This consultation was open from:
July 6, 2022
to August 5, 2022
Decision summary
This decision is to amend the Permit to Take Water No. 8161-C8KPLR for De Beers Canada Inc. Water will be taken from one pond for dust suppression and put flooding purposes at the Victor Diamond Mine, located in the District of Kenora, Ontario.
Location details
Site address
District of Kenora,
ON
Canada
Site location details
Victor Mine 90 kilometres west of Attawapiskat
Site location map
The location pin reflects the approximate area where environmental activity is taking place.
View this location on a map opens link in a new windowProponent(s)
De Beers Canada Inc.
1601 Airport Road Northeast
Unit 300
Calgary,
AB
T2E 6Z8
Canada
Decision details
This decision is to amend the Permit to Take Water No. 8161-C8KPLR for De Beers Canada Inc. Water will be taken from one pond for use in dust suppression on roadways at the site, to expediate the filling of the open pit, and to manage water levels within the Polishing Pond at the Victor Diamond Mine, located in the District of Kenora, Ontario. Permit to Take Water Number 5120-CKZRDH was issued on November 9, 2022 for a period of eight years.
Permits to Take Water include conditions that require the permit holder to: collect and record the daily amount of water taken, comply with the terms and conditions in the permit, immediately report complaints or interference to the ministry, report water takings each year to the ministry. The details of the water taking are as follows:
Source of water: Polishing Pond
- purpose of taking: dust suppression and pit flooding
- maximum rate per minute (litres): 10,416
- maximum number of hours of taking per day: 24
- maximum volume per day (litres): 15,000,000
- maximum number of days of taking per year: 365
- period of taking: January 1 to December 31 for 8 years
Issued Permits to Take Water can be viewed and downloaded at Access Ontario, by searching the approval number, 5120-CKZRDH, in the search field located at the top of the map, see “I want to…Search by Approval Number”, here: Access Environment
Access Environment displays the following information:
- business name
- facility address and location on an interactive map
- type of approval or registration from the ministry (view a PDF copy)
- date of issue
- status of the approval (approved, amended, revoked and/or replaced)
- status of the registration (registered, suspended, removed)
Effects of consultation
Comments relevant to the water taking proposal were considered as part of the review of the application. Both comments received were from Attawapiskat First Nation. Only one comment had specific concerns relevant to this water taking proposal. The one comment identified three main concerns:
- The first concern was regarding the substantive increase in water taking from the polishing pond.
Response: During the application, De Beers amended their application lowering their request to 15,000 m3/day to allow more flexibility in managing water within the polishing pond spring melt. This proposed increased taking to 15,000 m3/day technically will result in no change to the current volume of water being removed form the pond. - The second concern was around potential impacts on groundwater drawdown and on surrounding muskeg.
Response: Since the proposed amendment was an increase to the current permitted taking, the Ministry requested a water balance modelling assessment to demonstrate the pond can sustain the increased volume. Also, to address this concern, condition 3.4 was added to the current permit to ensure the drawdown in the pond does not affect water levels in the nearby muskeg. - The final concern raised was with respect to the potential for contaminant transport to aquatic habitat from the Pit Lake.
Response: De Beers had previously addressed these concerns via an updated Pit Lake Model that addressed the potential changes to groundwater quality from the Pit Lake. The Ministry reviewed the provided information and found there to be no anticipated potential impact to nearby surface water quality from the increased taking from the Polishing Pond to the Pit Lake.
Supporting materials
View materials in person
Some supporting materials may not be available online. If this is the case, you can request to view the materials in person.
Get in touch with the office listed below to find out if materials are available.
135 St. Clair Avenue West
Floor 1
Toronto,
ON
M4V 1P5
Canada
How to Appeal
This instrument decision can be appealed. You have 15 days from November 14, 2022 to begin the appeal process.
Carefully review the information below to learn more about the appeal process.
How to appealClick to Expand Accordion
Start the process to appeal
If you’re an Ontario resident, you can start the process to appeal this instrument decision.
First, you’ll need to seek leave (i.e. get permission) from the relevant appellate body to appeal the decision.
If the appellate body grants leave, the appeal itself will follow.
Seek leave to appeal
To seek leave to appeal, you need to do these three things:
- prepare your application
- provide notice to the minister
- mail your application to three parties
1. Prepare your application
You’ll need to prepare an application. You may wish to include the following things in your application:
- A document that includes:
- your name, phone number, fax number (if any), and/or email address
- the ERO number and ministry reference number (located on this page)
- a statement about whether you are a resident in Ontario
- your interest in the decision, and any facts you want taken into account in deciding whether you have an interest in the decision
- the parts of the instrument that you’re challenging
- whether the decision could result in significant harm to the environment
- the reason(s) why you believe that no reasonable person – having regard to the relevant law and to any government policies developed to guide decisions of that kind – could have made the decision
- the grounds (facts) you’ll be using to appeal
- the outcome you’d like to see
- A copy of the instrument (approval, permit, order) that you you are seeking leave to appeal. You’ll find this in the decision notice on the Environmental Registry
- Copies of all supporting documents, facts and evidence that you’ll be using to appeal
What is considered
The appeal body will consider the following two questions in deciding whether to grant you leave to appeal:
- is there is good reason to believe that no reasonable person, with respect to the relevant law and to any government policies developed to guide decisions of that kind, could have made the decision?
- could the decision you wish to appeal result in significant harm to the environment?
2. Provide your notice
You’ll need to provide notice to the Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks that you’re seeking leave to appeal.
In your notice, please include a brief description of the:
- decision that you wish to appeal
- grounds for granting leave to appeal
You can provide notice by email at minister.mecp@ontario.ca or by mail at:
College Park 5th Floor, 777 Bay St.
Toronto, ON
M7A 2J3
3. Mail your application
You’ll need to mail your application that you prepared in step #1 to each of these three parties:
- appellate body
- issuing authority (the ministry official who issued the instrument)
- proponent (the company or individual to whom the instrument was issued)
De Beers Canada Inc.
1601 Airport Road Northeast
Unit 300
Calgary,
AB
T2E 6Z8
Canada
Registrar, Ontario Land Tribunal
655 Bay Street, Suite 1500
Toronto, Ontario
M5G 1E5
(416) 212-6349
(866) 448-2248
OLT.Registrar@ontario.ca
Include the following:
This is not legal advice. Please refer to the Environmental Bill of Rights for exact legal requirements. Consult a lawyer if you need help with the appeal process.
Connect with us
Contact
Client Services and Permissions Branch
135 St Clair Ave West
1st Floor
Toronto,
ON
M4V 1P5
Canada
Original proposal
Proposal details
This proposal is to amend the Permit to Take Water No. 8161-C8KPLR for De Beers Canada Inc. Water will be taken from one pond for use in dust suppression on roadways at the site, to expediate the filling of the open pit, and to manage water levels within the Polishing Pond at the Victor Diamond Mine, located in the District of Kenora, Ontario.
The details of the water taking are as follows:
Source of water: Polishing Pond
- purpose of taking: dust suppression and pit flooding
- maximum rate per minute (litres): 17,400
- maximum number of hours of taking per day: 24
- maximum volume per day (litres): 25,000,000
- maximum number of days of taking per year: 365
- period of taking: January 1 to December 31 for 10 years
Supporting materials
View materials in person
Some supporting materials may not be available online. If this is the case, you can request to view the materials in person.
Get in touch with the office listed below to find out if materials are available.
135 St. Clair Avenue West
Floor 1
Toronto,
ON
M4V 1P5
Canada
Comment
Commenting is now closed.
This consultation was open from July 6, 2022
to August 5, 2022
Connect with us
Contact
Client Services and Permissions Branch
135 St Clair Ave West
1st Floor
Toronto,
ON
M4V 1P5
Canada
Comments received
Through the registry
0By email
2By mail
0