Graphite Mine | Laurentians Cities Unite to Consult on Project

(Montreal) Five municipalities near a proposed graphite mine site with ties to the Pentagon have formed an alliance to speed up public consultations on the project. They also want to pressure the provincial government to listen to what residents have to say.

When Lomiko Metals, a mining company based in Surrey, British Columbia, announced plans to open a mine in the Laurentians region to produce graphite – one of the world’s most sought-after essential minerals needed to make electric vehicle batteries – some nearby residents began protesting the project, fearing potential environmental damage.

They were even more upset when they learned that Lomiko had received $11.4 million from the U.S. Department of Defense for the project.

Since then, the municipalities located near the proposed mining site – Duhamel, Lac-Simon, Chénéville, Saint-Émile-de-Suffolk and Lac-des-Plages – have decided to take charge of informing the public.

Typically, companies that want to build major projects are responsible for holding public consultations and ensuring a level of “social acceptability,” said Duhamel Mayor David Pharand, a spokesperson for the alliance.

But not this time. Pharand said the alliance wants to hold consultations in the coming months and then, by 2026, launch some sort of vote, possibly a referendum, to find out exactly what people think about the project. But Pharand said the provincial government must agree that a referendum or some other type of process to gather public opinion is a legitimate way to reflect the social acceptability of the project.

An example to follow “

Rodrigue Turgeon, co-national program manager at Mining Watch Canada, says the level of community engagement so early in the process is “unusual” in the country, calling it “a real example for other municipalities to follow.”

Mr. Turgeon, who also practices environmental and mining law, says a referendum would be “unprecedented” for Quebec, although common in Latin America.

Louis Saint-Hilaire, president of a local environmental group, will be present at the first public information session on July 21 as one of the speakers opposed to the mine.

“We don’t want to have a giant open-pit mine in the middle of all these lakes and all these people living around it,” he said, stressing that few residents support the project, especially after Lomiko announced in May that it had received an $11.4 million grant from the Pentagon.

The Pentagon said Lomiko’s graphite would strengthen North American energy supply chains and be used for “defense applications.”

Lomiko said it would conduct feasibility and metallurgical studies over the next five years and would undergo review by the Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement (BAPE). The company plans to begin construction by 2027.

Graphite is a key mineral for the manufacture of military equipment. A 2023 report from the Hague Center for Strategic Studies, a defense and security think tank based in the Netherlands, lists graphite among the critical minerals whose supply chain is at risk. The report details that European militaries need graphite to manufacture their fighter jets, battle tanks, submarines, artillery, and ammunition.

Years before a BAPE assessment

In a statement, Cindy Valence, Lomiko’s director of sustainability, told The Canadian Press that the company has already met with “a multitude of stakeholders” and will “follow all government processes as a responsible operator in the critical minerals sector.”

The company will continue to share water quality test results with the community and seek local feedback on other issues, including road access, according to M.^me Valence, who added that the mine will create jobs and help Quebec achieve its strategic objectives in terms of essential minerals.

According to the office of the Minister of Natural Resources, Maïté Blanchette Vézina, “it is important that mining projects carried out in Quebec generate social acceptability in the communities concerned.”

In a separate statement, the Ministry of Natural Resources said it requires companies applying for mining leases to receive authorization under Quebec’s Environment Quality Act, a process that typically involves consulting the BAPE. “In order to ensure the integration of a mining project into its host environment, developers are strongly encouraged to establish mechanisms for dialogue with communities very early in the development of their project,” the ministry said.

However, Turgeon said it could be years before the BAPE conducts an impact assessment, long after mining companies began promising jobs and focusing the debate on economic development to the detriment of environmental considerations.

Moreover, what defines social acceptability remains unclear. “There are currently no specific guidelines in the (Quebec) Mining Act or any other law in Quebec to define social acceptability,” Turgeon explained.