Abstract

The Aquatic Effects Technology Evaluation (AETE) program was established to review appropriate technologies for assessing the impacts of mine effluents on the aquatic environment. AETE is a cooperative program between the Canadian mining industry, several federal government departments and a number of provincial governments; it is coordinated by the Canada Centre for Mineral and Energy Technology (CANMET). The program was designed to be of direct benefit to the industry, and to government. Through technical and field evaluations, it identified cost-effective technologies to meet environmental monitoring requirements. The program included three main areas: acute and sublethal toxicity testing, biological monitoring in receiving waters, and water and sediment monitoring. The technical evaluations are conducted to document certain tools selected by AETE members, and to provide the rationale for doing a field evaluation of the tools or provide specific guidance on field application of a method. In some cases, the technical evaluations included a go/no go recommendation that AETE takes into consideration before a field evaluation of a given method is conducted. The technical evaluations are published although they do not necessarily reflect the views of the participants in the AETE Program. The technical evaluations should be considered as working documents rather than comprehensive literature reviews. The purpose of the technical evaluations was to document specific

Citations