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Mineral exploration, prospecting, digging
or boring activities that require stripping, trenching,
excavating or tree cutting may be carried out
under certain conditions in the Upper Harricana
aquatic reserve.
Conditions
- Activities are prohibited in the Rivière
Harricana itself, on islands, as well as within
a strip of land 50 metres wide on either side
of the river. The 50-metre distance is calculated
horizontally from the shoreline traced on 1:20,000
scale topographic NTS base maps of Québec.
- Activities are allowed in the area between
50 and 200 metres from the shore; these distances
are calculated horizontally from the shoreline
of the river. They are also permitted below
the river bed, provided they are carried out
under a thickness of more than 50 metres of
rock.
- Activities are carried out by or for the
benefit of a person entitled to perform mineral
exploration in the reserve, to carry out prospecting,
digging or boring in accordance with the provisions
of the Mining Act.
- Whenever tree cutting is required, activities
must be performed in accordance with provisions
in sections 20 and 21 of the Forest Act.
- Activities must be carried out in accordance
with environmental standards in effect. The
person who performs exploration activities must:
- recover drilling muds;
- make sure that no petroleum products
spill into the environment;
- install a protective lining to avoid
spills of hazardous materials;
- make sure that all refuse, other than
sediments, muds and scraps generated by
the work, be stored, processed or eliminated
outside of the reserve.
- For pumping needs, if the water intake is
located more than 200 metres from the work site,
water may be pumped from the Rivière
Harricana, under the following conditions:
- have written authorization from the Minister
of the Sustainable development Environment
and Parks;
- install, under the pump, a protective
lining to prevent potential spills of petroleum
products;
- comply with authorization conditions
set by the Minister of the Sustainable development
Environment and Parks in order to minimize
environmental impacts.
Futhermore, all mineral and oil & gas extraction
activities are prohibited in the Upper Harricana
aquatic reserve.
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