Metal and Diamond Mining Effluent Regulations compliance data

The Metal Mining Effluent Regulations came into force in 2002 pursuant to the Fisheries Act to regulate the deposit of mine effluent and mine waste into waters frequented by fish. The Metal Mining Effluent Regulations were amended in 2018, and are now known as the Metal and Diamond Mining Effluent Regulations.

The Regulations help protect Canada’s lakes and rivers by setting strict limits on the quality of effluent that can be discharged by metal and diamond mines. The Regulations authorize the deposit of effluent into water frequented by fish and places referred to in subsection 36(3) of the Fisheries Act. Effluent must meet concentration-based limits for arsenic, copper, cyanide, lead, nickel, zinc, suspended solids, radium 226 and un-ionized ammonia. Effluent must also have a pH that is between a minimum and maximum level, and must not be acutely lethal. The Regulations require effluent testing and reporting, as well as Environmental Effects Monitoring studies.

The Regulations also include an authorization for the use of water frequented by fish for mine waste disposal. Authorization requires an amendment to Schedule 2 of the Regulations. Owners or operators of mines can request an amendment to Schedule 2 of the Regulations, which would designate a water frequented by fish as a tailings impoundment area.

The files listed in the ECCC Data Mart below contain the summary of the performance of Canadian metal and diamond mines in electronic format. The dataset in these files are extracted from the annual reports entitled "Status Report on the Performance of Metal Mines Subject to the Metal Mining Effluent Regulations" and "Status Report on the Performance of Mines Subject to the Metal and Diamond Mining Effluent Regulations".

The files in KML format are map layers for use in Google Earth™ and other “virtual globe” softwares. They show the reported location of the final effluent discharge points associated with each mining facility subject to the Regulations. When selected, each final discharge point generates a summary table of its effluent data and compliance performance. The CSV files present this same information for each final discharge point in a tabular format that can be easily used for data mining and analysis.

Supplemental Information

Data Tables

To access the data table that you wish to consult, select “View ECCC Data Mart” below and then click on the year of your choice.

Annual Reports

To access the annual report you wish to consult: visit our data and annual reports webpage and then select the annual report of your choice at https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/managing-pollution/sources-industry/mining-effluent/metal-diamond-mining-effluent/data-annual-reports.html

More information on the metal and diamond mining sector is available at https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/managing-pollution/sources-industry/mining-effluent/metal-diamond-mining-effluent.html

Datasets available for download

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• Fisheries Act
• MDMER
• MMER
• Mining industry
• Nature and Environment
• TSS
• Water pollution
• acute lethality
• arsenic
• copper
• cyanide
• daphnia magna
• deleterious substances
• deposit
• diamond
• discharge
• disposal
• effluent
• lead
• metal
• mine
• mining
• nickel
• radium 226
• rainbow trout
• suspended solids
• tailings
• waste rock
• water pollution
• water quality
• zinc

Additional Info

• Maturity Level 1 (46%)
• Maturity Level 2 (38%)
• Maturity Level 3 (0%)
• Maturity Level 4 (0%)
• Maturity Level 5 (0%)
• Maturity Level 6 (0%)

Field	Value
Last Updated	October 20, 2025, 03:06 (UTC)
Created	October 20, 2025, 03:06 (UTC)
Domain / Topic Domain or topic of the dataset being cataloged.
Title Title for the Dataset.	Metal and Diamond Mining Effluent Regulations compliance data
Description A description of the dataset.	The Metal Mining Effluent Regulations came into force in 2002 pursuant to the Fisheries Act to regulate the deposit of mine effluent and mine waste into waters frequented by fish. The Metal Mining Effluent Regulations were amended in 2018, and are now known as the Metal and Diamond Mining Effluent Regulations. The Regulations help protect Canada’s lakes and rivers by setting strict limits on the quality of effluent that can be discharged by metal and diamond mines. The Regulations authorize the deposit of effluent into water frequented by fish and places referred to in subsection 36(3) of the Fisheries Act. Effluent must meet concentration-based limits for arsenic, copper, cyanide, lead, nickel, zinc, suspended solids, radium 226 and un-ionized ammonia. Effluent must also have a pH that is between a minimum and maximum level, and must not be acutely lethal. The Regulations require effluent testing and reporting, as well as Environmental Effects Monitoring studies. The Regulations also include an authorization for the use of water frequented by fish for mine waste disposal. Authorization requires an amendment to Schedule 2 of the Regulations. Owners or operators of mines can request an amendment to Schedule 2 of the Regulations, which would designate a water frequented by fish as a tailings impoundment area. The files listed in the ECCC Data Mart below contain the summary of the performance of Canadian metal and diamond mines in electronic format. The dataset in these files are extracted from the annual reports entitled "Status Report on the Performance of Metal Mines Subject to the Metal Mining Effluent Regulations" and "Status Report on the Performance of Mines Subject to the Metal and Diamond Mining Effluent Regulations". The files in KML format are map layers for use in Google Earth™ and other “virtual globe” softwares. They show the reported location of the final effluent discharge points associated with each mining facility subject to the Regulations. When selected, each final discharge point generates a summary table of its effluent data and compliance performance. The CSV files present this same information for each final discharge point in a tabular format that can be easily used for data mining and analysis. Supplemental Information Data Tables To access the data table that you wish to consult, select “View ECCC Data Mart” below and then click on the year of your choice. Annual Reports To access the annual report you wish to consult: visit our data and annual reports webpage and then select the annual report of your choice at https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/managing-pollution/sources-industry/mining-effluent/metal-diamond-mining-effluent/data-annual-reports.html More information on the metal and diamond mining sector is available at https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/managing-pollution/sources-industry/mining-effluent/metal-diamond-mining-effluent.html
Tags / Keywords Keywords/tags categorizing the dataset.	Fisheries Act MDMER MMER Mining industry Nature and Environment TSS Water pollution acute lethality arsenic copper cyanide daphnia magna deleterious substances deposit diamond discharge disposal effluent lead metal mine mining nickel radium 226 rainbow trout suspended solids tailings waste rock water pollution water quality zinc
Format (CSV, XLS, TXT, PDF, etc) File format of the dataset.
Dataset Size Dataset size in megabytes.
Metadata Identifier Metadata identifier – can be used as the unique identifier for catalogue entry
Published Date Published date of the dataset.	2018-09-28
Time Period Data Span (start date) Start date of the data in the dataset.
Time Period Data Span (end date) End date of time data in the dataset.
GeoSpatial Area Data Span A spatial region or named place the dataset covers.

Field	Value
Access category Type of access granted for the dataset (open, closed, service, etc).
License License used to access the dataset.	Open Government Licence - Canada
Limits on use Limits on use of data.
Location Location of the dataset.	https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/6ceba940-efaa-4994-bee7-3ea1930bedad
Data Service Data service for accessing a dataset.
Owner Owner of the dataset.	Environment and Climate Change Canada | Environnement et Changement climatique Canada
Contact Point Who to contact regarding access?	Government of Canada; Environment and Climate Change Canada; Environmental Protection Branch, 1-800-668-6767, [email protected]
Contact Point Email The email to contact regarding access?
Publisher Publisher of the dataset.
Publisher Email Email of the publisher.	[email protected]
Author Author of the dataset.
Author Email Email of the author.
Accessed At Date the data and metadata was accessed.

Field	Value
Identifier Unique identifier for the dataset.
Language Language(s) of the dataset
Link to dataset description A URL to an external document describing the dataset.
Persistent Identifier Data is identified by a persistent identifier.
Globally Unique Identifier Data is identified by a persistent and globally unique identifier.
Contains data about individuals Does the data hold data about individuals?
Contains data about identifiable individuals Does the data hold identifiable data about individual?
Contains Indigenous Data Does the data hold data about Indigenous communities?
Portal Type Platform type of the source portal.

Field	Value
Version Version of the datatset	None
Source Source of the dataset.	None
Version notes Version notes about the dataset.
Is version of another dataset Link to dataset that it is a version of.
Other versions Link to datasets that are versions of it.
Provenance Text Provenance Text of the data.
Provenance URL Provenance URL of the data.
Temporal resolution Describes how granular the date/time data in the dataset is.
GeoSpatial resolution in meters Describes how granular (in meters) geospatial data is in the dataset.
GeoSpatial resolution (in regions) Describes how granular (in regions) geospatial data is in the dataset.

Field	Value
Indigenous Community Permission Who holds the Indigenous Community Permission. Who to contact regarding access to a dataset that has data about Indigenous communities.
Community Permission Community permission (who gave permission).
The Indigenous communities the dataset is about Indigenous communities from which data is derived.

Field	Value
Number of data rows If tabular dataset, total number of rows.
Number of data columns If tabular dataset, total number of unique columns.
Number of data cells If tabular dataset, total number of cells with data.
Number of data relations If RDF dataset, total number of triples.
Number of entities If RDF dataset, total number of entities.
Number of data properties If RDF dataset, total number of unique properties used by the triples.
Data quality Describes the quality of the data in the dataset.
Metric for data quality A metric used to measure the quality of the data, such as missing values or invalid formats.

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