Rescan scientists (hydrologists, meteorologists, geologists, geochemists, limnologists, botanists and biologists) began comprehensive environmental baseline studies of the EKATI project area in 1993 and have continued to conduct environmental studies every year since then.  Rescan completed the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in 1996 and the mine began operation in 1998.

Rescan scientists currently conduct a wide range of annual studies to monitor environmental quality including: monitoring water quality and aquatic biology downstream of the mine in the Aquatic Effects Monitoring Program (AEMP), monitoring mine effects on wildlife through the Wildlife Effects Monitoring Program (WEMP), and monitoring fish habitat success in the Panda Diversion Channel.  In addition, Rescan conducts special studies at the request of BHP Billiton that assist in environmental permitting, management planning and mitigation planning.  These include, among many others, ecological risk assessments of various compounds and metals to local aquatic life, modelling water quality in the LLCF and in the downstream receiving environment, experimenting to test the effectiveness of calcium chloride as a settling aid in the EKATI process plant, surveying the chemical composition of pore water in the LLCF, and assessing the potential impact of mine closure on lake surface elevations.  In 2006, Rescan wrote the three-year review of EKATI environmental impacts that compared monitoring results with the predictions of the 1996 EIA.  Rescan wrote the EIA for EKATI’s successful expansion into the Pigeon, Sable and Beartooth Watersheds in 2000, and Rescan provided scientific and technical support for EKATI’s water license renewal applications from 2003 to the present.