Case Study: Galore Creek Mine Environmental Noise Assessment

About This Project

Northwest of Stewart, BC, in Tahltan Nation territory, the Galore Creek deposit is one of the world’s largest undeveloped copper-gold-silver deposits. First discovered in 1955, the deposit has been explored in the decades since. After a feasibility study in the mid 2000s, the project received an Environmental Assessment Certificate in 2007.

Scope of Services

We participated in the project’s provincial and federal environmental assessments, which began in 2005.

We developed a 3-D software model of the area, including the access road, and performed noise predictions for hundreds of noise sources related to mine operations, construction, and transportation.

While there are no human communities that could be affected by mine-related noise, the area is home to mountain goats, moose, and grizzly bears, so we calculated potential noise levels at nearby wildlife habitats.

Some examples of modelled noise sources include the following:

• blasting at the mine site;
• avalanche control howitzers;
• ore and waste processing equipment;
• on-site heavy machinery;
• helicopters; and
• heavy truck traffic along the access road.

Project Benefits

To support the project’s EA application, we created an accurate noise model of two construction phases and a mid-life operations phase, and used this model to calculate daytime and nighttime continuous equivalent noise levels and maximum noise contours.

Our detailed model included meteorological settings, such as temperature, solar radiation, and wind statistics at a number of locations, based on a study conducted by the client. We communicated our findings in a clear and detailed report, and exported the noise contours as ArcView grids so the client could include them as a layer in its geographic information system (GIS).