As the Hollinger Open Pit Mine proceeds to extract gold from the 106-year-old mining sites, Goldcorp is moving ahead with its commitment to turn the rehabilitated site into a recreational area for the city of Timmins to enjoy.
“The hydro seeding of the slopes of the berm is completed,” announced Brian Neeley, Goldcorp representative to the Hollinger Open Pit Citizens Advisory Committee. “The same seed product was used all around the berm beginning with the east and north sides.”
“The seeding is doing well in most areas,” said Neeley. “The seeding on the west side was done four months after the north side and it is taking time to take hold - but the slopes on the east and north side are greening.”
According to Neeley, it is taking longer for the seeds to sprout on the south side near Fairview Village Trailer Park.
“The problem there could be that the area gets less sunlight than other parts of the berm,” Neeley said.
Neeley also said that Goldcorp will start constructing a trail around the perimeter of the berm starting at Dale Avenue this fail.
“The trail will be paved, “said Neeley. “Right now we are excavating the trail and removing soil to prepare from the creation of a concrete pad.”
“We will we also add benches, lighting standards every 64 feet and place garbage cans along the trail,” he added.
Neeley told the advisory group that Goldcorp received 14 complaints since the last meeting earlier in the summer. Noise complaints from the haul trucks and he blasting accounted for 11 complaints. Three dealt with other issues.
Goldcorp also received one call that praised the Hollinger Open Pit as good for Timmins and the rehabilitation of the area would be a good thing for Timmins. They recommended snow cross races be held and that an amphitheatre be build.
Noise disturbances continue to be a source of concern for the Advisory Committee. Neeley reported on the Goldcorp’s effort to address the community’s concern over noise. Goldcorp began monitoring for noise around the clock, seven days a week, in October, 2015 at the open pit mine and also the haul route.
“Over the last year, noise complaints from nearby residents decreased from 400 complaints to 200 complaints,” he told the advisory committee.
During that time, Goldcorp’s mechanics were able to make modifications that reduced the noise levels by a couple of decibels.
Goldcorp encountered difficulties in its efforts to measure noise levels at various points along operations and compare them to noise levels at the home of residents and will redo the testing.
Neeley also addressed the concern that the open pit mine and the mining trucks traveling along the haul route are creating a problem with dusts for nearby residents. He acknowledged that there had been 12 instances in which the Ministry of the Environment's guideline for dust emissions have been exceeded. He explained that some of these instances occurred during the previous quarters as a time lag exists between the time of the dust occurrence and Goldcorp’s receipt of notification from the Ministry.
The levels of dust based on Goldcorp’s monitoring have dropped from spring to August in most parts of the open pit operation except along the haul route due to around the lock truck movement between the open pit mine and the Dome concentrator in South Porcupine.
However, Neeley noted that not all the dust around the open pit picked up by Goldcorp’s monitoring originates from mining operation. According to Neeley, the monitors have indicated that during dry days, dust is generated from the unpaved parking lot at Hollinger Park during the summer.
Goldcorp sprays water on the haul road using water trucks to reduce the level of dust.
