Eau Secours and the Regroupement Vigilance Mines de l’Abitibi et du Témiscamingue (REVIMAT) are concerned about the approval of the James Bay lithium mine project by the federal government.
The two organizations are concerned about the contamination of water by arsenic that risks producing the mine, which plans to extract 5,480 tonnes of ore per day for 15 to 20 years.
The Impact Assessment Agency of Canada gave the green light on Monday to Galaxy Lithium’s project to build a mine on the traditional territory of the Crees of Eastmain, along the James Bay road, 1,100 kilometers north of north of Montreal.
Eau Secours and REVIMAT point out that according to the proponent’s environmental impact study, it is expected that the pit left by Galaxy Lithium will gradually fill with water that will be loaded with arsenic, after the life of the mine. .
The two organizations fear for the waterways in the Akwakwatipusich Lake watershed, as Galaxy Lithium’s restoration plan “does not include any concrete measures to restore water quality to its original level” .
“The proponent relies instead on hypotheses relating to the water balance” and “dilution factors which are not demonstrated in any in-depth modelling” according to Eau Secours.
The environmental body argues that according to proponent estimates, 60 years after mine operations ceased, arsenic concentrations could reach levels approximately twice the prescribed standard (0.1 mg/L) by the Metal and Diamond Mining Effluent Regulations (MDREM), and “approximately 40 times greater than the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) guidelines for the protection of aquatic life in freshwater (0.005 mg/L). »
Eau Secours and the Regroupement Vigilance Mines de l’Abitibi et du Témiscamingue maintain that “the evaluation committee did little to address these concerns”.
Compensation deemed insufficient
Eau Secours also fears that the “305 hectares of wetlands that will be destroyed by the project” will be inadequately compensated. “.
A compensation plan for the loss of wetlands is planned by the proponent and the Impact Agency of Canada points out that it “should comply with the requirements of the Ministry of the Environment, the Fight against Climate Change, de la Faune et des Parcs (MELCCFP) and would be developed in close collaboration with the MELCCFP, the Cree Nation Government and the Cree Nation of Eastmain, some of whose members have expressed concern about the effects of the project on wetlands”.
According to the director general of Eau Secours, “this type of destructive project, contenting itself with the minimum to meet the standards, does not meet the criteria of the green transition”, referring to the use of lithium in the manufacture of vehicles. electrical.
“With 305 hectares of natural habitats destroyed and a pit that will fill with arsenic-contaminated water over 120 years and then flow into nearby rivers, these are examples of the price to pay for a so-called green transition,” said Rebecca Petrin.
Species at Risk
According to the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada, at least four wildlife species at risk belonging to mammals have been observed or are likely to frequent the territory: woodland caribou, little brown myotis, northern myotis and the wolverine.
But the assessment panel concluded that “the project, combined with past, present and reasonably foreseeable projects, is not likely to cause significant adverse cumulative environmental effects on fish and their habitat, wetlands, birds migratory and at-risk species, woodland caribou and bats at risk”.
When releasing the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada’s decision on Monday, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said it was “a good project.”
“Critical minerals are one of the keys to building Canada’s low-carbon economy and ensuring economic prosperity for years to come. We can only exploit these resources by designing them from the outset with strong mitigation measures to protect the environment and by working in true partnership with Indigenous peoples. Our future depends on sustainable projects like this,” the minister said.
After Nemaska Lithium’s Whabouchi mine and Critical Elements Corporation’s Rose lithium – tantalum project, the James Bay lithium mine is the third lithium mine to receive federal government approval in the Eeyou Istchee Baie-James region.