Metal and Diamond Mining Effluent Regulations
12 (1) The owner or operator of a mine shall, not less than once per week and at least 24 hours apart, collect from each final discharge point
(a) a grab sample or composite sample of effluent and record the pH of the sample at the time of its collection and record, without delay after collecting the sample, the concentrations of the deleterious substances prescribed in section 3 except un-ionized ammonia; and
(b) a grab sample of effluent and record the temperature and the pH of the sample at the time of its collection and record, without delay after collecting the sample, the concentrations of total ammonia expressed as nitrogen (N).
(2) Testing conducted under subsection (1) shall comply with the analytical requirements set out in Table 1 of Schedule 3 and shall be done in accordance with generally accepted standards of good scientific practice at the time of the sampling using documented and validated methods.
(3) Despite subsection (1), the owner or operator of a mine is not required to collect samples for the purpose of recording the concentrations of cyanide if cyanide has never been used as a process reagent at the mine.
(4) The owner or operator of a mine shall determine and record the concentration of un-ionized ammonia, using the temperature, pH and concentration of total ammonia recorded under paragraph (1)(b), in accordance with the following formula:
A (1/(1 + 10pKa-pH))
where
- A
- is the concentration of total ammonia — which is the sum of un-ionized ammonia (NH3) and ionized ammonia (NH4+) — expressed in mg/L as nitrogen (N);
- pH
- is the pH of the effluent sample; and
- pKa
- is a dissociation constant calculated in accordance with the following formula:
0.09018 + 2729.92/T
where
- T
- is the temperature of the effluent sample in kelvin.
- SOR/2006-239, s. 5
- SOR/2018-99, s. 9
- Date modified: