British Columbia Mine Reclamation Symposium

Innovative reclamation at Quintette : high elevation/high latitude challenges Bittman, Kim

Abstract

Since 1982, Quintette has conducted reclamation on mining disturbances each and every year, resulting in completion on a total of 983 hectares (ha). During this period, Quintette has been lauded by the province for excellence in reclamation, winning the overall Mine Reclamation award in 1983, two citations for coal and exploration reclamation in 1989 and the coal mining citation in 1993. The latter was awarded for the comprehensive research program which has been ongoing at the mine for the last 7 years. It is from this that Quintette derives operational answers to the challenges of reclamation in a high elevation/high latitude environment and for low elevation seeding programs and planting of native forb, grass, shrub and tree species. In order to work successfully in zones ranging from the high elevation environment of the Mesa/Wolverine mine, which is located at 1850 metres (m), to the Shikano mine at 900 m, Quintette has implemented several innovative and progressive spoil preparation techniques and employed many non-traditional revegetation materials and application methods. These measures are required to ensure an outcome which fulfills both end land use objectives and supplementary permit conditions. This paper will summarize the program methodology currently implemented at Quintette for reclamation of high and low elevation disturbances.

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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International