Nouveau Monde Graphite aims to operate its first 100% electric and carbon-neutral mine in Saint-Michel-des-Saints, but by the company’s own admission, this is not happening any time soon. And such claims amount to greenwashing, according to opponents of the project.
Since 2021, Nouveau Monde Graphite (NMG) has been presenting its anode materials project for batteries as a carbon-neutral solution for electric vehicle manufacturers. Key to this ambition is that access to electrified mining equipment that would allow it to meet its commitment does not yet exist.
The company plans to begin operations with existing diesel machinery while the giant Caterpillar, with which it has agreements, designs and markets the electric equipment, explains NMG spokesperson Julie Paquette.
“We will use conventional (diesel) equipment for the first five years of operation, which will be replaced as electric machinery becomes available,” she explains in an interview with The Press.
If all goes according to plan, NMG wants to start mining in 2028, which pushes back the start of its use of electric equipment to 2033 at best. The company no longer refers to electric equipment in its communications, but to “zero exhaust gas machines.” “Because it could be hydrogen,” the spokeswoman says.
She adds that the company’s commitment is to have a 100% electric site, but that its potential supplier Caterpillar is also exploring other possibilities, including hydrogen.
A mine is a mine
NMG’s commitments to electrification and carbon neutrality, reiterated at the company’s annual meeting at the end of June, are denounced by the Coalition Québec Meilleure Mine, the Quebec counterpart of Canada Mining Watch.
“The promoter’s claim, dating back several years, to build a 100% electric mine is a dubious assertion at best,” says the coalition, which notes that the electrical equipment on which this claim is based does not yet exist.
Beyond the question of equipment, all of NMG’s green talk is akin to greenwashing, believes Rodrigue Turgeon, spokesperson for the coalition.
“This project is being presented as a solution for the environment, while a mine has impacts on the environment that contribute to worsening the environmental crisis,” he says. The open-pit graphite mine in Saint-Michel-des-Saints will open a crater nearly three kilometres long in an inhabited region known for its natural attractions, in addition to accumulating acid residues, recalls Rodrigue Turgeon.
He denounces the discourse of NMG, but also that which surrounds the entire battery sector presented as a green solution. We focus on greenhouse gas emissions, but we forget all the other environmental externalities of the mines and factories in this sector. “Society is being fooled,” he believes.
A federal bill, if passed, would prevent companies from boasting about ESG compliance and carbon neutrality without providing evidence to back up their claims. The potential regulation has led Canadian oil companies to remove climate-related claims from their websites as a precaution, fearing accusations of greenwashing.1.
For opponents of the Saint-Michel-des-Saints graphite mine project, NMG wrongly boasts of integrating ESG (environmental, social and governance) values with the market and its shareholders.
“There are no mines that don’t destroy the environment,” says Daniel Tokatéloff, a member of the Association for the Protection of Lac Taureau and an early opponent of the graphite mine project.
According to him, the project also does not respect social values, since it deeply divides the local community. Finally, the opponent notes that NMG cannot speak of good governance when one of its main shareholders, the Pallinghurst group, is established in a tax haven, the British island of Guernsey.
Pallinghurst is also a shareholder in Nemaska Lithium, another company in the battery sector financially supported by the Quebec government, like NMG. Both companies are looking for financing to carry out their projects.
1. Read the article “Oil Company Pulls Content Over C-59”
Two projects
1. Graphite mine and concentrator project in Saint-Michel-des-Saints
Planned production of 103,000 tonnes per year for 25 years
2. Battery materials plant in Bécancour
Expected production of 46,000 tonnes per year