Company working on mitigation measures to limit risk to caribou, says vice-president of environment
As the race for rare earth elements accelerates in Canada, one Nova Scotia activist is warning about the environmental risks of rare earth mining — especially when the rare earth minerals are found near radioactive elements, like uranium and thorium.
Mary-Lou Harley, an environmentalist who holds a PhD in chemistry, says this is the case for Torngat Metals’ Strange Lake mining proposal on the Quebec-Labrador border, near Lac Brisson, Nunavik.
“It’s a ridiculous proposal. It’s so dangerous,” Harley told CBC News.
Harley said because the rare earth elements on the site co-exist with uranium and thorium it’s not possible to mine the rare earth without mining radioactive elements as well.
“In Quebec, there’s a moratorium on uranium mining,” she said. “So it is outrageous that they’re going to be able to mine a uranium body to extract the rare earth elements, the uranium amount and the thorium amount, both of which are radioactive and toxic, and both of which decay with time to more radioactive different elements.”
Last month, the federal government designated certain critical minerals as a national security priority under the Defence Production Act. At a G7 energy and environment meeting in Toronto, Federal Energy Minister Tim Hodgson announced that G7 countries are investing $6.4 billion into 26 critical mineral projects across Canada, including the Strange lake project.
For the Strange Lake project, Harley is particularly concerned about the separation and purification plant being proposed further south of the mining site, in Sept-Îles, Quebec.
Harley worries the plant could expose the people and ecosystems of the area to a “forever waste” of radioactive toxins.
“I can’t imagine any justification in an impact assessment on that end of the project, with respect to the amount of toxic material that’s going to be generated and then left in that area,” she said.
Harley also said the mining site could cause radioactive water and dust contamination. On the Labrador side, Harley said this would “almost necessarily” impact caribou calving areas, and potentially contaminate caribou lichen — the animal’s main food source.
Torngat Metals does not intend to produce uranium or thorium, but Harley said that doesn’t change the level of risk toward the environment.
“Just because they’re calling it a rare earth element mine does not negate the fact that it’s going to have all of the impacts that any uranium ore body is going to have in being mined. And those are the very impacts that the moratorium was in place to protect us from,” said Harley.
‘We’re mining rare earth,’ says Torngat Metals
Sylvie St. Jean, the vice-president of environment with Torngat Metals, said if the project proceeds, the company would treat any radioactive material “as a contaminant inside our deposit.”
“So we’re not mining uranium, we’re mining rare earth,” said St. Jean. “And it just so happens that there are some other materials in the ore body such as uranium and thorium, but there’s also iron and other things that we need to remove.”
Torngat Metals is a responsible mining company, said St. Jean, availing of the best technology available. She added the company is particularly focused on reducing risks to caribou, and is working on a caribou conservation plan with all six Indigenous nations impacted by the project.
“The risk to caribou with radioactivity, we do care about that a great deal and we spend a lot of time thinking of ways that we can protect the caribou,” she said.
“We will have very, very small blasts. We will use what’s called a blast mat. It’s like a blanket made of recycled tires and it acts to contain, so that when you have a blast, it doesn’t go all over the place.”
As well, St. Jean said the company would apply tackifiers, a type of liquid glue, in order to seal surfaces and limit the risk of radioactive dust being released from residue.
Moreover, St. Jean characterized the amount of uranium and thorium on the site as a “very small portion.”
But this is disputed by Harley and groups like the Coalition Québec meilleure mine et MiningWatch Canada, who say the concentration is significant.
A geological analysis of the Strange Lake site from 1986 showed that of three representative samples — all of which contained high deposits of rare earth elements — one sample had 65.7 ppm (parts-per-million) uranium, the second had 134 ppm uranium, and the third showed 212 ppm.
For thorium, concentrations were higher: the first showed 375 ppm, the second had 2,572 ppm, while the third contained 2,350 ppm.
When Nova Scotia’s moratorium on uranium mining was in place between 1981 and 2009, mining was prohibited in any area where uranium deposits were higher than 100 ppm.
Concerns remain about proposed access road and caribou, says Nunatsiavut
Jim Goudie, the deputy minister of Land and Natural Resources with the Nunatsiavut government, said there are always concerns when you’re dealing with radioactive material.
“Mining rare earth elements anywhere in the world, they’re usually found in uranium and thorium deposits. Most of the rare earth elements that are found are slightly radioactive as well,” he said.
“Obviously there’s concerns. And you can’t mine these essentially without, you know, digging up the uranium and thorium that’s mixed in with them.”
But Goudie said he believes Torngat Metals is aware of the potential impacts, and that the company has outlined plans to address those risks.
“I think Canada has the pieces, the legislative and regulative pieces, in place to make sure that mines like the proposed one at Strange Lake can operate safely. I think as well, you know, Indigenous groups could possibly involve keeping an absolute close eye on this project if this mine were to go ahead,” said Goudie.
For his part, Goudie remains more concerned about Torngat Metals’ proposed access road for the project between Lac Brisson and Voisey’s Bay, which would cut through the migration route of the George River caribou herd. According to the July 2024 census, the herd remains at a historically low level, numbering about 8,600 animals.
“You can look all over Canada and elsewhere in terms of what kind of impact roads have had on migration routes,” he said. “For sure, there’s going to be some impact.”
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/strange-lake-environmental-risk-9.6982718