Development of New Analytical Methods for Speciation of Chromium in Subsistence Fish from northern Ontario

获得“社会许可证”是安大略省远北采矿业面临的一个关键挑战，因为第一民族社区面临着采矿如何影响其传统食物来源的重大不确定性。火环地区大量铬（Cr）矿床的发现给这方面带来了独特的挑战，因为在整个地区，甚至在生产采矿开始之前，鱼类组织中的Cr浓度就存在很大差异。然而，我们缺乏能够区分鱼类组织中有毒（铬VI）和更良性（铬III）形式的分析方法。安大略省政府对这一不确定性的反应是实施预防原则，并发布消费指南，以限制在总铬浓度超过公布限度时使用鱼类，但这种方法不必要地减少了原住民的收获。例如，在DeBeers Victor钻石矿下面的Attawapiskat河中，各种鱼类的铬含量都有所升高，因此已经发布了消费指南。因此，我们的项目旨在开发和测试鱼类组织中Cr形态的新分析方法，并开发模型，将这些测量形式与整个北方河流和湖泊的环境条件联系起来。这项工作将是Laurentian新分析设施的重要首期项目，以支持安大略省的采矿业，并向原住民和其他社区成员提供基本信息。

Obtaining "social license" to operate is a key challenge for the mining industry in the Far North of Ontario because First Nations Communities face major uncertainties on how mining affects their traditional food sources. The discovery of the massive Chromium (Cr) deposits in the Ring of Fire area has created a unique challenge in this regard because Cr concentrations in fish tissue vary widely throughout the area, even before production mining has begun. However, we lack the analytical methods to be able to distinguish between the toxic (Cr VI) and more benign (Cr III) forms of Cr in fish tissue. The Ontario government response to this uncertainty has been to exercise precautionary principles and issue consumption guidelines to restrict the use of fish when total concentration of Cr exceeds published limits, but this approach unnecessarily curtails First Nations harvest. For example, various species of fish in the Attawapiskat River below the DeBeers Victor diamond mine exhibited elevated concentrations of Cr and consumption guidelines have been issued. Our project is therefore designed to develop and test new analytical methods for the speciation of Cr in fish tissue and develop models to associate these measured forms to environmental conditions in rivers and lakes throughout the North. This work will be an important inaugural project for a new analytical facility at Laurentian to support Ontario's mining industry and provide essential information to First Nations and other community members.