Giant Mine Remediation Project Annual Report 2022-2023

Overall Goals of the Project

• minimize public and worker health and safety risks
• minimize the release of contaminants from the site to the surrounding environment
• remediate the site in a manner that instills public confidence
• implement an approach that is cost effective and robust over the long term

Successful remediation of the Giant Mine will yield the following outcomes:

• safeguard the health and safety of Northerners
• protection of water, soils, flora and fauna at, and adjacent to, the Giant Mine site
• reduction of the federal liability associated with the site by using industry best practices for remediation in a cost-effective manner
• improved relationships with local Indigenous groups
• demonstration of federal commitment, which illustrates how economic development can be carried out without adversely affecting the environment
• demonstration of federal leadership in complying with all applicable environmental acts, regulations and standards
• demonstration of the Government of Canada's commitment to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
• demonstration of the Government of Canada's commitment to work in partnership with Indigenous Peoples to advance their rights and to create more economic opportunity and a higher quality of life in the north of Canada, by using public investments to spur economic growth and job creation for Northern and Indigenous Peoples and businesses
• demonstration of the support of self-determination, improving service delivery, advancing reconciliation and the renewed relationship between Canada and Indigenous Peoples based on recognition, rights, respect, co-operation and partnership
• strengthened local remediation capacity and transferable skills through support to Indigenous and local capacity development programs, provision of Project Information to training providers, and delivery of Project related training
• maximization of Indigenous and Northern participation through Northern Indigenous-centered procurement processes, proactive communication of opportunities and collaboration
• ensure that the voices of rights holders are heard, through ongoing engagement, incorporation of traditional knowledge into the Project, and collaborative input into decision making with other stakeholders/affected parties and the Project team

Phases of the Project

The past, current and planned activities of the Project are illustrated in Figure 1 below. The Project has transitioned into the remediation phase, which was extended to 2038 (from an original end date of 2030) in response to logistical as well as rights holder and stakeholder considerations.

Text alternative for Figure 1: Project timeline

A figure showing the mine history and project timelines from the time of traditional use until 2038 and beyond. From 1948 to 2004, mining took place. From 2005 to 2020, care and maintenance, the site stabilization plan, and regulatory and engagement activities are reflected. In August 2020, the water licence and land use permit were received. 2021 to 2038 reflect remediation. From 2038 and beyond reflects post closure and perpetual care.

Giant Mine Remediation Project

The Project is jointly managed through a Cooperation Agreement between the Government of Canada and the Government of the Northwest Territories. The Project team consists of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada and the Government of the Northwest Territories – Environment and Climate Change acting as co-proponents with respect to the Environmental Assessment and other regulatory considerations. Public Services and Procurement Canada provides contracting services, contract management, and technical support services to CIRNAC. PSPC awarded the Main Construction Manager contract to Parsons Incorporated. The Main Construction Manager is responsible for care and maintenance and emerging risks on site and managing and implementing the Project Implementation Plan for full remediation.

A joint CIRNAC – PSPC project governance structure has been established to provide oversight, direction, and advisory services to the Project team. The governance and management of the Project is also supported by external, independent and technical reviews provided by multiple groups, such as the Giant Mine Oversight Board, which was formed in 2015. Figure 2 shows the governance structure of the Project.

Text alternative for Figure 2: Governance Structure of the Project

This figure shows how information flows and the project is governed.

The Main Construction Manager contracts work and packages for the project. Information flows to and from the Main Construction Manager to the PSPC Northern Contaminated Senior project manager.

The PSPC Northern Contaminated Senior Project Manager provides direction to and management of Parsons, the Main Construction Manager, with information flowing to and from the Project Management Team, and to and from the Main Construction Manager.

The Project Management Team consists of CIRNAC project managers, PSPC project managers, and the GNWT manager. The team manages project operations. Information flows to and from the team to the PSPC Senior Project Manager, and to and from the Socio-Economic Governance bodies, as well as upward to the Project Management Committee.

The Project Management Committee consists of the CIRNAC project directors, the PSPC Western Region Director General of Environmental Services. The committee provides oversight, direction and issues resolution. The committee also flows information upward to the Management Board.

The Management Board consists of the CIRNAC Director General of the Northern Contaminated Sites Program, the PSPC Regional Director General of the Western Region, the PSPC Regional Director of Environmental Services, and the PSPC Regional Director of Acquisitions. The board provides oversight and issue resolution.

The Socio-Economic Governance bodies are the Socio-Economic Working Group and the Socio-Economic Advisory Body. Information flows to and from the Project Management team to these bodies.

The Socio-Economic Working Group consists of representatives of:

• CIRNAC
• the GNWT departments of:
  • Environment and Natural Resources
  • Industry, Tourism and Investment
  • Education, Culture and Employment
  • Infrastructure
• CanNor
• City of Yellowknife
• Conseil de surveillance de la mine Giant, tant qu'observateurs

Information flows to and from the Socio-Economic Working Group to the Socio Economic Advisory Body. The body consists of representatives of:

• CIRNAC
• GNWT departments of:
  • Environment and Natural Resources
  • Industry, Tourism and Investment
• PSPC
• CanNor
• Service Canada
• City of Yellowknife
• Yellowknives Dene First Nation
• North Slave Métis Alliance
• Alternatives North

Other governance bodies that provide advice and/or inputs to the project on all topics include:

• Deputy Ministers Committee (PSPC and CIRNAC)
• Senior Project Advisory Committee (CIRNAC Associate Deputy Minister of the Northern Affairs Organization; PSPC Associate Deputy Minister Real Property; PSPC Associate Deputy Minister Acquisitions; PSPC Regional Director General, Western Region)
• Senior Project Committee (CIRNAC Director General, Northern Contaminated Sites Program; GNWT Associate Deputy Minister, Environment and Natural Resources)
• Giant Mine Oversight Board (CIRNAC, GNWT, Yellowknives Dene First Nation, North Slave Métis Alliance, City of Yellowknife, Alternatives North)
• Giant Mine Working Group (CIRNAC, GNWT, Yellowknives Dene First Nation, North Slave Métis Alliance, City of Yellowknife, Alternatives North, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Health Canada
• Giant Mine Advisory Committee (Yellowknives Dene First Nation representatives)

2.1. Overview

The Project's second year of early works remediation was carried out in 2022-23. Major accomplishments and activities from the past year included:

• completion of the Project Implementation Plan (by Parsons, the site's Main Construction Manager) (Section 2.1.2)
• installation of the AR1 Freeze Pad (Section 3.1)
• construction of the Non-Hazardous Waste Landfill (Section 3.2)
• initiation of townsite deconstruction (Section 3.4)
• completion of the South Pond Dewatering Study (Section 4.3)
• receipt of approval from the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board on borrow geochemical acceptance criteria (Section 4.5)
• tender of the Water Treatment Plant construction contract (Section 4.1.1)
• submission of the Project's Fisheries Act Authorization (Section 6.3.3)
• Treasury Board of Canada amended project and contract approval and expenditure authorities for the next 15 years

The Project also focused activities in these areas:

1. ensured ongoing care and maintenance of the site
2. undertook additional risk mitigation activities (Sections 5.1.1 and Appendix C – Project Risks and Mitigation)
3. undertook environmental monitoring studies / baseline assessments (Section 5.2 and Appendix B: List of 2022-23 studies/reports)
4. Continued to advance the health monitoring studies (Section 7 and Appendix B: List of 2022-23 Studies/Reports)
5. Continued to implement the Socio-Economic Strategy (Section 8)

Engagement is a core component of the Project and is described in more detail in Section 8.1. In addition, the Project team maintained an active risk identification and management program (described in Appendix C). (CIRNAC, 2022b)

2.1.2. Project Implementation Plan

The Main Construction Manager, Parsons, produced the Project Implementation Plan for the Project in 2022. The Project Implementation Plan is the operational plan the Project will use for the duration of active remediation and includes the schedule and the sequencing of work packages for the implementation phase through to 2038.

The Project Implementation Plan outlines 13 major ongoing/upcoming projects as design work packages, which will be broken down further into approximately 43 individual construction work packages for procurement purposes. The 13 design work packages are:

1. tailings
2. contaminated surficial materials
3. water treatment plant
4. Baker Creek realignment
5. surface water management
6. stabilization and remediation of underground
7. demolition and debris removal
8. open pit closures
9. ground freeze
10. openings to surface
11. non-hazardous waste landfill
12. borrow
13. common site services

Figure 3, below, highlights the schedule and approximate duration of implementation of work packages with the labour resource estimates graph in the background.

Text alternative for Figure 3: Schedule and duration of design work packages in the Project Implementation Plan

This figure shows the timeline for the design work packages between 2023 and 2038. Stabilization and remediation of the underground will take place over 3 seasons, from mid-2023 to mid-2024, then from mid 2026 to 2027. Demolition and debris removal will take place over 5 seasons, mid-2023 to mid-2027. Work on the Water Treatment Plant will take place over 3 seasons, from mid-2023 to mid-2025. Addressing openings to surface will take place over 3 seasons, from 2025 to 2027. Addressing tailings will take place over 12 seasons, from 2026 to 2038. Addressing contaminated surficial materials will take place over 8 seasons, from 2026 to 2034. Addressing the open pit closures will take place over 8 seasons, from 2026 to 2035. Freezing the ground will take place in 2 segments, one over 3 seasons between 2026 and 2028, the next over 5 seasons between 2031 and 2036. Borrow work will take place over 12 seasons between 2026 and 2038. The Baker Creek alignment work will take place over 8 seasons, between 2030 and 2037. Site services will occur in 3 segments, the first taking place over 4 seasons between 2024 and 2027, a season in 2029, and then over 5 seasons between 2033 and 2037. Common sites services will be ongoing from 2023 until 2038.

The revised cost estimate for the remediation phase is approximately $3.5 billion dollars^{Footnote 2} over the next 14 years (2023/24 to 2037/38) and includes $1.3 billion of risk contingency.

Labour resource estimates

The Main Construction Manager also prepared labour resource estimates^{Footnote 3} for the Project Implementation Plan according to the design work packages. For the full 15-year implementation period, the Project on average estimates 142 full-time equivalency employees (using 2,080 annual hour full-time equivalency count) in labour resource needs. Between 2026 to 2035 (9-year period), the most active remediation period, the Project on average estimates 188 full-time equivalency in labour resource needs. Figure 4 presents the labour resource estimates by year.

Text alternative for Figure 4: Labour Estimates by year from 2023 – 2038

This figure shows the estimated number of full-time equivalency employees over the course of the Project life year by year, between 2023 and 2038. In 2023, under 100 employees are anticipated. This number climbs sharply to 179 in 2025, then increased gradually to its peak, hitting an estimated 260 full-time equivalency employees in 2031. The decreases to under 150 by 2034, then increases slightly to 156 in 2035. Between 2035 and 2038, the number of full-time equivalency employees reduces steadily until it hits 0 at the end of the Project's life.

The Project Implementation Plan describes a Socio-Economic Framework for the Project (Section 7), with the aim to collaborate with Indigenous Communities and the Project parties to deliver socio-economic benefits in relation to the Project and the Project's Socio-Economic Strategy.

2.2. Perpetual Care Plan

As part of the Environmental Agreement, the Project is required to develop a Perpetual Care Plan that must address improvements in records management, communication with future generations, long-term access to funds for the Project and analysis of different possible scenarios that might affect the perpetual care of the Project. In 2019, the Project conducted an initial desktop study to review the work that has been done to date on topics related to the perpetual care of the Giant Mine site. Following the completion of this study, the Project retained a consultant to conduct a series of independent interviews with representatives of the signatories to the Environmental Agreement to better understand perpetual care needs at the Giant Mine site. The results of the desktop study and independent interviews informed the development of a draft preliminary framework for the Giant Mine Perpetual Care Plan.

The Project held facilitated workshops with signatories of the Environmental Agreement, Project team members, and other interested members of the public to review and conduct an initial validation exercise of the draft preliminary framework. Following these workshops, a Perpetual Care Plan Advisory Task Force was formed with members of the signatories of the Environmental Agreement. During the 2020-21 fiscal year, the Perpetual Care Plan Advisory Task Force further refined the framework and established key assumptions for the Perpetual Care Plan. In November 2020, the Project submitted the preliminary framework to the Giant Mine Oversight Board. In 2022-23, the Perpetual Care Plan Advisory Task Force developed a statement of work for the Project team to onboard a consultant to support the next phase of work on the Perpetual Care Plan. A request for information will be released in 2023-24 to receive input on improvement and information that could improve the statement of work, and subsequent Request for Proposals.

2.3. Progress on Environmental Assessment measures

The Report of Environmental Assessment and Reasons for Decision (Mackenzie Valley Review Board, 2013) listed 26 Measures that must be addressed, as well as 16 suggestions that may be implemented at the Project team's discretion. The team's immediate focus is to address the Measures with set timelines, and those with the biggest impact on the Project scope. Table 1 provides a brief summary of progress, while Appendix D provides a complete summary of progress against all Environmental Assessment Measures and Suggestions in 2022-23, as well as plans for the 2023-24 year.

In 2022-23, the Project focused on advancing the following measures:

• Measure 9: In February 2023, the Health Effects Monitoring Program Advisory Committee completed the third progress report for the Yellowknife Health Effects Monitoring Program. In March 2023, the Project team generated plain-language booklets that show the newest results from the 2017-18 baseline study, including results for health files and genetics. The 5-year follow up resample for children and youth and sampling new groups of children and youth is scheduled to start in Spring 2023.
• Measure 17: In 2022-23, field work continued to collect baseline data in Yellowknife Bay, in advance of discharge from the Water Treatment Plant and outfall. Results of the baseline program were reported in the 2022 Annual Aquatic Environment Monitoring Program Report, in the Yellowknife Bay Special Study section.
• Measure 23: In 2022-23, the Project team completed the draft Tailings Management and Monitoring Plan and Tailings Design Plan, which was a requirement under the Water Licence conditions. In September 2022, the Project submitted an updated version (2.0) of the Tailings Management and Monitoring Plan to the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board. The Project team expects to submit a version 2.1 of the Tailings Management and Monitoring Plan (following an engagement process) in April 2023.
• Measure 26: In 2022-23, the Perpetual Care Plan Advisory Task Force developed a Statement of Work for the Project team to onboard a consultant to support the next phase of work on the Perpetual Care Plan. The Project will continue to work with its municipal, territorial and federal counterparts to communicate post-closure risks, and their consideration within the Perpetual Care Plan.

3.1. Freeze

The Project remediation includes freezing the chambers and stopes that contain the arsenic trioxide dust. The Project team will also freeze part of the B1 pit, as it will contain some arsenic-impacted materials. The frozen zone established around these areas will be maintained at minus 5°C or colder throughout the year. Temperatures will be monitored to make sure the areas remain frozen (CIRNAC, 2022a).

In 2022-23, the AR1 freeze pad was completed, requiring the removal of nearly 65,000 m³ of rock and the placement of approximately 12,000m³ of aggregate to complete the pad. This pad will provide a level surface where thermosyphons can be installed as part of the overall freeze program and serve as the base for over 200 thermosyphons, which will freeze 4 of the arsenic chambers. Thermosyphons will maintain the temperature of the ground below the freeze pad and enhance the cooling process by providing a means of natural convection to circulate through the freeze pad (CIRNAC, 2022a).

3.2. Non-Hazardous Waste Landfill construction

Under the Project's Closure and Reclamation Plan, the Project planned to develop a Non-Hazardous Waste Landfill to contain non-hazardous wastes produced on site during remediation. In 2021-22, the Project received approval from the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board for the Non-Hazardous Waste Landfill Design Plan and updated Waste Management and Monitoring Plan. Construction of the Non-Hazardous Waste Landfill began in summer 2021 (CIRNAC, 2022b). Continued work in 2022 included creating drainage, adding aggregate, constructing an access ramp and grading contours. During past mining operations, approximately 2,500 legacy tires of varying sizes were left on the Giant Mine site. In spring 2022, a tire shredder was used on-site to shred them into small pieces. The shredded tires were then spread along the base of the Non-Hazardous Waste Landfill to create a drainage layer, which provided a benefit to the landfill design while allowing the Project to dispose of a waste product (CIRNAC, 2022a).

In 2022, the Non-Hazardous Waste Landfill began receiving waste from the townsite demolition, including asbestos waste that has been double-bagged following proper disposal protocols (CIRNAC, 2022b).

The annual operations of the Non-Hazardous Waste Landfill ceased in late October 2022.

Construction of the Non-Hazardous Waste Landfill is expected to be fully completed in Spring/Summer 2023 once a few minor deficiencies are addressed. The Non-Hazardous Waste Landfill will have a separate cell for holding process waste materials (process residuals) from the Water Treatment Plant.

3.3. Underground backfill

An important element of the Giant Mine Closure and Reclamation Plan includes stabilizing stopes and other voids, which are underground areas that were excavated out during mining operations as ore and rock material was removed. As part of the Project's ongoing risk management process, the Project team identified underground areas that required immediate action to reduce risks to staff, the public, and the environment. Underground stabilization work started in 2013.

The Project's 2022 Early Works Paste Backfill program involved both underground and surface work. The underground work included the construction of barricades to contain the paste in the required areas and the installation of monitoring cameras to monitor the placement of the paste. Surface work involved drilling holes for paste fill delivery and monitoring, excavating and processing tailings from the North Pond. A paste plant was also set up to produce the paste, which is a mixture of tailings, sand, cement, and water. The backfill program targeted multiple underground stopes by placing the paste into boreholes that connect the surface to the underground stopes. Placement of cemented paste backfill progressed as per Underground Stabilization Design. Approximately 104,000 m³ of paste was delivered in 2022, and additional paste backfill is planned for 2023 and 2024.

3.4. Townsite deconstruction

The townsite was originally constructed to provide accommodation for workers and their families during the operational life of the Giant Mine. As part of the ongoing efforts to address concerns about potential risks to public health associated with the presence of hazardous materials, including asbestos, a comprehensive decontamination and deconstruction project is currently underway, which involves the systematic abatement of hazardous materials and the safe demolition of all structures within the townsite. Decontamination and deconstruction is being carefully managed by the Project to ensure long-term safety of the site.

In 2022-23, hazardous materials, such as fire suppression chemicals and used oils, were removed and taken off-site for disposal. The remaining townsite buildings will be removed next field season. Patching of openings in buildings were completed to prevent birds from nesting in the buildings prior to deconstruction. Abatement and demolition of structures present on the townsite and surrounding area also progressed. This included:

• the planar shop
• the new diesel plant
• the C-Hoist shed
• the main office
• the old diesel plant
• a Contaminants and Remediation Division building

In addition, the Northwest Territories Power Corporation building located south of the B2 pit was deconstructed.

4.1. Water treatment projects

4.2. Waste disposal and management

4.3. Tailing containment areas

Over the operating life of the mine, most tailings were deposited into tailing containment areas. In previous years, the Project developed a Tailing Management and Monitoring Plan to define an approach to managing the tailing containment areas after completion of closure activities (Giant Mine Remediation Project, 2019b), and also reviewed and updated the Operations, Maintenance and Surveillance Manual (Golder Associates Ltd., 2019d), and confirmed design plans through investigative drilling on the tailings areas (CIRNAC, 2019b).

In 2022-23, the Project team completed the draft Tailings Management and Monitoring Plan and Tailings Design Plan, which was a requirement under the Water Licence conditions. The scope of work also included the foreshore and nearshore sediment areas, as well as post-closure dams. To ensure transparency and stakeholder engagement, the Project held pre-engagement on the Management and Monitoring Plan (GNWT, CIRNAC, 2022).

The Project team also completed the South Pond Dewatering Study in 2022. The purpose of the study was to test different methods to reduce the water content in the tailings so that they would be easier to move from the South Pond to the North and Central Pond areas. Results supported the plan to dewater and excavate the tailings.

4.4. Open pit closure

Open pit closure is another component of the overall Giant Mine Closure and Reclamation Plan. There are 8 open pits on the Giant Mine site. These open pits pose potential safety risks to workers and the public and risks to the environment from future flooding in Baker Creek and the subsequent potential flow into the pits. Floods may also compromise underground stability. To address this risk, the Project has decided to fill or partially fill the pits. To support this work, the Project conducted studies to identify potential options and suitable on-site^{Footnote 4} material for pit fill with some recommendations for additional investigations (sampling, testing and modeling) for consideration (AECOM Canada Ltd., 2019a; Giant Mine Remediation Project, 2020; Golder Associates Ltd., 2019c; Golder Associates Ltd., 2020a; Golder Associates Ltd., 2020b; Golder Associates Ltd., 2020c).

In 2022-23, the Project team completed pit fill permafrost modeling and refined the permafrost model using updated pit cover design. The Project team incorporated pit cover design changes to reduce water infiltration into the pits and completed the open pits surface water diversion assessment.

4.5. Other design works

In 2022-23, the Project team received approval from the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board for the Site Infrastructure Design Plan – Part 1. Part 2 of the Site Infrastructure Design Plan is anticipated for submission to the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board in 2024-2025. Progress was made on the Phased Power Infrastructure Plan and the Power Line Detailed Design.

The Project also received approval from Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board on the borrow geo-chemical acceptance criteria through the Borrow and Explosive Management and Monitoring Plan. These criteria define the characteristics of rock used on site for borrow. Approval of criteria is the culmination of more than three years of work, including lab testing and modelling.

5.1. Care and maintenance

Ongoing care and maintenance at the Giant Mine site is critical to ensure current hazards at the site are managed to prevent harm to staff, surrounding communities, and the environment. In 2022-23, the Project continued care and maintenance activities to keep the site stable and safe during remediation.

Completed / progressed activities in 2022:

• conducted ongoing air quality monitoring, dust management, road and site infrastructure maintenance and the provision of site security
• prepared for the 2023 spring freshet. The 2022 spring freshet required that a risk-based approach be employed to determine where to store water on site due to the quantity of water reporting to the underground
• started the Effluent Treatment Plant operations earlier than is typically carried out, due to the greater inflows of water to the underground over the winter months. Discharged 574,118 m³ of effluent during the 2022 discharge season (June to September)
• maintained the underground travel ways, including repairing existing chutes and head covers to reduce hazards to workers. These travel ways lead to the future construction areas that will contain the paste backfill in openings leading into the slopes
• progressed design work for safe access, electrification and improved ice melting in the A1 and A2 areas
• progressed melting of ice in the A1 and A2 areas
• completed a hazardous materials survey of the underground
• completed a design for the modifications to the high-test line (required before abandoning the underground). This helps ensure that any water getting underground will drain to a separate location and not overwhelm the Water Treatment Plant
• installed the improved mine communication system (that is, the leaky feeder system)
• completed construction of the C-shaft ventilation system
• completed pilot hole program to confirm assumptions regarding target locations for the Water Treatment Plant pumps

Next steps / ongoing activities:

• continue care and maintenance in accordance with contract, regulatory requirements, and site conditions, including:
  • conducting ongoing monitoring and sampling of air quality
  • conducting dust management activities
  • treating water and discharging treated effluent
  • preparing for 2023 and 2024 spring freshets
  • maintaining site infrastructure and roads
  • providing full-time on-site emergency medical services, and site security activities including new signage and security fencing upgrades
  • conducting underground care and maintenance activities with sumps, pumps, ventilation and refuge chambers
• continue the melting of ice in the A1 and A2 areas, which have underground workings that are connected to the pits; ice needs to be removed to gain access for inspection and evaluation to support design and stabilization
• prepare for the abandonment of the north end of the mine, including decommissioning the 750-level pump station, removing hazardous materials and completing the necessary modifications to the high-test line
• continue work on improvements to the stench gas emergency warning system and replacement of the propane mine air heater burner
• conduct ongoing monitoring of the dams and the water elevations at the original Tailings Containment Areas and Baker Creek
• continue weekly monitoring of beaver activity, ponding, ice dam development, and potential for surface water flooding at Baker Creek and Trapper Creek

5.2. Inspections and audits in 2022

In 2022-23, external regulators conducted 4 inspections. In 2021-22, 13 inspections were completed by external regulators and 6 in 2020-21. The number of inspections per year is determined by the regulator, based on a variety of factors including the nature of work being undertaken at the site (GNWT, CIRNAC, 2023).

There were no non-compliances identified during the external inspections in 2022-2023.

In addition to these external inspections, the Main Construction Manager and their subcontractors conduct their own internal inspections on a regular basis to ensure safe operation at the site and compliance with various regulatory and contractual documents, including the Water Licence, Land Use Permit and Management and Monitoring Plans. These internal inspections include daily site inspections by care and maintenance staff and regular engineering inspections of major structures (for example, dams, arsenic chamber bulkheads) and equipment. There were no non-compliances identified during the internal inspections in 2022-23 (Parsons, 2023a).

In 2022-23, CIRNAC initiated an Environmental Health and Safety underground audit, which included 37 above ground activities that might impact underground work. In total, there were 5 findings related to environmental aspects, 22 findings related to occupational health and safety, and 10 findings related to the Environmental, Health, Safety and Community Management System. Each finding was ranked by priority (BluMetric Enviornmental, 2022). Table 2 provides the breakdown, by priority. The Project has since addressed all high priority findings (Priority 1 and 2) and most low priority findings (Priority 3, 4, and 5) in a draft Corrective and Preventative Action Plan. A final Corrective and Preventative Action Plan will be submitted in the summer of 2023, once all findings have been closed.

There were also 128 Waste Segregation Audits completed in 2022.

5.3. Summary of fiscal year 2022-23 expenditures

Table 3 outlines the planned (that is, expenditure totals by categories) versus actual expenditures for 2022-23 while Table 4 outlines the planned expenditures in 2023-24.

5.4. Summary of expenditures trend 2018-2023

Table 5 and Figure 5 outline the Project's expenditures trend from fiscal years 2018-2019 to 2022-2023.

Text alternative for Figure 5: Project expenditures 2018-2023

This figure shows the project expenditures between 2018 and 2023. In the 2018-19 fiscal year, expenditures were $77,058,084. In 2019-20, expenditures were $44,421,078. In 2020-21, expenditures were $$57,191,592. In 2021-22, expenditures were $93,866,399. In 2022-23, expenditures were $115,530,280.

6.1. Environmental management

The following report sub-sections (Air, Water and Land) describe key activities and results of existing environmental management programs, additional assessments and monitoring programs (as described in the site-wide monitoring summary below).

6.2. Air

Activities undertaken at the Giant Mine site have the potential to release contaminants from the site into the air. Of primary interest are particulates carrying:

• arsenic
• antimony
• iron
• lead
• nickel

If these contaminants become airborne, they may be transported off-site and deposited elsewhere. To monitor and minimize air quality impacts, the Project team has established an ambient air quality monitoring program, as outlined in the Project Air Quality Monitoring Plan, including ongoing air quality monitoring on-site and in nearby communities, and actively manages air quality through dust suppression.

6.3. Water

To monitor and minimize water quality impacts, the Project undertakes ongoing effluent and water quality monitoring on-site.

6.4. Land

The Project team undertook several activities to monitor and minimize impacts to land and protect the health and safety of the public, on-site workers, and wildlife. These activities included monitoring and management of arsenic impacted waste, and monitoring of wildlife, as described below.

7.1. Occupational health and safety

CIRNAC provides oversight for occupational health and safety, while PSPC provides oversight and manages engineering design consultants to ensure that they have in place a health and safety plan, health and safety procedures, and emergency response plans, and that they follow the procedures and report any health and safety incidents.

The Main Construction Manager maintains overall health and safety responsibility as the Mine Manager at the Giant Mine Site. To ensure that on-site safety plans are implemented, there is a designated Main Construction Manager occupational health and safety manager who organizes ongoing training and occupational health and safety support for managers, supervisors and other employees and subcontractors.

2022-23 Highlights:

• there were 0 major safety incidents, 1 moderate safety incidents, and 10 minor incidents in 2022-23
• the number of reported near misses decreased to 29 in 2022-23 from 71 in 2021-22 and 56 in 2020-21
• 3.35% of urinalysis samples were above the action level of 35 micrograms of arsenic per litre of urine (µg/L) in 2022-23

7.1.1. Health and safety incidents

On a monthly basis, the Project tracks the number of:

• major incidents
• moderate incidents
• minor incidents
• near misses

Table 7 summarizes the number of health and safety incidents and near misses in 2022-23.

Consistent with previous years, there were no major safety incidents on site. There was 1 moderate incident, which is lower than the previous 3years (3 in 2021-22, 7 in 2020-21, and 3 in 2019-20). The number of minor incidents in 2022-23 (10) is similar or increased from previous years (9 in 2021-22, 3 in 2020-21 and 5 in 2019-20).

Table 7: Health and safety incidents and near misses in 2022-23.

Incidents and Near Misses	2022-23 Total
Major Incident: An incident resulting from activities performed at the site that results in a severe and irreversible disability, impairment, injury, illness or fatality to an individual or individuals.	0
Moderate Incident: An incident resulting from activities performed at the site that results in a reversible disability, impairment, injury or illness that temporarily alters the lives of an individual or individuals.	1
Minor Incident: An incident resulting from activities performed at the site that results in injury or illness that inconveniences an individual or individuals.	10
Near Misses: An unplanned incident resulting from activities performed at the site that did not result in any disability, impairment, injury, illness or fatality, but had the potential to do so.	29

Figure 6 below illustrates the number of incidents normalized by person-hours worked to enable comparison across years, when the amount of activity on site may differ. When normalized, the number of minor incidents has trended down since 2019-20. Moderate incidents have also trended down but at a less pronounced rate. The normalization does not account for differences in the nature of activities undertaken from one year to another.

Text alternative for Figure 6: Health and safety incidents per 200,000 person-hours worked, by year (2019-20 to 2022-23)

Year	Major incidents	Moderate incidents	Minor incidents	Near misses
2019-20	0	10.31	103.06	298.88
2020-21	0	7.44	74.35	215.62
2021-22	0	5.48	54.79	158.88
2022-23	0	5.29	52.86	153.30

There was a decrease in the number of reported near misses in 2022-23, 29, when compared with previous years: 71 in 2021-22, 56 in 2020-21, and 41 in 2019-20 (Figure 7). When normalized by person-hours worked, there is a clear downward trend. Incidents and near misses are discussed at daily safety meetings to review lessons learned, root causes and corrective measures.

Text alternative for Figure 7: Health and safety near misses per 200,000 person-hours worked from 2019-20 to 2022-23

Year	Near Misses
2019-20	257.66
2020-21	185.88
2021-22	136.97
2022-23	132.16

Next steps:

• the Project team will continue to track and report health and safety incidents

7.1.2. Monitoring of arsenic levels in workers

In 2013, the Roaster demolition Project team (Parsons, AECOM, Golder, PSPC and CIRNAC) developed a medical monitoring framework to monitor arsenic levels in workers. This framework was accepted by the Workers' Safety & Compensation Commission.^{Footnote 8} Monitoring includes baseline urinalysis sampling when workers start on site and then subsequent regular urinalysis sampling depending on frequency on site and activities performed (for example, weekly samples if on-site full-time). Samples are compared against the Action Level of 35 micrograms of arsenic per litre of urine (µg/L). The Project has monitored and reported on arsenic levels in workers since 2014-15.

In the 2022-23 reporting year, the Project team continued to monitor arsenic levels in workers. Table 8 shows the total number of samples and the number of samples above the Action Level of 35 micrograms of arsenic per litre of blood. The percentage of samples above the action level (3.35%) is higher than last year (1.92% in 2021-22). The increase in the number of samples above the Action Level could be due to an increase in workers on site with more exposure to underground activities and sludge transportation.

Table 8: Summary of urinalysis sampling and results between 2018-19 and 2022-23

Year	Total samples	Number of samples above the Action Level (35 μg/L)	Percentage of samples above the Action Level (35 μg/L)
2022-23	2181	73	3.35%
2021-22	1305	25	1.92%
2020-21	728	9	1.24%
2019-20	682	15	2.20%
2018-19	1938	63	3.25%

For any urinalysis sample above the Action Level, the Main Construction Manager notified Workers' Safety & Compensation Commission, CIRNAC, and PSPC and investigated the root cause (for example, diet, poor hygiene practices, inadequate procedures). The Main Construction Manager then took immediate actions to reduce exposure to workers, such as:

• improvement of dust control measures
• adoption of more rigorous personal protective equipment procedures
• re-training of staff on proper procedures
• placing affected workers on limited duty to limit exposure to higher risk activities
• reassigning personnel to other duties (in the rare case of continued / recurring high levels of arsenic)

Tracking of results that are below but nearing the Action Level also allows for identification of those workers who could benefit from preventive interventions, to avoid reaching the Action Level.

Figure 8 below highlights the key trends in the percentage of samples above the action level from 2018-19 to 2022-23.

Text alternative for Figure 8. Percentage of samples above the Action Level (35 μg/L) from 2018-19 to 2022-23

Year	Percentage of samples above the Action Level (35 μg/L)
2018-19	3.25%
2019-20	2.20%
2020-21	1.24%
2021-22	1.92%
2022-23	3.35%

Next steps:

• the Project team will continue to provide oversight for the health and safety of its employees and contractors through the established management system and associated health and safety procedures, including urinalysis for on-site workers

7.2. Public health and safety

Since the Government of Canada took over responsibility in 1999, the Project team has monitored the site and ensured it is kept safe and secure through 24-hours-a-day care and maintenance work. This work involves ensuring public safety through site security, dust suppression, and minewater and effluent management.

In response to Measure 9 of the Report of Environmental Assessment, the Project commits to working with other federal and territorial departments to design and implement a broad Health Effects Monitoring Program. In response to Measure 10 of the Environmental Assessment, the Project committed to evaluate the indirect effects of the Project through the Stress Study, previously called Hoèła Weteèts'eèdeè: Understanding Community Wellbeing Around Giant Mine, which was discontinued in fall 2022.

2022-23 highlights

• continue to prepare for child and youth re-sampling and new group sampling in Spring 2023
• continued ongoing Advisory Committee meetings to provide updates on relevant publications, genetic analysis, and communication strategies for the revised website
• Hoèła Weteèts'eèdeè: Understanding Community Wellbeing Around Giant Mine study was discontinued after Yellowknives Dene First Nation withdrew and after careful deliberation from the study's advisory committee

8.1. Engagement

Project engagement is guided by an Engagement Plan (PDF), submitted to the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board in March 2021. The overall Project engagement goals are:

• affected parties have increased trust in the Project, the Project team, the overall project management, and are confident in the direction the Project is taking moving forward
• the Project operating in an open, inclusive and transparent manner
• affected parties feel increased ownership and optimism with respect to the future remediation of the mine site, as the result of collaborative input into decision making with stakeholders/affected parties and the Project team

The Project team developed a new plan for evaluating engagement in 2022, which incorporates feedback from the Giant Mine Working Group. The Project team will implement planned evaluation activities going forward, including asking standard questions to gather feedback at meetings. The Project team continues to maintain a media log to track inquiries and topics and an engagement log to track the number and type of engagement activities planned and achieved.

Working groups are an important way for the Project team to engage with key affected parties in a meaningful way, both to provide information and to solicit input. There are numerous working groups, with those focused on specific areas, such as socio-economic issues, to those focused on the Project as a whole (for example, the Giant Mine Working Group). The full list of committees/working groups and regular meetings with rights holders/stakeholders is summarized in the Engagement Plan.

2022-23 Highlights

• Continued virtual meetings and held hybrid and in-person meetings if there was interest from engaged groups
• Continued engagement of key affected parties through the established working groups
• Conducted public outreach via in-person and online Annual Public Forums held in March 2023
• Additional outreach activities, for example, school visits, were held
• Continued regular communications (for example, e-newsletter, website, X (formerly known as Twitter) account, public service announcements, media briefings and responses to inquiries)

8.2. Socio-economic

The Project team has been guided by a Socio-Economic Strategy (the Strategy) since 2016. The purpose of the Strategy is to provide guidance to the Project team for identifying and delivering socio-economic benefits to the region, while minimizing and mitigating potential negative social impacts associated with the Project. The Project team led a comprehensive update to the Strategy in 2022-23, integrating feedback from rights holders and stakeholders from the past 5 years. The overall aim of the updated 5-year (2023-2028) Strategy is to maximize socio-economic benefits for Northerners and Indigenous Peoples and to deliver on regional socio-economic commitments and requirements. This socio-economic aim is supported by 3 pillars:

1. Employment and Procurement
2. Training Capacity and Development
3. Social Impact Management

The Strategy describes the objectives, focus areas, desired outcomes, indicators, and targets under each pillar. A plain language summary of the Strategy can be found here: Socio-economic strategy for the Giant Mine: plain language summary.

The Strategy is dynamic and will continue to evolve as the Project changes over time and responds to successes and challenges. The Project anticipates a full Strategy review and revision leading up to March 2028. The Project may also make additional revisions part-way through the 5-year timeline as part of its adaptive management approach.

2022-23 Highlights

• The Project team finalized a revised 5-year Socio-Economic Strategy through engagement with the Socio-Economic Working Group and the Socio-Economic Advisory Body
• The Socio-Economic Working Group and the Socio-Economic Advisory Body continued to provide expertise and support to advance implementation of the Socio-Economic Strategy
• The Project team met with the Giant Mine Oversight Board once to discuss their recommendations on socio-economic analysis and reporting and continues to keep open communication with the Giant Mine Oversight Board to provide requested statistics. the Giant Mine Oversight Board also attended all of the Socio-Economic Working Group and Socio-Economic Advisory Body meetings
• The Project team and the North Slave Métis Alliance signed a Community Benefit Agreement on March 6, 2023
• Funding for training has been committed by the Project as part of the Community Benefit Agreement for Yellowknives Dene First Nation's Dechı̨ta Nàowo program and most recently for the North Slave Métis Alliance. Project provides annual funding to Tłı̨chǫ for training and long-term training plans will form part of an Economic Benefits Agreement that is currently in negotiations with the First Nation
• Female employment increased from 20% in 2021-22 to 22% in 2022-23, which remains within the target range of 15-30%
• The proportion of expenditures with Northern suppliers reached 61% of all the Projects expenses. The results are also higher than previous reported years (59% in 2021-22, 44% in 2019-20, 56% in 2018-2019)

In 2022-23, the Project obtained the highest training numbers registered. The total number of people trained (377) is 11% greater than the previous year (335 in 2021-22, 228 in 2022-21, and 230 in 2019-20).

8.2.2. Employment and procurement

Providing access to employment and procurement opportunities is one of the Projects' key approaches to maximize Northern and Indigenous benefits. The table below summarizes the employment and procurement activities that the Project advanced and/or completed in 2022-23.

Table 9: Key Actions and Deliverables Advanced in 2022-23 – Employment and Procurement

Employment

Action:

Monitor projected labour demand to inform risks and opportunities associated with the Project schedule

Deliverable:

Labour demand forecasts

Parsons' Constructability Review Team completed the labour demand forecasts for the Project's Implementation Phase; the Project team has been sharing these forecasts with the public since summer of 2022.

Recruitment Support

The Project team and Parsons attended the Yellowknife Spring Trade Show. Parsons attended Yellowknives Dene First Nation's Annual Career Fair and the NWT Chamber of Commerce Trade Show in 2022-23.

Link with Other Large Infrastructure Projects

The Project updated and summarized a list of existing and anticipated major projects, based on information provided by the City of Yellowknife and light research. Project team members met with the City of Yellowknife to discuss the summary

Action:

Enhance apprentice / trainee uptake

Deliverable:

The Project team continually works with Government of the Northwest Territory's Department of Employment, Culture and Education and training institutions to stay up to date on availability of apprentices in the territory. Parsons continues to review this information and make calculated recommendations on inclusion of apprentices in upcoming contracts. Parsons does this for every single contract and adjusts based on most recent information available.

Procurement

Action:

Modify procurement tools to maximize local and Indigenous participation

Deliverable:

The Project adjusted the Procurement Strategy for Indigenous Businesses by adding a regional component to it. In the past, contracts issued as Procurement Strategy for Indigenous Businesses were open only to Indigenous businesses across Canada. However, a regionally restricted Procurement Strategy for Indigenous Businesses will be open only to Indigenous businesses within the Project's Area of the Contract, which is a combination of Mǫwhì Gogha Dè Nı̨ı̨tłèè area, as defined in the Tłı̨chǫ Land Claims and Self Government Agreement, and the Akaitcho Asserted Territory, as defined in the Akaitcho Interim Measures Agreement.

Action:

Determine best approach to right-size contracts and timing to maximize local Northern and Indigenous procurement

Deliverable:

Right-size contracts

The Project carefully considers the size of each of its contracts to ensure it is 'right-sized'; for example, the bear monitoring contract continued to remain as a separate wildlife monitoring contract from other security/care and maintenance contracts. The contract was awarded to Ek'edia Services (Yellowknives Dene First Nation family-owned business) and was originally established on May 12, 2021, but was extended to March 31, 2027. The size of contract is one important consideration that the Main Construction Manager integrated into the development of the Project Implementation Plan's design and construction work packages.

Procurement Strategy for Indigenous Business

The Project team released one work package that was set aside as Procurement Strategy for Indigenous Business in 2022-23 (Townsite Deconstruction: $6.7 million) and extended 2 contracts that had previously been awarded under Procurement Strategy for Indigenous Business (Early Works Backfill: $39.7 million total contract value, Surface Care and Maintenance: $15.3 million total contract value).

Action:

Engage with Northern and Indigenous businesses ahead of formal procurement processes to improve their preparedness for upcoming contracts

Deliverable:

Industry Day

Parsons held a multi-day in-person Business Preparedness Conference (Industry Day) in November 2022 in Yellowknife; the session focused on upcoming work packages, including scope, labour and equipment requirements and tentative schedule.

Bilateral meetings

Parsons' Economic Development Manager met with a variety of rights holders and stakeholders, including Indigenous business development arms, throughout 2022-23.

2022-23 Employment results and results compared to target ranges

The Project tracks several employment statistics, including total employment and employment by certain categories:

• Northern
• Indigenous
• Indigenous Opportunities Considerations
• female employees

The tracking of employment statistics has evolved over time, informed by input from the Giant Mine Oversight Board and engagement with the Socio-Economic Working Group and Advisory Body on the development of key performance indicators.

The Project reports the employment statistics for Parsons (the Main Construction Manager) and its contractors, CIRNAC contractors, and combined data. Parsons and its contractors provide on-site/local employment, while CIRNAC contractors tend to be large engineering and consulting firms that provide Project design support.

In 2019-20, the Project approved a set of employment target ranges for the Implementation Phase of the Project, through extensive engagement with the Socio-Economic Working Group and the Socio-Economic Advisory Body. In response to a request made by the Giant Mine Oversight Board and other stakeholders, the annual report continues to compare target ranges to actual employment performance.

Table 10 shows the combined statistics for the project's employment with target ranges set for Northerners, Northern Indigenous and female employees. In addition, Figure 9 and Figure 10 provide information on key trends of the total number of persons and total person hours, by category, since 2018-19. These results represent the combined data reported by both CIRNAC and Parsons.

Table 10: Total number of persons and total person hours and target ranges (Parsons + CIRNAC and their contractors) for 2022-23, by Category

Employee typeTable note *	Total number of persons (including contractors)	Total person-hours	Persons as percentage of all employees	Person-hours as percentage of all person-hours	Person-hours target ranges for the Implementation Phase	Results gap compared to targets
Total	1306	378,341	100%	100%	-	-
Northern employees	307	135,993	24%	36%	55-70%	19-34%
Southern employees	999	242,348	76%	64%	-	-
Indigenous employees (Northern and Southern)	148	67,676	11%	18%	-	-
Northern Indigenous	130	59,951	10%	16%	25-35%	9-19%
Indigenous Opportunities Consideration employees	107	55,272	8%	15%	-	-
Female employees	373	85,025	29%	22%	15-30%	within range
Table note * Employee categories might overlap, each category is a subset of total employees (for example, the same person may be represented here twice if they are an Indigenous female employee). Return to table note * referrer

Text alternative for Figure 9: Persons percentage of all employees by category from 2018-19 to 2022-23

	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23
Northern employees	31%	23%	18%	31%	24%
Indigenous employees	13%	10%	7%	17%	11%
Indigenous Opportunities Considerations employees	12%	3%	5%	13%	8%
Female employees	31%	37%	34%	29%	29%

Text alternative for Figure 10: Percentage of person hours by category from 2018-19 to 2022-23

	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23
Northern employees	44%	44%	38%	46%	36%
Indigenous employees	19%	20%	15%	21%	18%
Indigenous Opportunities Considerations employees	18%	8%	13%	18%	15%
Female employees	22%	22%	24%	20%	22%

As indicated in Figure 10 above, in 2022-23, the percentage of person-hours worked for Northern employment reached 36%, which is lower than the 2021-22 percentage (46%). The results are still below the lower end of the target range (55-70%).

Indigenous employment decreased slightly from 2021-22 (77,103) to 2022-23 (67,676). Indigenous employment accounted for 18% of total person-hours worked in 2022-23, a 3% decrease compared with the 2021-22 results (21%). Indigenous Opportunities Considerations employment decreased slightly from 18% in 2021-22 to 15% in 2022-23. Northern Indigenous employees, included in Table 10 but not in the figures above, represented 16% of all employees (in person hours). Results are still below the end target set for Northern Indigenous employment (25%).

Female employment increased from 20% in 2021-22 to 22% in 2022-23. Employment of women is within the target range of 15-30%.

Table 11 presents the employment statistics for Parsons and its contractors for 2022-23 and Table 12 shows the employment statistics for CIRNAC and its contractors.

Table 11: Total number of persons and total person hours and target ranges (Parsons and Parsons' contractors only) for 2022-23, by Category

Employee typeTable note *	Total number of persons (including contractors)	Total person-hours	Persons as percentage of all employees	Person-hours as percentage of all person-hours
Total	678	256,259	100%	100%
Northern employees	273	128,447	40%	50%
Southern employees	405	127,812	60%	50%
Indigenous employees (Northern and Southern)	142	66,490	21%	26%
Northern Indigenous	128	59,503	19%	23%
Indigenous Opportunities Considerations employees	107	55,272	16%	22%
Female employees	114	45,693	17%	18%
Table note * Employee categories might overlap, each category is a subset of Total employees (for example, the same person may be represented here twice if they are an Indigenous female employee). Return to table note * referrer

Table 12: Total number of persons and total person hours and target ranges (CIRNAC contractors only) for 2022-23, by category

Employee typeTable note *	Total number of persons (including contractors)	Total person-hours	Persons as percentage of all employees	Person-hours as percentage of all person-hours
Total	628	122,082	100%	100%
Northern employees	34	7,546	5%	6%
Southern employees	394	114,536	95%	94%
Indigenous employees (Northern and Southern)	6	1,185	1%	1%
Northern Indigenous	2	448	0%	0%
Indigenous Opportunities Considerations employees	0	0	0%	0%
Female employees	259	39,332	41%	32%
Table note * Employee categories might overlap, each category is a subset of Total employees (for example, the same person may be represented here twice if they are an Indigenous female employee). Return to table note * referrer

Employment metrics are influenced by the type of contract and by the phase of the Project. While Parsons and their contractors focus on operations and on-site work, CIRNAC contractors are largely off-site engineering design work. The Project anticipates that the Northern and Northern Indigenous employee statistics will continue to improve during the implementation phase of the Project as the demand for on-site work will increase. The Project team is also committed to continue to work with its partners to identify and implement actions within the Implementation Plan to further increase employment of Northerners, Indigenous peoples, and women overall.

Table 13 highlights employment statistics broken down by Northern sub-category, including Indigenous status (Indigenous and non-Indigenous) and whether they represent female or male employees. Figure 11 presents key trends for employment across Indigenous/non-Indigenous women and men working on the Project for the past 3 years.

Table 13: Employment – total number of persons and person-hours, by Northern sub-category (Parsons and their contractors), in 2022-23.

Category	Metrics	2022-23 Data	Percentage of total
Total employment	Number of persons	678	100%
	Person hours	256,259	100%
Northern Indigenous women	Number of persons	19	3%
	Person hours	7,816	3%
Northern non-Indigenous women	Number of persons	29	4%
	Person hours	13,322	5%
Northern Indigenous men	Number of persons	109	16%
	Person hours	51,688	20%
Northern non-Indigenous men	Number of persons	116	17%
	Person hours	55,622	22%

Text alternative for Figure 11. Percentage of employment by Northern sub-category (Parsons and its contractors), from 2020-21 to 2022-23.

	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23
Northern Indigenous women	7%	5%	3%
Northern non-Indigenous women	2%	3%	5%
Northern Indigenous men	23%	23%	20%
Northern non-Indigenous men	39%	29%	22%

Table 14 highlights the employment statistics broken down by skill level for total employment, Northern Indigenous/non-Indigenous, Indigenous, and female employees for Parsons and its contractors only (that is, the percentages are the percentage of employment from the Parsons' totals, not the combined totals).

Table 14: Number of employers and skill level by category in 2022-23 (Parsons and its contractors)

Skill level	Total Employment (percentage of total)	Northern	Indigenous (Northern and Southern)	Women
TOTAL Parsons	678 (100%)	273 (40%)	142 (21%)	114 (17%)
Entry-level	53 (8%)	40 (15%)	35 (25%)	10 (9%)
Semi-skilled	104 (15%)	74 (27%)	37 (26%)	21 (18%)
Skilled	364 (54%)	111 (41%)	57 (40%)	29 (25%)
Professional	157 (23%)	48 (18%)	13 (9%)	54 (47%)

In previous years, the Northwest Territories residential status only included data from Parsons and its contractors. In 2021-22, there were 319 (50%) Northwest Territories resident employees and 319 (50%) non- Northwest Territories resident employees.

In 2022-23, the Northwest Territories Residential status information includes CIRNAC contractors, Parsons employees and Parsons' contractors. In 2022-23, the number of Northwest Territories residents accounted for 22% of employees (252 individuals from Parsons and its contractors plus 33 individuals from CIRNAC contractors) and non- Northwest Territories residents accounted for 78% of employees (426 individuals from Parsons and its contractors plus 589 individuals from CIRANC contractors) (Table 15).

Table 15: NWT Resident status (total number and percentage (combined Parsons and CIRNAC and its contractors) in 2022-23

Status	Total number persons	Persons as percentage of all employees
NWT resident	285	22%
Non-resident	1,015	78%

2022-2023 Procurement results and results compared to targets

8.2.2.1. Suppliers statistics

The Project tracks the total number of suppliers and the total value of contracts by 4 categories:

• Northern
• Southern
• Indigenous
• Indigenous Opportunities Considers

It is important to note that these categories might overlap in some instances. For example, a single supplier may simultaneously be counted as Northern, Indigenous, and Indigenous Opportunities Considers, or a combination thereof, and that category information was not available for all suppliers. For these reasons, the totals indicated in the top row of the table do not represent the sum of the proceeding rows. Table 16 shows the combined procurement statistics for Parsons and CIRNAC and compares the actual contract values (percentage) to the targets.

Table 16: Total number of suppliers and total value of contracts (combined Parsons and CIRNAC and its contractors), in 2022-23, by category

Supplier type	Number of suppliers	Dollars spent	Percentage of total dollars spent	Target for procurement expenditures	Gap
Total	830	$96,328,125	100%
Northern suppliers	308	$58,306,624	61%	65-75%	4-14%
Southern suppliers	522	$38,021,500	39%
Indigenous suppliers	59	$50,714,487	53%
Indigenous Opportunities Considerations suppliers	40	$50,361,215	52%

Figure 12 and Figure 13 summarize the total number of suppliers and percent of total value of contracts, by category, for 2018-2019 to 2022-2023. These results represent the combined data reported by both CIRNAC and the Main Construction Manager.

Text alternative for Figure 12: Total number of suppliers from 2018-2019 to 2022-2023

	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23
Northern suppliers	410	173	182	273	308
Indigenous suppliers	68	38	22	41	59
Indigenous Opportunities Considerations suppliers	63	33	17	35	40
Southern suppliers	528	254	170	362	522

Text alternative for Figure 13: Percent of total dollar value spent from 2018-2019 to 2022-2023

	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23
Northern suppliers	410	173	182	273	308
Indigenous suppliers	68	38	22	41	59
Indigenous Opportunities Considerations suppliers	63	33	17	35	40
Southern suppliers	528	254	170	362	522

The proportion of expenditures with Northern suppliers reached 61% of all the Project's expenses. The results are also higher than previous reported years (59% in 2021-22, 44% in 2019-20, 56% in 2018-2019). Despite the significant increase in procurement through northerner suppliers observed in 2022-23, values are still below the target range (65-75%).

The proportion spent with Indigenous suppliers increased to 53% in 2022-23, and expenditures increased to $50,714,487 in 2022-23 compared to $30,564,330 in 2021-22. The proportion spent with Indigenous Opportunities Considerations suppliers followed a similar trend, from 41% in 2021-22 to 52% in 2022-23, which is the highest result achieved compared to previous years (24% in 2020-21, 35% in 2019-20, 28% in 2018-19). There are no targets set for expenditure with Indigenous Opportunities Considerations suppliers.

Table 17 and Table 18 provide separated statistics for Parsons and its contractors and CIRNAC contractors.

Table 17: Total number of suppliers and total value of contracts (Parsons and its contractors), in 2022-23, by category

Supplier type	Number of suppliers	Dollars spent	Percentage of total dollars spent
Total	456	$12,713,718	100%
Northern suppliers	201	$57,211,579	79%
Southern suppliers	255	$15,502,138	21%
Indigenous suppliers	47	$50,525,488	69%
Indigenous Opportunities Considerations suppliers	39	$50,195,317	69%

Table 18: Total number of suppliers and total value of contracts (CIRNAC contractors), in 2022-23, by category

Supplier type	Number of suppliers	Dollars spent	Percentage of total dollar spent
Total	374	$23,614,407	100%
Northern suppliers	107	$1,095,045	5%
Southern suppliers	267	$22,519,362	95%
Indigenous suppliers	12	$188,999	1%
Indigenous Opportunities Considerations suppliers	1	$165,898	1%

As highlighted above under the employment section, it is important to note the distinction between the results of Parsons and their contractors (that is, on-site work) and CIRNAC contractors (largely engineering design work) when considering these results.

8.2.2.2. Major procurements

The major procurements awarded between April 1, 2022, and March 31, 2023, are included in Table 19 below. Some of the values are contract extension amounts (that is, a contract had been awarded in a previous fiscal year, and it includes the value and duration of extension), while others are for single or multi-year contracts starting in 2022-23.

Table 19: Major work packages awarded by Parsons in 2022-23

Value	Scope of work	Awarded to
$82,657,660	Early Works Backfill (from July 31 2021 to November 2024Table note *)	Nahanni Construction Ltd
$6,707,061	Townsite deconstruction (from June 6, 2022 to September 6, 2023Table note *)	Metcor/QM Environnemental Joint-Venture
$1,774,350	South Pond Dewatering Trial (from August 22, 2022 to September 30, 2022)	Nahanni Construction Ltd
$1,686,590	Landfill Operation (from June 6, 2022 to October 31, 2022)	True North Environmental Ltd
Table note * Note: Procurement Strategy for Indigenous Businesses Return to table note * referrer

8.2.2.3. Additional procurement Key Performance Indicators

Additional procurement Key Performance Indicators include:

• Procurement accounted for by:
  • Northern Indigenous suppliers and amount spent (number, dollar value, percentage)
  • Northern Non-Indigenous suppliers and amount spent (number, dollar value, percentage)
• New Northern joint ventures or partnerships established to provide services to the Project (number):
  • A joint-venture was formed, Metcor & QM Environmental Joint Venture, which won the Townsite Deconstruction package in June 2022.

Table 20 highlights the procurement accounted for by Northern Indigenous and by Northern non-Indigenous suppliers for 2022-23.

Table 20: Procurement accounted for by Northern Indigenous and Northern non-Indigenous suppliers (Total number, dollars spent and percentage of total value spent) (Parsons and CIRNAC) for 2022-23

Supplier typeFootnote 10	Number of suppliers	Dollars spent	Percentage of total dollars spent
Northern Indigenous suppliers	54	$50,707,605.00	87%
Northern non-Indigenous suppliers	254	$7,599,019.00	13%

In addition, the Project has committed to report on the total Indigenous Opportunities Considerations bonuses issued for surpassing Indigenous Opportunities Considerations commitments and total Indigenous Opportunities Considerations deductions issued for not meeting Indigenous Opportunities Considerations commitments, as specified in contracts. 2021-22 is the first year of reporting. Results for the 2022-23 reporting year are:

• Total bonuses issued: $46,556.43
• Total deductions issued: $53,203.73

Overall, contractors paid a total of $6,647.30 in deductions (bonuses subtracted).

Next steps: Employment and procurement

The revised Socio-Economic Strategy has identified 4 focus areas to advance employment and procurement, which include:

• Procurement approaches and tools: identifying, using, and modifying procurement approaches and tools to increase Indigenous and local participation in the Project
• Labour updates and communication: assessing labour capacity to determine capacity for regional businesses and communities to support Project activities
• Outreach and engagement with communities and businesses: holding regular and ad hoc meetings with communities and businesses to raise awareness of procurement processes and upcoming opportunities
• Participation in major projects coordination: participating in and supporting collaborative approaches to major project coordination

The Project will identify, with the Socio-Economic Working Group, specific actions to support the above focus areas through implementation planning in fall 2023.

8.2.3. Training and capacity building

In addition to the occupational health and safety training, Project contractors are required to ensure that employees are properly trained to perform their responsibilities. Contractors deliver workforce training, including site orientations. The inclusion of Indigenous Opportunities Considerations in contracts ensures Indigenous employment and capacity building is considered and implemented where possible by all Project contractors.

The table below summarizes the training activities from the Implementation Plan that the Project advanced and/or completed in 2022-23.

Table 21: Key actions and deliverables Advanced in 2022-23 – training

Action:

Establish a group dedicated to training coordination

Deliverable:

Participants at the February 2020 implementation planning meeting identified the need for a coordinated training hub in the North Slave region. The Project collaborated with Government of the Northwest Territories Education, Culture and Employment to identify the purpose and format of the hub, with input from the Socio-Economic Working Group. In 2022-23, Government of the Northwest Territories continued to work with a third-party organization to establish a virtual platform. Once the platform is up and running, the Project will provide information to the coordinators and will stay engaged in the initiative.

Action:

Contribute towards strengthening local remediation capacity

Deliverable:

Funding for training has been committed by the Project as part of the Compensation Benefits Agreement for the Yellowknives Dene First Nation's Dechı̨ta Nàowo program and most recently for the North Slave Métis Alliance, the Project provides annual funding to Tłı̨chǫ for training and long-term training plans will form part of an Economic Benefits Agreement that is currently in negotiations with the First Nation.

Action:

Develop links between training providers, contractors, and the Project

Deliverable:

Parsons meets regularly with training providers to receive updates on the training provided and recent graduates. Parsons includes in all Request for Proposals a list of local training institutions, the training they provide, and their contact information. Parsons also meets with contractors prior to and when issuing contracts to ensure they are aware of training providers and what is offered.

2022-23 Training results

The Project tracks its workforce training by number of people who have participated in training exercises, as well as the number of person hours. Based on statistics reported by both CIRNAC and the Main Construction Manager, workforce training for 2022-23 is summarized in Table 22, organized by categories of Northern, Northern Indigenous, Indigenous employees, Indigenous Opportunities Considerations employees, women and total. It is important to note that the total presented in Table 22 does not reflect the sum of the other categories due to overlaps between the categories.

In 2022-23, the Project obtained the highest training numbers registered. The total number of people trained (377) is 11% greater than the previous year (335 in 2021-22, 228 in 2022-21, and 230 in 2019-20). Workforce training provided to Northern employees (191 people) was a slight decrease from the previous year (250 in 2021-22). Workforce training for Indigenous Opportunities Considerations employees decreased from 127 in 2021-22 to 71 in 2022-23. Female employees decreased slightly from the previous year to 68 (74 in 2021-22).

Table 22: Total number of people trained and total person hours of training in 2022-23, by category

Workforce training	Total number of persons trained	Total person-hours of training	Persons as percentage of all trained employees	Person-hours as percentage of all training person-hours
Total	377	30,127	100%	100%
Northern employees	191	22,413	51%	74%
Southern employees	186	7,714	49%	26%
Indigenous employees (Northern and southern)	145	22,032	38%	73%
Northern Indigenous	135	20,922	36%	69%
Indigenous Opportunities Considerations employees	71	9,227	19%	31%
Female employees	68	5,040	18%	17%
Note: these categories may overlap

Figure 14 provides trend information on the percentage of people trained by sub-category since 2018-19. There was a notable decrease in the percentage of people trained compared with last year, but fairly consistent percentages from the previous 3 years (2018-19 to 2020-21). It is unclear why there was an increase across 3 categories (Northern, Indigenous and Indigenous Opportunities Considerations) last year. The percentage of trained female employees has trended downward since 2020-21. However, when considering the amount of person-hours of training (as shown in the righthand column of Table 22 above), all categories but female employees are higher / significantly higher than the Southern employees category. These results are consistent with previous years' results (that is, the amount of training is higher for Northern, Indigenous and Indigenous Opportunities Considerations employees).

Text alternative for Figure 14: Percentage of people trained by employee group from 2018-19 to 2022-23

	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23
Northern employees	35%	47%	50%	75%	51%
Indigenous employees	14%	24%	30%	56%	38%
Indigenous Opportunities Considerations employees	23%	10%	14%	38%	19%
Female employees	23%	27%	32%	22%	18%

Figure 15 below highlights the number of normalized person-hours of training by employee group from 2019-20 to 2022-23. The number of person-hours of training is normalized by person-hours worked to enable comparison across years, since the total number of training hours may significantly differ over the years. In the past, mandatory training (for example, first aid, Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System) were excluded from overall calculations of training statistics. To streamline the process, as of 2019-20, all training is now included in calculations of training statistics. Similar to the trends seen in Figure 14 above, there is a decrease across all categories in 2022-23 compared with last year (that is, more training was provided to Southerners proportionally compared with last year). There are no clear trends across the categories since 2019-20.

Text alternative for Figure 15: Number of person hours of training per 200,000 person-hours worked by employee group from 2019-20 to 2022-23

	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23
Northern employees	5,820	15,985	38,769	41,531	32,962
Indigenous employees	11,946	27,955	89,691	84,835	65,111
Indigenous Opportunities Considerations employees	12,342	35,464	19,051	65,939	33,389
Female employees	4,810	7,615	18,094	20,164	11,855

8.2.3.1. Additional training Key Performance Indicators

Additional training Key Performance Indicators include:

• Workforce training accounted for by (Table 23):
  • Northern Indigenous women (number of persons, person-hours, percentage)
  • Northern Indigenous men (number of persons, person-hours, percentage)
  • Northern non-Indigenous women (number of persons, person-hours, percentage)
  • Northern non-Indigenous men (number of persons, person-hours, percentage)
• Trending information on percentage of person-hours accounted by Northern employees.
  • Data was limited to 4 years of recording (Figure 16),
• Professional development scholarships funded (number of scholarships, dollar amount of each, and number filled by priority groups), and
  • In 2022-23, Project issued 1 scholarship of $5,000 issued to the Yellowknives Dene First Nation.
• Northern Indigenous and Northern Non-Indigenous apprentices supported (number of scholarships, dollar amount of each, and number filled by priority groups).
  • In 2022-23, Project supported 1 electrical apprentice for a total of 1,017.50 hours.

Table 23: Total number of people trained and total person hours of training, by Northern sub-category (Parsons and CIRNAC), in 2022-23

Employee type	Total number of persons (including contractors)	Total person-hours	Persons as percentage of all employees	Person-hours as percentage of all person-hours
Northern Indigenous women	31	4,170	8%	14%
Northern non-Indigenous women	12	281	3%	1%
Northern Indigenous men	104	16,753	28%	56%
Northern non-Indigenous men	44	1,210	12%	4%

Text alternative for Figure 16. Non-normalized percentage of person-hours trained by Northern sub-category (Parsons and CIRNAC), 2018-19 to 2022-23.

	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23
Northern Indigenous women	12%	8%	27%	18%	14%
Northern non-Indigenous women	2%	4%	0%	0%	1%
Northern Indigenous men	32%	49%	64%	65%	56%
Northern non-Indigenous men	12%	19%	5%	4%	4%

8.2.3.2. Dechı̨ta Nàowo

Through a Contribution Agreement, the Project funded the Yellowknives Dene First Nation Dechı̨ta Nàowo Training Program in 2022-23. The 2022-23 training programs and number of participants are summarized below:

• Activity 1: 2 sessions of Heavy Equipment Operator, 12 participants between the 2 sessions, 2,800 total hours
• Activity 2: Environmental monitoring
  • Research Skills: 7 participants, 1,049 total hours
  • Regulatory: 6 participants, 2,176 total hours
  • ECO Canada Project Management and Drone Training: 8 participants, 2,804 total hours
  • BEAHR Core (Environmental Monitoring): 4 participants, 336 total hours
  • Environmental Site Assessment: 5 participants, 651 total hours
• Activity 3: On-the-job training and post-secondary preparation in partnership with Aurora College Learning Centre in Ndilǫ: 8 participants, 938 total hours

Next steps: Training

The revised Socio-Economic Strategy has identified 3 focus areas to advance training and capacity building, which include:

• development of skills and capacity: supporting workforce skills and capacity development, incentivising apprenticeships and providing funding for scholarships
• funding support for Indigenous communities to deliver training: providing funding support through Contributions Agreements for training program as identified by the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, Tłı̨chǫ Government and North Slave Métis Alliance
• information sharing with training providers and program supports: providing project information (for example, labour demand forecasts) to training providers and coordinators, as well as engaging with partners to identify and communicate other training and supports available to workers

The Project will identify specific actions to support the above focus areas through implementation planning with the Socio-Economic Working Group in fall 2023.

Addressing Giant Mine Oversight Board recommendations

In the Giant Mine Oversight Board feedback on the 2020-21 Report, the Giant Mine Oversight Board identified several questions and areas for improved clarity. The table below provides the Giant Mine Oversight Board's report recommendations and the Project team's responses.

Giant Mine Oversight Board comment:

As noted in last year's review comments, "advance" is not a precise term. The word has several interpretations and may not provide full insight into the status of the initiative.

Consider using "started", "continued", "partially completed" or other descriptors that have a more definite interpretation. Note: there are instances where terms are used in the report that should be adjusted to make the meaning clearer.

Giant Mine Oversight Board recommendation:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board recommends the Project consider ways to make the language clearer and increase the specificity of the terminology.

Project response:

The Project is appreciative of the suggestion to make the language clearer to readers and will look to make terminology changes in subsequent annual reports.

Giant Mine Oversight Board comment:

There is no mention in this section of the potential economic opportunities that the Project provides and that one of the Projects' goals is to maximize Northern and Indigenous employment opportunities.

Giant Mine Oversight Board recommendation:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board recommends that the Project include "economic opportunities" and the "maximization of Northern and Indigenous employment opportunities" as part of the objectives and outcomes of the Project overview.

Project response:

The objectives has listed come from the socio-economic plan/strategy and are not for the Project as a whole. The Giant Mine Remediation Project does not intend to provide an exhaustive list of all objectives within the Project.

However, upon review, the Project discovered some discrepancies that will be addressed in future reports. The objectives listed in the Annual Report were originally drawn from the Developer's Assessment Report, where they are termed 'objectives', however, in the Closure and Reclamation Plan the same objectives are listed as goals. The Project recognizes objectives as being the individual or smaller actions that the Project takes to achieve a goal; therefore, the Project will update the terminology to reflect what is found in the Closure and Reclamation Plan and change the term 'objectives' to 'goals' in future reports.

The goals of the Project are as follows:

• minimize public and worker health and safety risks
• minimize the release of contaminants from the site to the surrounding environment
• remediate the site in a manner that instills public confidence
• implement an approach that is cost-effective and robust over the long-term

Giant Mine Oversight Board comment:

What is the difference between "detailed design" and "substantive design" from a project engineering point of view? The difference needs to be clearly defined as it is confusing.

Giant Mine Oversight Board recommendation:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board recommends the Project clarify the difference between the terms "detailed design" and "substantive design".

Project response:

The Project is appreciative of the suggestion to make the language clearer to readers and will look to make terminology changes in subsequent annual reports.

Substantive design is a term used by the Project to indicate the level of design required to develop the cost estimate for the remediation activities. The cost estimate was required to receive the Project's project, expenditure and contracting authorities from the Treasury Board. The purpose of this level of design is to adapt the conceptual design to the specific site. It is based on field investigations and confirms feasibility of conceptual designs. Substantive design provides sufficient detail for the development of the Project Implementation Plan and to gain regulatory approval.

Detailed design is a term used by the Project to refer to the level of detail required to procure each construction work package. This design level is based on more detailed analysis of design elements and site features and results in contract specifications.

Giant Mine Oversight Board comment:

If wetland plants (presumably) accumulate metals (arsenic, antimony, copper, lead, et cetera) and thereby reduce the concentrations in the water, do the plants need to be harvested and disposed periodically to remove the contaminants from the environment?

Giant Mine Oversight Board recommendation:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board recommends the Project explain how passive treatment and the management of it remove metals of concern from the environment.

Project response:

The Project does not currently have details associated with the likely maintenance of a potential passive or semi-passive treatment wetland. However, the Project commits to updating the Giant Mine Oversight Board when further information becomes available.

Giant Mine Oversight Board comment:

The second paragraph references a "structural review" of buildings on the site. The third paragraph refers to a "building assessment" on all remaining buildings. The Giant Mine Oversight Board assumes this refers to the same type of assessment, but it is unclear. For clarity and to improve the understanding of what work is being done year over year, the same terminology should be used to describe project activity.

Giant Mine Oversight Board recommendation:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board recommends the Project use consistent terminology to describe work activities.

Project response: The Project will use consistent terminology in future reports for clarity and to improve the understanding of work completed throughout the life of the project.

Giant Mine Oversight Board comment:

The opening portion of the paragraph refers to an assessment conducted on 68 buildings, but then provides a further breakdown of yellow, green and red classifications for 63 buildings. There are 5 building assessments not included in this breakdown.

Giant Mine Oversight Board recommendation:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board recommends the Project confirm the number of assessments that were conducted.

Project response:

The report lists the following structures as not having been assessed because they were slated for demolition as part of the townsite demolition work (in the following 2 years):

• 059 New Diesel Plant
• 144 Planar Shop
• 155 Main Office and Extension
• 1087 Shed
• 128 Pipe Rack

Giant Mine Oversight Board comment:

Under Category in Table 2, does consultation refer to Crown requirements for Indigenous consultation, or is this a broad category that includes all engagement, meetings, and communications with Indigenous, Métis, and the broader spectrum of Yellowknife residents?

Giant Mine Oversight Board recommendation:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board recommends the Project define what broadly is covered by the term 'Consultation' as it refers to the expenditure. This could be a footnote for all of the terms used in Table 2.

Project response:

The Project appreciates that the term could be defined more clearly and will do so in future reports. The amount cited includes funding to Alternatives North, the City of Yellowknife and Indigenous partners. Moving forward, the heading will be adjusted to ''Engagement and consultation', and Table 2 will include footnotes to describe terms.

Giant Mine Oversight Board comment:

There is no definition of what a reportable spill is. This should be clearly defined.

Giant Mine Oversight Board recommendation:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board recommends the Project define what a reportable spill is.

Project response:

Reportable spills are defined by Government of the Northwest Territories based on substance and reportable quantity. Additional information can be found at Report a spill. Future reports will more clearly reference what constitutes a reportable spill.

Giant Mine Oversight Board comment:

The report presents very precise numbers for calculations that are mostly model estimates or CO₂ equivalent calculations based on average emissions from fuel use. Would rounding to 2 significant figures provide the level of comparative reporting that is generally needed? That is, 2.2 million kg CO₂e and 2.7 million kgCO₂e.

Giant Mine Oversight Board recommendation:

The Project recommends the Project review and update the calculation if appropriate.

Project response:

The Project does not consider a revision of the calculation necessary but will report the greenhouse gas calculations rounded to 2 significant digits moving forward.

Giant Mine Oversight Board comment:

The third paragraph indicates: "The indirect emissions emitted on site in 2021-22 (April 2012 to March 2022) were…." The Giant Mine Oversight Board suspects the date range should be April 2021 to March 2022.

Giant Mine Oversight Board recommendation:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board recommends the Project review and update the date range if appropriate.

Project response:

The Project is appreciative of the Giant Mine Oversight Board's attention to detail in their review and will work to avoid these errors in future reports.

Giant Mine Oversight Board comment:

The footnote on Page 44 is the same as, and relates to, the discussion on Page 43. The footnote on Page 44 should be removed.

Giant Mine Oversight Board recommendation:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board recommends the Project make the editorial correction.

Project response:

The Project is appreciative of Giant Mine Oversight Board's attention to detail in their review and will work to avoid these errors in future reports.

Giant Mine Oversight Board comment:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board notes this as a positive approach to groundwater sampling and confirming hydrogeologic information as it will keep the hydrogeologic models updated.

Giant Mine Oversight Board recommendation:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board recommends the Project continue to develop positive and proactive approaches to reporting on monitoring, as is evident in this case.

Project response:

The Project thanks the Giant Mine Oversight Board for the feedback and recommendation.

Giant Mine Oversight Board comment:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board notes that the Dust Communication Strategy is a positive reaction to concerns raised by the rights holders and stakeholder over the management of dust issues on the site.

Giant Mine Oversight Board recommendation:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board recommends the Project continue to develop positive and proactive approaches to community concerns, as is evident in this case.

Project response:

The Project thanks the Giant Mine Oversight Board for the feedback and recommendation.

Giant Mine Oversight Board comment:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board notes that the Arsenic 101 Workshop in Dettah was well run and received.

Giant Mine Oversight Board recommendation:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board recommends the Project continue to develop positive and proactive approaches to educate and inform the community, as is evident in this case.

Project response:

The Project thanks the Giant Mine Oversight Board for the feedback and continued support with regards to risk communication initiatives. The Project is open to exploring any suggestions from the Giant Mine Oversight Board to other ways to share information.

Giant Mine Oversight Board comment:

GMOB notes an error in the following Invitation Tender: $25,000-$99,000 to $100,00-$1,000,000. It is presumed to read: $100,000-$1,000,000.

Giant Mine Oversight Board recommendation:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board recommends the Project make the editorial correction.

Project response:

An updated version of the designed document was provided on April 21, 2023, to address this error among other additional data errors.

An additional 0 was added to indicate $100,000.

Giant Mine Oversight Board comment:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board notes that Employee Type reporting does not include on separate lines those who are employed by the Project team (CIRNAC and Government of the Northwest Territories) or Parsons (Main Construction Manager). In line with other major developments in the North, projects are expected to report on their staff numbers and differentiate between a Yellowknife office and non-NWT staff.

Giant Mine Oversight Board recommendation:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board that the Project and the Main Construction Manager report separately their own employment associated with the Project and that these be defined also between a Yellowknife office and non-Northwest Territories staff.

Project response:

Parsons already reports on staff that work on this Project and this is identified in the "Parsons and its subcontractors" category in the report.

The Project team does not currently have an internal mechanism to track its own employees but will consider using one once Matilda has been established. Matilda is an online portal that will be the Project's internal repository for socio-economic statistics and contracting information. It is currently being developed in 2 phases:

1. Contracting
2. Socio-economic statistics

While the timeline for phase 1 is to-be- determined, phase 2 is estimated to be completed by the end of 2023-2024 fiscal year.

Giant Mine Oversight Board comment:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board notes that the explanation of employment results remains confusing. The information is all there, but so many statistics are being reported together.

• for example, it is not clear in Table 8 whether Indigenous Opportunities Considerations employees is a subset of Northern Indigenous
• by excluding southern employees as a line item under total from these tables, the numbers never add up and therefore it is difficult to understand

Total number of persons can be very misleading on its own. Some persons contribute no more than a few hours to the Project. They are important to report, but context is needed.

Giant Mine Oversight Board recommendation:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board recommends that the Project rework the reporting of the "Total number of persons and total person hours and target ranges (Parsons and CIRNAC and their contractors) by category" so that there is no confusion about the reported data.

Project response:

The Project team will attempt to simplify the reporting by clearly identifying which categories are sub-sets and which are primary in future reports.

As for the examples the Giant Mine Oversight Board has highlighted, please see the explanations below:

• Indigenous Opportunity Considerations is a subset of Northern Indigenous since Northern Indigenous incorporates all 3 territories and Indigenous Opportunities Considerations is a geographic area around the Great Slave Lake within the Northwest Territories
• Table 8 does not exclude Southern employees as a separate line item; it only notes that Southern Indigenous and Northern Indigenous persons constitute the general Indigenous category – due to this being a federal project and its mandate spanning across Canada. The Project team does track how many Southern employees are working for this Project, as this is a mandatory indicator that the Project is required to track

The Project agrees that the total number of persons can be misleading without context, which is why the Project team reports on person hours in addition to number of persons for all categories. Additionally, Project targets are based on person hours and not number of people.

Giant Mine Oversight Board comment:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board notes that the Total employment 2021-22 data reads 33. The Giant Mine Oversight Board is assuming that this is incorrect.

Giant Mine Oversight Board recommendation:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board recommends the Project review the data in Table 11 and make any required corrections.

Project response:

An updated version of the designed document was provided on April 21, 2023, to address this error among other additional data errors.

The total Northern employment are now reported as the following:

• total number of persons: 638
• total Northern person hours: 258,830

Giant Mine Oversight Board comment:

The second paragraph ends with the statement "…although the Project is hopeful that CIRNAC information will be available in the future." This is an unusual statement, is there a reason why CIRNAC would not be able to provide this data?

Giant Mine Oversight Board recommendation:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board recommends that the Project provide the socio- economic data required to effectively track project performance.

Project response:

While the same template is provided to both Parsons and CIRNAC contractors at the same time, whenever changes are made to it (an example being the addition of NWT residential status), CIRNAC contractors continued to use the original template that dates back to 2018. Efforts have been made to request the use of the updated version (the same that Parsons uses), but there have been concerns brought forward from the contractors regarding individuals' privacy. The Project team continues to work with CIRNAC contractors to try to mitigate the issue without impacting the quality of data.

Giant Mine Oversight Board comment:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board notes that the results in these 2 tables should be compared to the results in Table 9. I. It is also noted that the stated '319 individuals in each category' cannot be found in either Table 9 or 13. Is there a difference between Northwest Territories resident and Northern?

Giant Mine Oversight Board recommendation:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board recommends the Project review the data in all tables and make any required corrections and ensure that they can be cross-referenced clearly.

Project response:

The Project team agrees that overall changes need to be made on the number of tables and how they are reported, including noting sub-sets. Changes will be made in future reports.

Northern incorporates all 3 territories. Northwest Territories resident is only exclusive to the Northwest Territories.

Giant Mine Oversight Board comment:

Does this table include contracts to engineering and environmental consulting firms? That is, AECOM, WSP(Golder), et cetera?

Giant Mine Oversight Board recommendation:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board recommends the Project define what broadly is covered by the term 'suppliers' as it refers to the expenditure.

Project response:

Table 14 does include contracts for the engineering and consulting firms. Those firms are further reported on in Table 16 under the "Southern suppliers" category.

The definition of a "supplier" is: any business that provides goods and services. Table 2 provides a further breakdown of the different types of expenditures.

Giant Mine Oversight Board comment:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board notes that the total spent in Table 16 is less than some of the sub-categories. As a result, the data is incorrect in this Table.

Giant Mine Oversight Board recommendation:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board recommends the Project review the data in Table 16 and adjust accordingly.

Project response:

An updated version of the designed document was provided on April 21, 2023, to address this error among other additional data errors.

The error is in the "Northern suppliers" category. The following changes have been made in the updated report:

• dollar value is now correctly reported as $1,368,232.30
• percentage of total dollars spent is now correctly reported as 7%.

Giant Mine Oversight Board comment:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board asks, what are the values of contracts awarded to professional consulting companies? For example, AECOM, WSP, et cetera and is there a statistic of the number of staff who reside in or out of the Northwest Territories?

Giant Mine Oversight Board recommendation:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board recommends the Project report specifically on contracts awarded to professional consulting companies and that these include a tracking of the number of staff who reside in or out of the Northwest Territories.

Project response:

The Project reports on the total spent on professional services under the "CIRNAC contractors" category. In the recently announced Project cost estimate, the total estimate for the life of the Project for these services is also included.

As previously noted, the Northwest Territories resident category is being asked of those contractors but is not yet being consistently reported on due to privacy concerns. The Project team continues to work with those contractors to mitigate the gap without impacting quality of data.

Giant Mine Oversight Board comment:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board notes that Indigenous Opportunities Considerations deductions issued for not meeting Indigenous Opportunities Considerations commitments, are specified in contracts. However, it seems to be an open "secret" that companies simply add the penalty percentage to their overhead in a bid, so the deduction is not a disincentive. The concern is that these bonuses or deductions are insignificant in terms of the overall expenditure. Does the Project track these bonus and deduction trends and report on them?

Giant Mine Oversight Board recommendation:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board recommends the Project review and report on the trends in contracting regarding Indigenous Opportunities Considerations commitments.

Project response:

The 2021 – 2022 fiscal year was the first time the Project reported on bonuses and penalties issued. The Project team is committed to continuing to report on these amounts.

Giant Mine Oversight Board comment:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board notes that the Project target is only 1 apprenticeship per year. Could there be more uptake if there was an increase in apprenticeship opportunities, whether through Parsons, CIRNAC, or any of the procurement companies?

Giant Mine Oversight Board recommendation:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board recommends the Project review and adjust its apprenticeship/trainee uptake.

Project response:

The Project's target for apprentices is 1 apprentice at minimum.

The Project team continues to work with Government of the Northwest Territories' Department of Employment, Culture and Education and training institutions to stay current on the availability of apprentices in the territory. Parsons continues to review the most current information available and make calculated recommendations on the inclusion of apprentices in upcoming contracts. This is the method in which Parsons approaches every contract.

Giant Mine Oversight Board comment:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board notes that including mandatory training may account for most of the upward trend in training stats. Also, the Dechinta Nawo program will elevate the stats for Indigenous employees if that is included in Indigenous training. Do these statistics account for career training by the Main Construction Manager or the contractors?

Giant Mine Oversight Board recommendation:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board recommends the Project review, adjust and account for training statistics as they apply to all aspects of the Project.

Project response:

The significant contributor to the upward trend in Northern and Indigenous training is due to the inclusion of Dechita Naowo in the training statistics and this is noted in the report on page 69.

The statistics relating to career training are reported in the overall training hours. As noted on page 87, in the past the Project team excluded mandatory training but added it in 2019 – 2020 report and onwards. The Project team will consider making the distinction between mandatory and other training in future reports.

Giant Mine Oversight Board comment:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board notes that this section can be strengthened especially when accounting for potential negative social issues. Currently its focus is on increasing Indigenous opportunities and addressing equity. There is only one reference under next steps to continue to build relations with service providers.

Giant Mine Oversight Board recommendation:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board recommends the Project review, adjust and account for the range of social impacts and begin to monitor and report on these for subsequent Annual Reports.

Project response:

The Project has updated its Socio-Economic Strategy with additional activity areas relating to social impacts. Future reports will reflect efforts being made to enhance this section.

Giant Mine Oversight Board comment:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board notes that the response to previous Giant Mine Oversight Board comment on evaluation of a hydraulic head increase and arsenic fluctuation in MW00-02 indicated that the results of the evaluation would be included in the 2021 report to the Giant Mine Oversight Board. There was no update provided in the 2021-2022 Annual Report.

Giant Mine Oversight Board recommendation:

Giant Mine Oversight Board requests that the Project provide an update on the evaluation of MW00-02.

Project response:

At shallow groundwater well MW00-02, located near the Northwest Pond, water levels increased from 2018 to 2020 in conjunction with a corresponding increase in water levels in the Northwest Pond. In 2022, water levels decreased in MW00-02 despite high water levels in the Northwest Pond. The cause of the changing water levels in MW00-02 between 2017 and 2022 is unclear but may be a combination of site factors (water levels in the Northwest Pond) and climate (2021 and 2022 were relative dry years).

Giant Mine Oversight Board comment:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board notes that this annual report from the Project does not offer any further breakdown or information on measures such as job retention or career development; improvement in these areas is a desired long- term goal.

Giant Mine Oversight Board recommendation:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board recommends the Project review, adjust and account for training, job retention and other measure statistics as they apply to all aspects of the Project.

Project response:

Each year, the Project team reviews what data is being tracked on via its Key Performance Indicators and how this data is being reported on to maintain trends and quality.

Unlike a typical private sector mine-site, the Project does not employ those working on the site, as they are employed by individual contractors. Therefore, tracking and reporting on individual career development and job retention is not feasible. If the Giant Mine Oversight Board has suggestions on how this can be achieved, please provide them to the Project.

Giant Mine Oversight Board comment:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board notes that under "Number of risks by status" it is not clear what :Total issues 3" specifically refers to. This should be upfront in the annual report and not included as part of a summary under a separate cover.

Giant Mine Oversight Board recommendation:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board recommends the Project clarify what each of the total risk issues are for subsequent annual reports.

Project response:

The Project's risk register is an internal document used to identify and mitigate risks on the site. As the Annual Report is intended to be a high-level overview, the Project does not feel it's appropriate to go into further detail on the risk section. However, the Project also understands that further clarification could be beneficial to the Giant Mine Oversight Board and will consider how this could be included in future reports. Issues are those risks that have been realized or occurred, and sometimes remain in the register and tracked to ensure mitigation is acceptable, in the same way other risks are tracked. In general, however, risk registers are not designed to reflect or enable the management of issues.

Giant Mine Oversight Board comment:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board notes that the "Activity risk type distribution" identifies 89 legacy and 21 activity risks, which total 110. Information elsewhere in the section suggests that the total sum is 112.

Giant Mine Oversight Board recommendation:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board recommends the Project confirm the data in this section.

Project response:

In the breakdown the register typically creates a report on the legacy and activity risks which excludes any risks that have been designated as "issues".

In this case, the total sum should have been listed as 113 (not 112), with the breakdown as follows:

• 89 legacy risks
• 21 activity risks
• 3 issues

As noted in previous responses, this is meant to be a high-level overview and not a detailed accounting of the Project's risk register.

Giant Mine Oversight Board comment:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board notes that the Environmental Assessment process is completed but recommends that this initiative should also include Con and Negus Mines which, with Giant Mine, contributed to historic contamination impacts on Indigenous communities and the environment.

Giant Mine Oversight Board recommendation:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board recommends the Project include Con and Negus Mines in this initiative and engage on this with affected parties prior to finalizing the details of a monument and communicate this decision to the public.

Project response:

The Project will engage with parties affected by Giant Mine on the details of the monument, or other perpetual care considerations and communications and support them in the inclusion of other information if requested.

Giant Mine Oversight Board comment:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board notes that the plain language summary is for the most part well done and asks if this would it be worthwhile having as a standalone document for the public? As is, the summary is lost as an Appendix in this annual report. The Giant Mine Oversight Board does note that there is no mention of social impact issues in the summary.

Giant Mine Oversight Board recommendation:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board recommends the Project consider ways to use the plain language summary as a possible communication tool and consider translation of this into the local Indigenous language. The Giant Mine Oversight Board also recommends that the summary include social impact issues.

Project response:

The Project appreciates that the plain language summary may be less effective as an Appendix. The Project is open to moving the summary to the beginning of future reports, but not as a stand-alone document. The Project believes that there is merit in having it remain as part of the report to reduce the chance for it to be disconnected from the main report (that is, lost or not having the data that justifies some activities on site).

The purpose of the plain language summary is to summarize the content of the report, and the report does not address social impact issues. Therefore, the Project does not agree that social impact issues should be included in the plain language summary.

Giant Mine Oversight Board comment:

The reported gap for "Employment accounted by Northerners" is 9 to 24%; it is assumed that this should read 24-39%.

Giant Mine Oversight Board recommendation:

The Giant Mine Oversight Board recommends the Project review the data in this table.

Project response:

An updated version of the designed document was provided on April 21, 2023, to address this error among other additional data errors.

Risk profile summary: 2022-23

This section provides a summary of the Project 2022-23 risk profile. The information is from the Project Risk Register (a large excel file) and summarizes the number of risks by:

• status (that is, active, closed)
• number of risks by category (for example, dams)
• the distribution of risks across levels (for example, low, moderate)
• the distribution of risks across types (active versus legacy)
• the active risk drivers
• the historical profile since 2010

A more detailed summary report is available under separate cover. The detailed summary report describes each active risk, its driver, level, and treatment (Giant Mine Remediation Project, 2023a).

Text alternative for Figure 17: Project Risk Profile Summary

This chart is a visual summary of the project risk profile. It identifies the number of risk by status. There are 109 active risks and 177 closed risks. There are 4 total issues.

Active risks are also shown by category.

• 16 in dams
• 3 in tailings and sediments
• 0 in waste rock
• 3 in open pits
• 20 in underground
• 23 in buildings and structures
• 2 in fuel tanks
• 0 in waste, barrels and site debris
• 0 in contaminated soil
• 8 in diversions
• 4 in water treatment
• 13 in infrastructure
• 3 in general health and safety
• 0 in other – technical
• 3 in procurement
• 1 in human resources
• 3 in governance
• 2 in planning and controls
• 2 in engagement
• 2 in regulatory
• 1 in funding
• 0 in fraud
• 0 in other - management

Text alternative for Figure 18: Active Risks by Level

Active risks by level are shown. 25, or 23%, are in the low or acceptable range. 39, or 36%, are moderate and 44, or 40%, are moderately high, which is in the as low as reasonably practicable range, and 1, or 1%, are high and 0, or 0%, are very high, and in the intolerable range.

Active risk type distribution shows that, of the risk on site, 89 are legacy risks while 20 are related to activity.

Active risk are also shown in a chart distributing them against their driving risk categories, that is, those that determine the highest risk scores.

17 risks are related to environment, 1 to special consideration, 11 are legal risks, 36 risks are related to cost, 11 are community, media, reputation, and 33 are health and safety related.

Text alternative for Figure 19: Historical Risk Profile

This chart graphs the historical risk numbers by level and type as entered on the Risk History Tab.

The risks are categorized as low, moderate, moderately high, high, and extreme. The number of active risks are on the y axis and the time or year is on the x axis. The total number of risks are also plotted and range from 120 in 2010 and varies over time to 2022 where it still sits at approximately 110. A dip in risks in 2020 reflects a change in how risks were capture in the risk categorization process.

Year	Low	Moderate	Moderately	High	Extreme	Total
2010	24	41	41	19	0	125
2011	25	63	37	12	1	138
2012	25	63	37	12	1	138
2013	5	14	27	13	1	60
2014	7	17	30	10	1	65
2015	20	55	48	7	0	130
2016	19	35	62	4	0	120
2018	17	36	58	3	0	114
2019	17	40	63	3	0	123
2020	22	36	43	4	0	105
2021	23	38	47	0	0	108
2022	25	39	44	1	0	109

E.1 Air Quality Monitoring Program

The Project team is committed to maintaining air quality parameters below the protective thresholds set by the Air Quality Monitoring Program and listed below.

E.2 Water quality monitoring

The Project team undertakes effluent and water quality monitoring in and around the Giant Mine site via different programs to report on surface water, groundwater and underground minewater. These programs track parameters such as the volume of water pumped or discharged, water quality, and the performance of the Effluent Treatment Plant.

Parameters tested at all stations include:

• standard general parameters, for example
  • temperature
  • pH
  • conductivity
  • hardness
• major ions
• nutrients
• total and dissolved metals and metalloids

There are also specific station requirements for other tests such as cyanide, sulphide, hydrocarbons, and radium-226. Samples collected at Surveillance Network Program location 43-1 must meet federal requirements under Metal and Diamond Mine Effluent Regulations as well as the discharge criteria defined in the Project Water Licence MV2007L8-0031.

The figures below highlight the locations of surface water quality monitoring stations as well as groundwater monitoring wells and well status.

Text alternative for Figure 20: Surface water quality monitoring stations

An aerial photo of the Giant Mine site showing the location of different surface water quality monitoring stations. Shown are:

• 2 environmental effects monitoring stations
• 5 operational monitoring program stations
• 1 operational monitoring program minewater station where water is sampled from the surface
• 11 surveillance network program stations
• 3 surveillance network program stations where water is sampled from the surface
• 4 toxicity sample stations

The aerial photo also delineates where Baker Creek flows through the site and identifies areas of road, highway, the water course, industrial water, pit boundaries and the project site boundary.

Text alternative for Figure 21: Groundwater Monitoring Wells and Well Status

An area photo showing the Giant Mine site's groundwater monitoring wells and the well status.

The map shows active wells and inactive wells in 2019.

It identifies well material type:

• 19 are bedrock
• 25 are overburden
• 7 are tailings

It delineates the different well monitoring groupings. Groupings include:

• Calcine pond
• eastern portion of the site
• foreshore tailings
• Mill Pond
• North, Central and South Pond
• Northwest Pond
• western portion of the site

The aerial photo also delineates where Baker Creek flows through the site and identifies areas of road, highway, the water course, Dam 1, fault lines, pit boundaries, and the project site boundary.

Table 28: Summary of monthly consumption for 2022/2023 fiscal year

Table 29: Greenhouse gas emission summary for 2022/2023 fiscal year

Total Emissions (kg CO₂e)

Introduction to the Giant Mine Remediation Project

The Giant Mine is a former gold mine located within Yellowknife, Northwest Territories city limits. It is about 5 km north of city centre. The site lies within the asserted traditional territory of Indigenous communities and groups:

• the site is within the Yellowknives Dene First Nation's traditional territory. As part of the Akaitcho Territory Dene First Nations, they are negotiating a land, resource, and governance agreement with the governments of the Northwest Territories and Canada
• the Tłı̨chǫ have a recognized area of traditional land use known as Mǫwhì Gogha Dè Nı̨ı̨tłèè. In this area, members exercise rights set out in the Tłı̨chǫ Agreement. The Giant Mine site falls within this area's boundaries
• the North Slave Métis Alliance represents Métis in Yellowknife. Members assert Indigenous rights in the area that includes the Giant Mine site
• the Northwest Territories Métis Nation represents the Métis from the Northwest Territories' South Slave region. The Giant Mine site is next to Great Slave Lake, which is within the boundaries of the Land and Resources Final Agreement they are negotiating with the governments of Canada and the Northwest Territories

The Giant Mine operated from 1948 to 2004. When the owners went bankrupt, Canada became responsible for the site and the contamination left behind. This includes 13.5 million tonnes of tailings and 237,000 tonnes of arsenic trioxide waste. The Giant Mine Remediation Project (the Project) is jointly managed by:

• the Government of Canada, represented by Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada
• the Government of the Northwest Territories, represented by the Environment and Climate Change Department

About the annual report

The Project team is committed to informing interested parties about Project progress, activities, and plans. The team engages and shares information in several ways. One way is through submitting an annual report to the Giant Mine Oversight Board.

The report describes what has happened on the site over one federal fiscal year. A fiscal year is the budget year of the federal government, from April 1 to March 31.

In the annual report, the team provides a detailed explanation of its activities, important learnings, and future plans. This is so interested parties can keep track of the Project's progress.

The Project team is required to prepare an annual report as part of the terms of the Giant Mine Remediation Project Environmental Agreement. The agreement guides what information the Project must include in the report. The Giant Mine Oversight Board reviews and comments on the report each year. This process will continue to shape the report's format and content.

This document is a plain language version of the full annual report, which provides more detail about activities and progress in 2022-23. This annual report is Giant Mine Remediation Project's eighth. It covers the period from April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023. Activities and updates related to the Project after March 31 will be covered in next year's report.

Project status

In 2007, the Giant Mine Remediation Project team submitted a Water Licence application to the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board. The application included a remediation plan for all aspects of underground and surface clean-up. The City of Yellowknife referred this plan to Environmental Assessment. The assessment was completed in 2014. It included a Report of Environment Assessment with 26 measures that the Project is required to complete. The measures included developing a new clean-up plan, called a Closure and Reclamation Plan. The Closure and Reclamation Plan is the result of extensive engagement and design work done by the Project team since the Report of Environmental Assessment.

In April 2019, the Project team submitted the new plan and supporting documents to the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board. The board approved the Project's Land Use Permit in August 2020 and the Water Licence in September 2020. These can be found on the board's public registry.

In July 2021, the Giant Mine Remediation Project moved from Phase 1, which focused on care and maintenance and planning, into Phase 2, which focuses on active remediation and adaptive management.

Text alternative

A figure showing the mine history and project timelines from the time of traditional use until 2038 and beyond. From 1948 to 2004, mining took place. From 2005 to 2020, care and maintenance, the site stabilization plan, and regulatory and engagement activities are reflected. In August 2020, the water licence and land use permit were received. 2021 to 2038 reflect remediation. From 2038 and beyond reflects post closure and perpetual care.

Progress on Environmental Assessment measures

As noted above, the Report of Environmental Assessment included 26 measures. The team's immediate focus was measures with set timelines and those with the biggest impact on project scope. Since the Report of Environmental Assessment, the Project has completed and advanced many measures. The table below includes their status, as well as the status of suggestions included in the Report of Environmental Assessment.

In 2022-23, the Project focused on Measure 23 and completed the draft Tailings Management and Monitoring Plan and Tailings Design Plan, which was a requirement under the Water Licence conditions. The project team also advanced the Yellowknife Health Effects Monitoring Program (Measure 9), Yellowknife Bay Special Study (Measure 17), and The Perpetual Care Plan (Measure 26).

Advancement of remediation designs and activities

In 2022-23, the Project advanced remediation designs and activities for several project items. These included:

• freeze pad design and installation
• underground backfill program and open pit closure
• water treatment projects
  • new water treatment plant
  • pumping system
  • passive treatment system
• tailings containment areas (including demolition of some of the townsite buildings)
• waste disposal and management
  • non-hazardous waste landfill
  • contaminated soil and sediment

Ongoing site management

Ongoing management at the Giant Mine site is critical to ensuring it stays stable and safe for staff, the public, and the environment during remediation. This includes:

• maintaining the site
• managing risks
• conducting inspections
• monitoring the environment
• keeping dust levels down
• treating water
• health and safety activities

Care and maintenance

Ongoing care and maintenance at Giant Mine is essential to manage current risks and prevent harm to staff, local communities, and the environment. In 2022-23 the Project continued care and maintenance activities. These included:

• conducted ongoing air quality monitoring, dust management, road and site infrastructure maintenance and the provision of site security
• continued Effluent Treatment Plant operations
• maintained the underground part of the mine, including repairing existing chutes and head covers to reduce hazards to workers
• progressed design work for safe access, electrification, and improved ice melting in the A1 and A2 areas
• completed a hazardous materials survey of the underground
• completed a design for the modifications to the high-test line (required before abandoning the underground). This helps ensure that any water getting underground will drain to a separate location and not overwhelm the Water Treatment Plant
• completed construction of the C-shaft ventilation system
• completed pilot hole program to confirm assumptions regarding target locations for the Water Treatment Plant pumps

Infrastructure review

Every few years the Project examines buildings to see if they pose a risk to people on site and if issues need to be addressed before cleanup or demolition takes place. Structural reviews occurred in 2019 and 2021. The Project has implemented the recommendations from these reviews. The Project team completed an assessment of all remaining buildings and established that a review of all buildings on site is not required, since all buildings are scheduled to be demolished in the short term, and any buildings that required any further inspections will be conducted on a case-by-case basis.

In 2023, the Project team will complete a structural and hazardous materials inspections of the Core Industrial Area buildings to support demolition scope and planning.

Northwest Deep Well Pumping Station upgrade

The Northwest Deep Well Pumping Station pumps water out of the underground at Giant Mine so that the water level in the mine stays well below where the arsenic trioxide is stored. After operating for 4 years, the pump system was working at a slower rate and the Project developed a plan to upgrade the station, including the addition of new pumps and an electrical building to power them. One pump stopped working in August 2019, after a power brown-out. The Project team re-installed the pump 2021-22, which then worked as designed. The Project team then commissioned an additional system-wide review to understand how the issue emerged. The investigation is continuing into 2023-24.

Dam inspections

Dams are used to manage mine, surface water and tailings on site. Every year, the dams are inspected. In 2022-23, the inspection included all dams associated with the original tailings containment areas, the Northwest Tailings Containment Area and surface water dams. It was found that, in general, the structures appeared to be performing in a satisfactory manner and that the dams are in similar condition to the last geotechnical inspection in 2021.

Regulatory inspections

In 2022-23, external regulators conducted 4 external inspections. The regulators decide how many inspections per year are needed, based on what work is being done at the site. There were no non-compliances identified in 2022-23.

The Main Construction Manager and their subcontractors also conduct regular internal inspections. This includes daily site inspections by care and maintenance staff and regular engineering inspections of major structures and equipment. These inspections identified minor issues only, and these were quickly address and corrected.

In 2022-23, CIRNAC initiated an Environmental Health and Safety underground audit, which included 37 above ground activities that might impact underground work. In total, there were 5 findings related to environmental aspects, 22 findings related to occupational health and safety, and 10 findings related to the Environmental, Health, Safety and Community Management System. The Project team has taken corrective actions for several of these findings and will continue to make progress.

Summary of expenditures trend 2018-2023

The table and figure below outline the Project's expenditures trend from fiscal years 2018-2019 to 2022-2023.

Text alternative

This figure shows the project expenditures between 2018 and 2023. In the 2018-19 fiscal year, expenditures were $77,058,084. In 2019-20, expenditures were $44,421,078. In 2020-21, expenditures were $$57,191,592. In 2021-22, expenditures were $93,866,399. In 2022-23, expenditures were $115,530,280.

Environment

The Project has an Environmental Management Plan that guides how each major component of the site is managed. Currently, the Project has several active monitoring programs in place for key environmental issues. The Project's Long-Term Monitoring Program combines all current monitoring activities and those that will be required in the future. This includes monitoring of the environment and structures/technology.

Environmental:

• Surveillance Network Program
• Metal and Diamond Mine Effluent Regulations, including Environmental Effects Monitoring Program
• Operational Monitoring Program
  • Effluent Treatment Plant
  • underground
  • annual site-wide bird survey
• Aquatic Effects Monitoring Program
• Wildlife and Wildlife Habitat Management and Monitoring Plan
• air quality, and community
• noise

Structural:

• freeze
• dams and seeps
• landfill
• pit stability
• tailings covers
• underground structures
• Baker Creek (icing)

The Long-term Monitoring Program is used to:

• determine baseline conditions
• monitor current conditions and performance of management programs
• inform the design process for remediation activities

Health and safety: occupational and public

Key engagement activities

Engagement is an important and valued part of the Giant Mine remediation process. In 2022-23, the Project team undertook or participated in 78 engagement activities and events, aligned with and in support of the Project or related activities. This represents fewer events compared to 2020-21 (87) and is higher than in 2019-20 (67 engagement events) and 2018-19 (43).

The Project team continued its regular engagement with key affected parties through avenues such as:

• the Giant Mine Oversight Board
• the Giant Mine Advisory Committee
• the Giant Mine Working Group
• the annual public forum

In addition to the above regularly scheduled meetings, the team provides updates on Project activities and progress through multiple communication techniques including:

• e-newsletter: Sent regularly to more than 305 email addresses and posted on the Project website
• website (www.giant.gc.ca)
• X account (@GiantMine and @MineGiant)
• media briefings and responses to media requests
  • there were 39 media interactions (media requests for interview, information/responses) in fiscal year 2022-23
• responses to unforeseen events
• topic-specific public service announcements, as required
• topic-specific engagements, as appropriate

The Yellowknife Spring Trade Show took place as an in-person event on May 7th and 8th, 2022. This was the first trade show since 2019 and aimed to inform the local community about the new active remediation work being carried out on site. The next Tradeshow will take place in May 2023. The Project team (led by the Main Construction Manager) also held Industry Day on November 1 and 2, 2022 (virtually). The next Industry Day is set to occur in the Fall of 2023.

Socio-economic

The Giant Mine Remediation Project works to deliver social and economic benefits to Indigenous and Northern communities while protecting the environment and people's health. Parsons, the Main Construction Manager, uses several tools to help the Project team achieve their socio-economic goals. This includes subcontracting to Indigenous and Northern businesses and incorporating criteria into all tenders that encourage employment, training, and apprenticeships for Indigenous workers.

The Project tracks total employment and employment by certain categories. This includes:

• Northern workers
• Indigenous workers
• how "Indigenous Opportunities Considerations"^{Footnote 13} commitments are met during procurement
• female workers

The Project team led a comprehensive update to the Strategy in 2022-23, integrating feedback from rights holders and stakeholders from the past five years. The overall aim of the updated 5-year (2023-2028) Strategy is to maximize socio-economic benefits for Northerners and Indigenous Peoples and to deliver on regional socio-economic commitments and requirements. This socio-economic aim is supported by three pillars:

• Employment and procurement
• Training and capacity development
• Social impact management

The Strategy describes the objectives, focus areas, desired outcomes, indicators, and targets under each pillar. A Plain Language Summary of the Strategy can be found at Socio-economic strategy for the Giant Mine: plain language summary.

Employment

In 2022-23, the percentage of overall hours worked for Northern employment reached 36%, which is lower than the 2021-22 percentage (46%). Indigenous employment accounted for 18% of total person-hours worked in 2022-23, a 3% decrease compared with the 2021-22 results (21%). Indigenous Opportunities Considerations employment decreased from 18% in 2021-22 to 15% in 2022-23. Northern Indigenous Employees represented 16% of all employees (in person hours). Female employment increased from 20% in 2021-22 to 22% in 2022-23.

Text alternative for Percentage of person hours by category from 2018-19 to 2022-23

	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23
Northern employees	44%	44%	38%	46%	36%
Indigenous employees	19%	20%	15%	21%	18%
Indigenous Opportunities Considerations employees	18%	8%	13%	18%	15%
Female employees	22%	22%	24%	20%	22%

In 2019-20, the Project worked with the Socio-Economic Working Group and the Socio-Economic Advisory Body to set targets for the Project to compare its annual results against. In 2022-23, employment of women was within the target range. Employment of Northerners and Northern Indigenous employees continue to be below the lower end of the target range. The table below shows total employment of Northerners, Northern Indigenous, and Women in 2022-23 compared to the target ranges.

Key Performance Indicator	Number of person hours	Person-hours as percentage of all person-hours	Target ranges for the implementation phase	Gap
Employment accounted by Northerners	135,993	36%	55-70%	19-34%
Employment accounted by Northern Indigenous	59,951	16%	25-35%	9-19%
Employment accounted by women	85,025	22%	15-30%	within range

The Project anticipates that the Northern and Northern Indigenous employee statistics will improve during the Implementation Phase of the Project as the demand for on-site work will increase. The Project will continue to work with its partners to identify actions to improve these employment figures.

Procurement

The Project also tracks suppliers (that is, contractors) by type, specifically Northern, Indigenous and Indigenous Opportunities Considerations. In 2022-23, the proportion of money spent on contracts with Northern suppliers reached 61% of all the Project's expenses. The results are higher than previous reported years (59% in 2021-22, 44% in 2019-20, 56% in 2018-2019). The proportion spent with Indigenous suppliers increased to 53% in 2022-23, and money spent on contracts increased to $50,714,487 in 2022-23 compared to $30,564,330 in 2021-22. The proportion spent with Indigenous Opportunities Considerations suppliers followed a similar trend, from 41% in 2021-22 to 52% in 2022-23, which is the highest result achieved compared to previous years (24% in 2020-21, 35% in 2019-20, 28% in 2018-19).

Text alternative for Percent of total dollar value spent from 2018-19 to 2022-23

	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23
Northern suppliers	56%	44%	32%	59%	61%
Indigenous suppliers	28%	36%	25%	41%	53%
Indigenous Opportunities Considerations suppliers	28%	35%	24%	41%	52%
Southern suppliers	41%	26%	68%	41%	39%

Training

In addition to the occupational health and safety training, Project contractors deliver workforce training, including site orientations. In 2022-23, the total number of people who received workforce training (377) was higher than the last 3 years (335 in 2021-22, 228 in 2022-21, and 230 in 2019-20). While the number of people who received workforce training was higher overall, training provided to Northern employees (191 people), Indigenous Opportunities Considerations employees (71) and female employees (68) decreased slightly from 2021-22, but is similar or higher than between 2018-19 and 2020-21.

Text alternative for Percentage of people trained by employee group from 2018-19 to 2022-23

	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23
Northern employees	35%	47%	50%	75%	51%
Indigenous employees	14%	24%	30%	56%	38%
Indigenous Opportunities Considerations employees	23%	10%	14%	38%	19%
Female employees	23%	27%	32%	22%	18%

In closing

In 2022-23, the project team continued remediation work on site. The project team continued site operations (care and maintenance), immediate risk mitigation activities, and community engagement while progressing work on the review and resubmission of management and monitoring plans and other requirements under the Water Licence.

The Project will continue to prepare annual reports about its progress and performance, and to develop a plain language summary of its annual reports.

For more information or to provide comments, please contact:

Natalie Plato, Deputy Director
natalie.plato@rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca
867-669-2838