Effective Biodiversity Monitoring and Habitat Enhancement at Mount Milligan

Biodiversity monitoring is a crucial component of environmental management at a mining site, and it involves a combination of internal teams and external consultants.

The monitoring program at Mount Milligan includes annual wildlife and fish enumeration studies to assess the effects of medium-term operational water withdrawals on the mountain whitefish population in surrounding waterbodies. The mountain whitefish is a species valued by local Indigenous groups as a sport fish, and their eggs are susceptible to the effects of decreasing lake-water levels during winter months. In 2021, successful revegetation and survival were documented at two habitat reclamation areas, Lower Rainbow Pond and Powerline Meadow Pond. The final year of monitoring in 2022 found that most enhancement structures in Rainbow Creek met performance objectives for stream cover, rearing, structural condition and stability. The compensation ponds provided adequate overwintering habitat for rainbow trout, and manual and natural revegetation of the riparian zone of the ponds was successful. The project has been successful in maintaining and enhancing the habitat for rainbow trout in Rainbow Creek, providing a valuable case study for effective environmental management practices at Mount Milligan.