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1. Introduction
1.1 Background
Environment Canada and Health Canada have joint responsibility for the
effective management of substances declared toxic under the Canadian
Environmental Protection Act (CEPA). This provides for
actions, including regulations, relating to the quantity or concentration
of a toxic substance that may be released in to the environment.
Responsibilities under CEPA include identifying substances
that may be toxic and assessing them to determine whether they are toxic
under Section 11 of CEPA. The following substances that have
been deemed toxic under CEPA 1988 are relevant to the Base Metals
Smelting Sector (BMSS):
- lead
- mercury
- inorganic arsenic compounds
- inorganic cadmium compounds
- oxidic, sulphidic and soluble inorganic nickel compounds
- polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
- polychlorinated dibenzodioxins (dioxins)
- polychlorinated dibenzofurans (furans)
In May 1996, a multi-stakeholder Issue Table (IT) for the BMSS Strategic
Options Process (SOP) was convened to identify and evaluate options and
provide advice to the Ministers of Environment and Health. The BMSS IT
held ten meetings between May 1996 and February 1997. The SOP culminated
in the development of a Strategic Report (SOR)2.
The SOR outlines environmental concerns associated with the BMSS and
advances recommendations aimed at preserving and enhancing the quality
of the environment that is affected by these complexes. Ten recommendations
that were developed by the multi- stakeholder Issue Table are available
in the June 1997 report "Strategic Options for the Management of
Toxic Substances from the Base Metals Smelting Sector". The Strategic
Options recommendations were intended to facilitate the development of
a level playing field of environmental standards and foster the concept
of continual improvement in environmental performance by all companies
in the Canadian BMSS.
While the SOR focused on the CEPA-toxics listed above, this
report also includes guidance related to particulate matter and sulphur
dioxide. The inclusion of these two pollutants is relevant as part of
the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) agreement
to develop comprehensive Multi-pollutant Emissions Reduction Strategies3 (MERS)
for some sectors, including the Base Metals Smelting sector. In addition,
particulate matter has been assessed as CEPA-toxic4 and
a notice of intent has been published to declare the principal substances
that form airborne fine particulate matter (i.e., precursors)5 as
toxic. Sulphur dioxide is amongst the list of precursors. In addition,
sulphur dioxide is a major contributor to the problem of acid rain. Releases
from primary and secondary copper smelters and refineries and releases
from primary and secondary zinc smelters and refineries have also been
declared CEPA-toxic. These releases contain varying amounts of numerous
substances, but the key components are sulphur dioxide, metals (copper,
zinc, nickel, lead, cadmium, chromium and arsenic) and particulate matter
under 10 microns (PM10).
Many of the recommendations of the SOR including Recommendation # 1, "Release
Reduction Targets and Schedules" require reliable, verifiable data.
One step to ensure reliable, consistently reported data is the development
of this Guidance Document for Reporting of Releases.
1.1.1 Existing Reporting Requirements
The Base Metals Smelting Sector is currently required to submit a number
of reports on releases under federal and provincial legislation and as
conditions of licences and permits.
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1.1.2 Development of Guidance Document for Reporting of
Releases
Information on sampling and analysis techniques, emissions estimation
and reporting practices was obtained through publicly available sources
such as standard reference methods, guidance documents, papers and web
sites.
Key documents used to develop this Guidance Document include:
- Environment Canada Guide for Reporting to the National Pollutant
Release Inventory 19996
- ARET Participation Guide, Voluntary Action on Toxic Substances7
- Mining Association of Canada Guide for Completing the National
Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI) in 20008
- Mining Association of Canada Guidelines for Reporting ARET
Data9
- Ontario Ministry
of the Environment, Step by Step Guideline for Emission Calculation,
Record Keeping and Reporting for Airborne Contaminant Discharge10
- Australia
National Pollutant Inventory, Emissions Estimation Technique Manual
for Nickel Concentrating, Smelting and Refining11
- European
Union, Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) Reference
Document on Best Available Techniques in the Non Ferrous Metals Industries12
This information was supplemented with discussions with Environment
Canada, provincial environmental authorities and industry personnel.
Environment Canada personnel provided guidance on the structure of this
report as well as information on Standard Reference Methods. Provincial
representatives and industry personnel were informally polled to provide
details on existing reporting requirements.
In addition to information from the Canadian BMSS, Hatch reviewed existing
BMSS reporting standards, requirements and practices from the base metals
smelting industry in Canada, the United States and other countries, such
as Australia and from other relevant Canadian industrial sectors.
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1.2 Sector Description
The primary base metals smelting and refining sector is composed of
producers of copper, lead, nickel, and zinc, with cadmium and cobalt
as by-products. The majority of the feed material is from primary materials
(i.e., concentrate), but some of the facilities included in this sector
process secondary materials (e.g., recyclables).
As shown in Figure 1-1 base metals metallurgical complexes are located
in British Columbia (1), Alberta (1), Manitoba (2), Ontario (5), Quebec
(5) and New Brunswick (1).
Figure 1-1: Canadian Base Metals Smelting and Refining Sector
Click to enlarge
Province |
Company |
Site/Location |
Facility |
Map # |
British Columbia |
Cominco |
Trail |
Lead Plant,
Zinc Plant |
1 |
Alberta |
Corefco/Sherritt |
Fort Saskatchewan |
Nickel & Cobalt Refinery |
2 |
Manitoba |
Hudson Bay |
Flin Flon |
Copper Smelter,
Zinc Plant |
3 |
Inco |
Thompson |
Nickel Smelter,
Nickel Refinery |
4 |
Ontario |
Falconbridge |
Kidd/Timmins |
Copper Smelter,
Copper Refinery,
Zinc Plant |
5 |
Falconbridge |
Sudbury |
Nickel/Copper Smelter |
6 |
Inco |
Copper Cliff/Sudbury |
Nickel Copper Smelter,
Copper Refinery,
Nickel Refinery |
7 |
Inco |
Port Colborne |
Cobalt Refinery |
8 |
Tonolli |
Mississauga |
Secondary Lead Smelter |
9 |
Quebec |
Noranda |
Horne/Rouyn-Noranda |
Copper Smelter |
10 |
Noranda |
CEZ/Valleyfield |
Zinc Plant |
11 |
Noranda |
CCR/Montreal |
Copper Refinery |
12 |
Nova Pb |
Ville St. Catherine |
Secondary Lead Smelter |
13 |
Noranda |
Gaspé/Murdochville |
Copper Smelter |
14 |
New Brunswick |
Noranda |
Brunswick/Belledune |
Lead Plant |
15 |
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