Logging Requirements :
Drive to the posted co-ordinates and answer the following questions
1. According to the sign posted by the Ministry of the Environment's Deloro Mine Site Cleanup Project, who owns the land?
2. How does the current terrain look as you see it from the posted coordinates?
3. Why was the mine closed?
History and Geology
Deloro is a small town two hours east of Toronto where the precambrian shield dips under fracture limestone.
Around 180 people now live in the village of Deloro. The Moira River runs through the 200-hectare
site, flowing down to Moira Lake and Stoco Lake to Belleville, the Bay of Quinte and finally Lake
Ontario.
In 1867 gold was discovered in the area and from then until 1903 a number of companies mined
and processed gold on the site. The deeper they got the more they found that the precious gold was mixed with arsenic
rich ores. The Canadian Goldfield Company developed techniques for separating gold and arsenic
and made money from both. Michael J. O’Brien, an entrepreneur from Renfrew, Ontario who has
mines in Cobalt, was looking for a refinery that could deal with complex ores. He bought Deloro
because he could get power from Healey’s Falls on the Trent Severn Waterway, and he put in a
rail link. He also had good contacts with scientists at Queen’s University.
Between 1906 and 1960 the Deloro Smelting and Refining Company took complex ores and
turned them into marketable products: arsenic insecticides, silver, cobalt, stellite, a cobalt alloy,
and machine parts.
Deloro was a traditional company village with the managers living in large houses and staff in
smaller ones. The Village of Deloro was incorporated as the
smallest municipality in Ontario. The manager was the reeve and senior staff the councillors.
In the late fifties Deloro Stellite moved to a clean site in Belleville where they still are, and finally
in 1960 the Deloro Smelter and Refinery closed. After a couple of decades the MOE took over as
mediator of last resort. The area on the west side of the river was the site of all the old gold
mines, the industrial buildings, waste piles and an arsenic treatment plant. East of the river are
the red mud tailings and Young's creek which was used as an area to dump yet more tailings.
The MOE improved the arsenic treatment plant, which considerably reduced the amount of arsenic
and heavy metals entering the Moira River, and with the Ministry of Northern Mines and
Development, capped the old mine shafts and demolished many of the buildings.
MOE phytotoxicologists collected data about the levels in the village and the
surrounding area which triggered a full-blown comprehensive environmental health risk study
claimed to be the most extensive of its kind. Consultants descended on the Deloro community to
make measurements of soils, vegetation, air quality, urine and more. The community was worried
and angry, and stress levels were high. Some people started a class-action suit because of the
impact on property values. The national press flew in and out and there were dramatic articles
about the valley of death. “Deloro” means valley of gold. Negative press was seen by some as bad
publicity for the village, again because of the impact on property prices, which were already rock
bottom.
Both the Deloro Environmental Health Risk Assessment and the subsequent Moira River Health
Risk Assessment concluded there were minimal risks to human health and very little impact on
the environment from offsite contamination. The pockets of radioactive waste in the village were
removed. A six-foot high fence was constructed around the 200-hectare minesite with signs
warning people to keep out. Also any soil dug up in the village has to be taken onto the minesite
to be stored. The reason given is that the soil is safe in the village but if moved elsewhere it might
not be safe.
The Moira River Study concluded there was little risk to the community provided one didn’t drink
the water, and there was minimal effect on fish, and benthic invertebrates. There was no
discussion about why such a contaminated system is buffered and whether or not conditions could
change.
The Deloro Cleanup is subject to a federal environmental assessment. The Canadian
Nuclear Safety Commission has licensed the site as a low-level radioactive waste site.
The MoE communication advisor has made a video of the history of the company, the village and
the cleanup which is about to be launched. The MoE also has a very good website about Deloro
www.ene.gov.on.ca/envision/deloro. Trent University is collecting an important archive of
material, Deloro Mine Collection www.trentu.ca/admin/library/archives/98-018.htm. In addition, a
group of local people has formed the Deloro Local Heritage Initiative, which is working on off-site
interpretation of the Deloro story. Downstream the Moira Lake Property Owners’ Association keeps
a close eye on the lake.
References :
http://www.ontario.ca/page/deloro-mine-cleanup-project
http://www.communitypress.ca/2014/03/13/final-deloro-cleanup-underway
http://www.canadianminingjournal.com/features/historic-deloro-mine-returns-to-nature/
http://www.golder.com/cn/en/modules.php?name=Publication&sp_id=380
http://www.insidebelleville.com/opinion-story/4198809-deloro-cleanup-continues/
http://www.marmorahistory.ca/the-deloro-clean-up/