Champion Iron says it is forced to destroy lakes, streams, wetlands and woodlands to store the 872 million tonnes of tailings that will be produced over the next few years of the lake’s iron mine. Bloom, located near Fermont. The Ministry of the Environment estimates that the project could thus “affect” 38 lakes, according to information sent to the Duty. But for the moment, the compensation measures that could be required of the promoter remain to be specified.
Minerai de fer Québec (MFQ), a subsidiary of Australian mining company Champion Iron, bought this northern Quebec mine with the help of Investissement Québec in 2016, after production ceased by the former owner, Cliffs. Natural Resources. The company, which reported revenues of $ 785 million last year, now hopes to continue mining the deposit until 2040, at a rate of 15 million tonnes per year. The ore will be exported by boat from Sept-Îles.
For the life of the mine, MFQ estimates its “storage needs” for tailings and waste rock at 1.3 billion tonnes, including 872 million tonnes that will have to be stored in new sites located near the pit. of the mine. However, the mining company emphasizes that “the available land space” is insufficient. “The different options studied under the terrestrial variant would not be economically viable within the framework of the project”, according to what can be read in impact study, whose “update” presented in 2019 totals around 5,000 pages.
Unlike some mining projects, MFQ rejects the idea of gradually filling the pit with tailings. The storage of tailings or waste rock in the pit is “contraindicated in the circumstances so as not to endanger the exploitation of a potentially exploitable resource in the future”, specifies the impact study, which will make the ‘subject to a “public information session” by Office of Public Hearings on the Environment (BAPE) which will only be held virtually, July 29. Citizens have until August 24 to demand a “public consultation”.
The company therefore considers that it will absolutely have to backfill wetlands and water environments by filling them with mine tailings, otherwise production should stop in 2027. The analysis suggests natural environments that will be subject to disturbance, but also some that will be downright “destroyed”. According to the impact study which was submitted to the Ministry of the Environment and the Fight against Climate Change (MELCC), a total of 160 wetlands will be “affected” by the project, as well as 35 plans and courses. water, including 16 lakes. Several of these lakes “are home to diverse fish communities”
According to MELCC data, how many lakes and ponds will be destroyed or affected by the project? In a written response sent to Duty, the ministry indicates that “the project is likely to affect 38 lakes and a pond”, but also that “the project is likely to affect 41 streams”, without further details. The ministry simply refers to the impact study of several thousand pages.
Compensation
It is also not yet known what the MELCC could demand as compensation for the destruction of all these natural environments. The region of this mine “is not within the territory of application of the Rules on compensation for damage to wetlands and bodies of water ”, specifies the ministry.
Under the Environment Quality Act, however, the government will have to “determine whether financial compensation is required or whether it can be replaced in whole or in part by carrying out work aimed at restoring or creating an environment. wet and water ”. But for the moment, no “recommendation” has been made. This should be done at the end of the “environmental scan”.
Vice-president of investor relations at Champion Iron, Michael Marcotte argues for his part that “the encroachment on waterways and bodies of water will be compensated for by carrying out work to offset the losses for fish habitat. “. Projects have already been designed, but the plans will have to be “approved” by government authorities, he said. According to Mr. Marcotte, the current constraints in the mining sector “make it impossible to avoid an encroachment of future infrastructures on natural rivers and bodies of water”.
Otherwise, woodland caribou, an endangered species, is likely to frequent this region. But the mining company believes that its project “will not have a significant effect” on the habitat of the caribou, since “the current rate of disturbance of the habitat of the woodland caribou linked to anthropogenic sources is very high and that the latter avoids already the project sector ”. And even after a possible restoration of the site, “this area may not offer the biophysical characteristics to meet the habitat needs of woodland caribou for several decades.”
In 2018, the Quebec government authorized the ArcelorMittal mining company to increase the surface area of its tailings site, also in the Fermont region. It is a question of storing 825 million tonnes of tailings by 2045, for a total of 1,318 million tonnes between 2014 and 2045. In his report on the project, the BAPE specified that this project will involve “the destruction of 11 lakes, 15 ponds and 25 streams”. Added to this is a habitat loss of 11.2 km2 for terrestrial fauna. The mining company has therefore planned a “restoration” program to compensate for the loss of natural environments.
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