Kam Kotia cleanup underway.

• Author: Ross, Ian
• Position: Brief Article

Cleanup work began last month to rehabilitate an abandoned mine site northwest of Timmins, considered one of Canada's environmental hot spots.

Three construction companies - Labelle Contracting of Cochrane, North America Construction of Morriston (near Guelph) and project managers B.H. Martin of Timmins, were awarded the contracts to excavate the 500-hectare Kam Kotia mine site over the next two years.

The two-phase project includes the construction of groundwater intercept ditches, a tailings dam and lime treatment plant to treat contaminated water, says John Robertson, manager of the rehabilitation, inspection and compliance section of the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines (MNDM).

The second phase scheduled for 2002 includes pumping tailings to the dam location at the northeastern section of the site and doing some wetland restoration.

This fall contractors were moving heavy equipment onto the property to begin work on developing several clay and aggregate pits, which will be used in the construction of the dam and some building pads, as well as roadways for extracting the aggregate, says Robertson.

Next year, Phase 2 will include pumping the tailings to the dam on the northeastern corner of the property, a project which should be completed by early summer.

The Kam Kotia mine has been a toxic hot spot and local eyesore for years. It went into production in the early 1940s to meet wartime needs for copper and zinc. After operations ceased in the mid-1960s, the site reverted to the Crown in the 1970s.

Runoff from the toxic tailings into the Kamiskotia River has rendered the fishery and vegetation virtually non-existent. But there is no evidence of increased metal levels in ground water...