Mining litter a blemish on Nunavik

ODILE NELSON

A new study estimates 275 abandoned mining exploration sites cover Northern Quebec in shacks, rusting oil barrels and rotting batteries. And researchers say the mess will cost millions to clean.

The highly anticipated two-year report driven by the Kativik Regional Government in partnership with Makivik Corp. was presented by Robert Lanari, the project co-director for Makivik, at the 7th International Symposium on Mining in the Arctic held March 31 in Iqaluit.

It found that 90 of 193 locations visited are abandoned mining exploration sites: 18 major, 27 intermediate and 45 minor.

A 2000 inventory, based on information from the Quebec Ministry of Natural Resources, listed close to 600 abandoned sites on paper. But this latest study suggests, based on the ratio of the 90 actual sites found to the 193 visited, there are only 275 actual sites across the region: 25 major, 95 intermediate and the rest minor.

The results are better than expected, Lanari said, but unless the situation is rectified it could have a significant impact on the health and economic development of the region.

“The major sites have mining equipment and debris, housing trailers left behind, barrels, sheds, spilled hydrocarbons and one even had a lab with highly concentrated acids. The largest site has at least 1,500 barrels and various debris,” he said.

“Of course, our intention is to clean as much as possible for environmental concerns, to protect the wildlife. And also if we have the intention of developing tourism in the North we’re selling a pristine environment and if tourists come to the North and this is what they see in many places, it’s not very pristine.”

Lanari said clean up could cost millions.

“We’re writing the proposal as we speak but we cleaned up one site, which was not a mining site, but a telecommunications site and based on that experience it will be a lot of money. On that one site it cost $300,000,” Lanari said.

He added many of the mining sites classified as major compare with the telecommunications clean up. If 25 major mining exploration sites are eventually found, and each costs $300,000, the total cost could reach $7.5 million.

Most of the exploration mining sites contain refuse from a Northern exploration boom that hit Nunavik between the 1940s and late 1970s. Up until the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement of 1975, there was no legislation requiring mining companies to clean up their work. Many companies chose to leave their debris behind rather than pay to have it shipped out.

In the mid 1990s, Nunavimmiut noticed to the mess could affecting wildlife in the region. The KRG started funding clean up on a case-by-case basis in the late 1990s. But as more and more requests came in, the KRG realized the problem demanded more than an ad-hoc solution.

In 2000, a consultation with Nunavimmiut and Naskapi communities, as well as provincial documentation of old mining claims, identified 600 potential abandoned sites.

The next year, the KRG and Makivik, with funding from Environment Canada and the Quebec government, began this latest study.

“We did the project to assess the dimension of the problem,” said Michael Barrett, assistant director with the KRG’s sustainable development department. “After a while we were saying, wait a second just how big is this problem, just what is out there?”

The two-year process used helicopter surveys, Inuit informants and on-site appraisals to obtain a more accurate estimate of the sites, their precise location, and their contents.

The study found most of the sites are near Tasiujaq, Aupaluk, Kangiqsujuaq and Salluit. The contamination researchers saw at some of these sites was at times startling, Lanari said.

“The soil, I couldn’t believe it, sometimes it was soaking. You would just take a shovel and turn up the soil and you could see the oil leaking out,” he said.

However, Lucie Olivier, a contaminant expert with Environment Canada who consulted on the study, downplayed the extent of the contamination.

“In total we found 600 square meters [of soil contamination] for our sites. It’s not a lot compared with the rest of the territory’s size. But even if it’s small it still needs to be cleaned,” she said.

Olivier said researchers also found trace water contamination but the amount was not a concern.

She added the health risks associated with the sites are limited because many of the barrels have not rusted through.

Olivier, Barrett and Lanari agreed cleaning the major sites must be a priority. Yet it will be a costly process and the question of who will foot the bill remains unanswered.

“In a lot of cases it’s even too expensive to take them [the debris] out now,” Barrett said.

KRG and Makivik are now writing a proposal to seek clean up funds from the federal and provincial governments. They are also going through old records and attempting to connect the abandoned sites with old mining companies. But securing a financial commitment from either means is not guaranteed.

Environment Canada has helped with the project so far but there is no solid commitment to provide clean up funding.

And Lanari said he is doubtful many of the mining companies from before 1970 exist anymore. Even if they are found, he said, since there was no law at the time, there is nothing forcing them to pay.