Rehabilitating Aggregate Sites

The Aggregate Resources Act requires every licensee and permittee in the Province of Ontario to perform progressive and final rehabilitation on the site in accordance with the Act, the regulations, the site plan and the conditions of the licence/permit to the satisfaction of MNR.

Rehabilitation is the treatment of land from which aggregate has been excavated so that the use or condition of the land:

• is restored to its former use or condition, or
• is changed to another use or condition that is or will be compatible with the use of adjacent land.

Progressive rehabilitation means to rehabilitate sequentially, in a reasonable period of time, while the aggregate is being excavated. With good planning, the extraction of aggregate proceeds in a logical sequence so that depleted areas can be rehabilitated while extraction continues in other areas of the pit or quarry. Planned stripping and replacement of topsoil, subsoil and overburden materials allows the licensee or permittee to establish vegetation in as much area as possible, and a start can be made towards developing the site for a particular after use.

The requirement to progressively rehabilitate is one of the most important purposes of the Aggregate Resources Act and applies to licences, wayside permits and aggregate permits.

Progressive Rehabilitation Orders

The site plans for aggregate operations outline the specific requirements for rehabilitation. The site plan is also the primary means of regulating rehabilitation and ensuring that the disturbance of the site is maintained at a minimum amount. The licensee or permittee is legally bound to operate and rehabilitate their site in accordance with the site plan.

Where a licensee or permittee has not performed adequate progressive or final rehabilitation in accordance with their site plan the ministry may order (referred to as a Rehabilitation Order) the licensee or permittee to perform any necessary rehabilitation work within a specified time period.

This chart is a list of progressive rehabilitation orders issued for the period 1992 to 2008.

Final rehabilitation is the rehabilitation that is performed, as set out by the site plan, after the site is depleted of all aggregate material. During final rehabilitation, all equipment, stockpiles and buildings (in most cases) have been removed and there may be additional vegetation (e.g. trees) to be established on the areas that have already been progressively rehabilitated.