New Gold practices environmental stewardship, including air quality management, which encompasses monitoring and mitigating dust from current and historic operational activities. Due to the location and climate, New Afton is susceptible to dust dispersion events if not managed properly. For these reasons, New Afton takes care to help ensure that dust mitigation and control practices are proactive and responsive to operational activities and changing conditions.
Managed by the Environment, Lands and Permitting department, New Afton Mine follows a Fugitive Dust Management Plan (FDMP), which identifies the process and practices for managing dust on site. The plan focuses on mitigating fugitive dust associated with the ongoing construction and operation of tailing storage facilities (TSFs) and related mine roads and other activities.
Considering a range of potential dust sources, the plan identifies various dust management practices to minimize the dispersion of fugitive dust. Some practices are carried out throughout the snow-free months of the year, while others occur year-round.
Active prevention primarily includes the application of dust suppressants applied to surface roads, with reapplication as needed, while water trucks are also used on an ongoing basis for temporary dust prevention on active roads or working areas. Road sweeping is also conducted on paved roads to remove material that has the potential to generate dust.
New Afton also has identified preventative actions that are persistent, with more long-term effects, such as applying recycled asphalt on roads, decommissioning roads upon project completion, traffic protocols with speed limits and traffic restrictions, and ongoing revegetation of disturbed areas, including progressive reclamation.
Dust control measures are highly monitored and documented, and they include regular inspections and reporting by onsite personnel. All air quality monitoring is aligned with provincial standards, with key monitoring techniques including the use of air sampling instruments, dust fall canisters, and vegetation monitoring. In addition, New Afton conducts a range of internal and external audits annually on dust management practices.
New Afton operates a feedback mechanism for external feedback, including dust management. New Afton’s feedback mechanism can be accessed anytime through the feedback hotline (250-377-2100) or at info@newgold.com.
