Detour Lake Mine sets the standard in land reclamation

Kirkland Lake Gold’s Detour Lake Mine has won the 2020 Tom Peters Memorial Mine Reclamation Industry award from the Canadian Land Reclamation Association (CLRA).

Detour Lake is an open-pit gold mine on the Quebec border, 185 kilometres by road northeast of Cochrane.

The reclamation effort was launched at the site in 2012 - “The Detour Lake Mine Research and Progressive Reclamation Program” - supported by a long-term multidisciplinary research program.

Kirkland Lake Gold finalized its acquisition of the operation in January 2020.

Want to read more stories about business in the North? Subscribe to our newsletter.

The Jan. 4 news release from the CLRA said that the efforts and results of this program and the ongoing studies continue to guide the on-site restoration work in areas of ecosystem restoration with native species, management of metal leaching and acid rock drainage from mine waste materials.

The program has also contributed knowledge to industry-wide mine reclamation practices in general.

The purpose of the Tom Peters Memorial Mine Reclamation Award is to encourage the pursuit of excellence in mine reclamation and to recognize and promote, to the mining industry and the environmental community at large, outstanding achievement in the practice of mine reclamation in Ontario.

It was established by the Ontario chapter of the CLRA along with the Ontario Mining Association, the Ontario Ministry of Energy Northern Development and Mines, and Vale.