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Werner Wintels - Amis du Pinacle - 7 juin 2017
Frelighsburg and the Brome-Missisquoi MRC are currently elaborating strategic sustainable development plans and will soon begin revising the regional land use and development plan (fr: schema de développement). Before proceeding, they should study the potential environmental effects of lead and zinc mines:
- What is the risk to the land and environment of zinc and lead mines?
- What environmental regulations protect the vineyards, the orchards, grazing animals, and water sources essential to the the population's health and the "green" development of our municiaplities?
- Does the Mining Act give MRCs and towns enough powers to regulate mining activity in agricultural and exceptional natural zones in Brome-Missisquoi?
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On 24 may 2017, the company announced that it has found 12 sites in Quebec that could potentially sustain zinc mining operations. This project (named "GenEx") is exploration (probably by drilling) that found five deposits of zinc and lead along a 15 km swath that cuts through Dunham and Frelighsburg. These are called Mississipi-Valley-Type (MVT) deposits (also called carbonate-hosted zinc-lead ore deposits) because the Mississippi Valley region was the first to sustain commercial mining in this type of deposit in the 1800's. The company's press release below provides more information.
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Bowmore/Osisko in Saint Camille
Bowmore is the same company that was opposed by the citizens of Saint Camille in 2011 when they explored the potential for an open-pit gold mine in this municipality. The citizens of Saint Camille contributed to changing the Mining Act in 2013 to give municipalities a greater say in the placement and operation of mines on their territory. You may find a media archive on this here.
The toxic risk of cadmium
The greatest risk of mining this type of deposit is not the zinc or even the lead: it is the cadmium. Cadmium is a heavy metal that is always found in association with zinc deposits in the form of sulfate of sulfide (that is, in a chemical composition that includes sulfur). It is particularly toxic to kidneys. It may enter the body through breathing in dust particles, drinking water contaminated with cadmium sulfates, or by eating plants or meat grown on contaminated soils. Concentrated exposure causes immediate symptoms. Cadmium also accumulates in kidneys and the liver; prolonged exposure to small concentrations can therefore lead to chronic conditions that only show up after decades.
The Center for Disease Control in the U.S. outlines the environmental risk to soil, to plants, to foraging anumals, and to humans:
Cadmium, a rare but widely dispersed element, is found naturally in the environment. Most cadmium ore (greenockite):
It is released into the environment through mining and smelting, its use in various industrial processes, and enters the food chain from uptake by plants from contaminated soil or water.https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/csem
- exists as cadmium sulfide,
- is refined during zinc production, and
- occurs in association with zinc.
/csem.asp?csem=6&po=5
"When released into the atmosphere by smelting or mining or some other processes, cadmium compounds can be associated with respirable-sized airborne particles and can be carried long distances. It is deposited onto the earth below by rain or falling out of the air."https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/csemThe risks posed to the environment and the agrotourisme industry in Brome Missisquoi by zinc and lead mines are clear:/csem.asp?csem=6&po=5
- Dust generated by mining activity could contaminate the soils of neighbouring vineyards, orchards, and pastures; the growth in the agro-food and agro-tourism economy and health of local consumers of products coming from the land could be compromised if xcadmium enters the local food chain;
- Water from wells, rivers, and lakes could be contaminated by cadmium sulphates dissolved in mining runoff;
- Sedimants from mining residue containing high coententration of cadmium and lead may get deposited in river and lake beds as well as the flood plane of Pike River and its tributaries; heavy metals may enter the aquatic food chain and municipal sources of water.
On the other hand, the impacts of cadmium andheavy metals on food chains are complex and variable. For example, alkaline soils can block the absorption of cadmium and other heavy metals in plants. Clear decisions on mining activity will require studies that precisely analyse and quantify the risks on the environment, public health, water sources, and the regional economy.
Questions to ask
Considering the inherent risks of zinc and lead mines to the environment, there are questions that citizens of Frelighsburg, Dunham, and Brome-Missisquoi should ask themselves before more exploration is done:
- What is the risk f zinc and lead mines to the land and environment?
- What environmental regulations protect the vineyards, the orchards, grazing animals, and water sources essential to the the population's health and the "green" development of our municiaplities?
- Does the Mining Act give MRCs and towns enough powers to regulate mining activity in agricultural and exceptional natural zones in Brome-Missisquoi?
These are pressing questions. Bowmore/Osisko has announced that they will continue exploration in 2017-18 and hope to apply for permits for rapid development starting in 2019.
That's not a lot of time to prepare complex studies of the environmental risks and incorporate the findings into regulations to govern mining development in Brome-Misssiquoi. It should begin right away.
