Opposition parties in Quebec are urging the government to react after the publication of information according to which Glencore is considering closing the Horne Foundry if investments to achieve air quality targets are too high.
The issue of the Horne Foundry in Rouyn-Noranda once again takes a political turn after Radio-Canada revealed that the Glencore board of directors was to meet soon to decide on the future of the foundry, while the estimated cost reduction in arsenic emissions would have increased by 50%.
“I hope that the CAQ will not give in to these threats and will not kowtow even more,” said Émilise Lessard-Therrien, co-spokesperson for Québec solidaire.
According to her, the future of the Horne Foundry in Rouyn-Noranda is “much more a question of wanting than of being able.”
The QS co-spokesperson stressed that “no one wants the company to close” and that “what we want is for it to respect the standards like elsewhere in the world”.
She also noted in a press release that “the federal government and the Quebec government have extended millions of dollars to support Glencore in the modernization of the smelter” and that “the multinational has room” to do so.
For his part, Liberal MP Frédéric Beauchemin indicated on social networks that the “incompetence” of the Coalition Avenir Québec “also affects the development of all of Quebec.”
“What will the CAQ do to supply the supply chain with rare minerals that only the Horne Foundry supplies to Quebec? What is the contingency plan? “, asked the Liberal MP.
Thierry Larivière, communications advisor for the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN), which represents the foundry workers, indicated Tuesday morning that he was waiting to obtain more information on the situation before reacting.
An investment initially estimated at 500 million
An agreement with the government, which was signed with the Liberal government in 2017, allowed arsenic emissions from the smelter to reach an annual average of 100 ng/m3or 33 times more than the norm.
In July 2022, a report from the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec (INSPQ) revealed that, over a period of 70 years, an excess number of citizens of Rouyn-Noranda, between one and 14, would develop cancer if the Glencore company did not reduce the concentration of arsenic in the air produced by the smelter.
In August 2022, Glencore announced the investment of 500 million to achieve an arsenic emission threshold of 15 nanograms per cubic meter of air (ng/m3) in 2027, as requested by Quebec public health authorities and the Ministry of the Environment.
In March 2023, the government required the Horne Foundry to implement a plan that would allow it to meet the target of 15 nanograms per cubic meter (ng/m3) of arsenic from 2027, which would be, if the smelter meets the target, five times higher than the environmental standard, which is 3 ng/m3.
Last spring, the government also required the company to present an action plan by 2027, to possibly reach the 3 ng/m standard.3.