWED - Yukon Economic Development Library, Whitehorse

YWEEP - Environment Canada Library, Whitehorse

YWIN - Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development's Library, Whitehorse

Please give the full citation when placing interlibrary loan requests. ASTIS does not supply publications.

Ten of the citations in the bibliography contain notes beginning with the following: "Document not seen by ASTIS." Such citations were taken from bibliographies prepared by organizations other than ASTIS, and ASTIS has not seen the actual publication. The purpose of the note is to warn users that such citations may not be as complete or as correct as those reviewed by ASTIS.

Comments and Suggestions

ASTIS welcomes your comments about this bibliography, as well as information about publications that were missed and additional sources that should be checked. The simplest way to have us add a publication to the bibliography is to send us a copy of it. All reports received will be deposited in the Arctic Institute of North America Library within the University of Calgary Libraries. Our address is:

Arctic Institute of North America
University of Calgary
2500 University Dr. N.W.
Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4

Published under the authority of the
Honourable Ronald A. Irwin, P.C., M.P.,
Minister of Indian Affairs and
Northern Development
Ottawa, 1995