Drive two hours north of Ottawa, put on a hard hat and bright orange vest, descend into a pit — and you find yourself on the frontline in the fight to be part of the new, green economy.
A mining project might not be what comes to mind when you think of the transition to a lower emissions economy. But embedded in electric vehicles, solar panels and hydrogen fuel storage are metals and minerals that come from mines like the one in Lac-des-Îles, Que.
The graphite mine, owned by the company Northern Graphite, is just one of many projects aimed at extracting what are now officially dubbed “critical minerals” — substances of significant strategic and economic importance to the future of national economies.
Lac-des-Îles is the only significant graphite mining project in North America, accounting for Canada’s contribution to an industry dominated by China.
CBC News: The House10:49An inside look at a critical minerals mine — and Canada’s push to win the new gold rush
Hugues Jacquemin and Kirsty Liddicoat of Northern Graphite take The House on a tour of their mine in Quebec, and talk about what Canada needs to do to lead the way on critical minerals development.
Experts and industry proponents say Canada has the potential to be a major player in critical minerals — but it needs to change the scope and scale of investment and regulation in order to get there.
For Northern Graphite, in the short-term, that means money. Hugues Jacquemin, Northern Graphite’s CEO, told CBC’s The House during a tour of the Quebec facility that the company is trying to open a mine in Bissett Creek, Ont., to produce graphite that could go into EV batteries.
But they need to raise $150 million to kick-start production.
Hugues Jacquemin, CEO of Northern Graphite, stands in a pit mine nearing the end of its commercial life in Lac-des-Îles, Que. (Jennifer Chevalier/CBC)
“No investor is willing to take 100 per cent of the risk. We need someone to step in alongside the investor and support part of the risk because today there is no demand for battery materials in Canada or in the U.S. at the moment,” Jacquemin said.
“So we need something to help us jump-start the whole supply chain so that we can be there three or four years from now, when the market is buying materials.”
The company says it expects to seek significant financial support from the federal government, but nothing has been confirmed so far.
For its part, the federal government says it’s committed to helping build a critical minerals industry in Canada and recently released its official strategy to do so.
“We need to ensure that we have access to these critical minerals to be able to successfully go through the energy transition and fight climate change,” Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said in an interview with The House.
Wilkinson told host Catherine Cullen that while the government is willing to work with companies, it can’t be the only source of funding.
“The source of all capital doesn’t come from the government. Government can actually do things to help kick-start those [projects]. But obviously companies need to be able to [raise] private capital,” he said.
Wilkinson pointed to a number of measures the government has in place to help Canadian companies develop critical minerals projects, including the Canada Growth Fund, new tax credits for green investments and government funding for infrastructure to help facilitate projects.
Project timelines a concern
The Canadian government is far from the only one interested in critical minerals mining in this country. The U.S. Department of Defence has expressed interest in projects here — and a willingness to invest. Jacquemin said Northern Graphite plans to apply for American investment as well.
Critics — including Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre — have said it simply takes too long to develop a mining project in Canada. Northern Graphite, for example, has owned Bissett Creek since 2012, and the mine is not yet operational.
Wilkinson said the average mining project typically takes around 12 to 15 years but “that’s still too long.” He said the government is aiming for something more like five or six years.
CBC News: The House49:39Mission critical: Is Canada lagging behind in the critical minerals race?
The House takes an in-depth look at Canada’s efforts to become a leader in the development of critical minerals. Hugues Jacquemin and Kirsty Liddicoat, executives of Northern Graphite, explain their efforts to expand. Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson explains how the government is responding. Mark Podlasly talks about his efforts to help First Nations secure their interests, and experts Nate Wallace, Alisha Hiyate and Ian London weigh in on what Canada should be doing to respond to what some are calling the new gold rush.
Ian London, executive director of the Canadian Critical Minerals and Materials Alliance, told Cullen that Canada has the “pieces of the puzzle” to unlock Canada’s critical mineral potential, but more needs to be done.
“Prospective customers … want operating facilities, not aspirations,” he said.
Environmental impact, Indigenous participation
Perhaps the most significant challenges to the mining industry come from concerns about environmental impacts and the role of Indigenous communities.
On the environmental front, advocacy groups like Environmental Defence worry that mining projects carry with them dangers of waste and environmental damage.
“We need to recognize that more mining likely needs to happen, but it needs to be governed responsibly, and we can’t use the rush to extract more minerals for the transition to be an excuse for watering down environmental standards,” said Nate Wallace, a program manager with the group.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford shows a draft agreement with Chief Cornelius Wabasse of Webequie First Nation, left, and Marten Falls Chief Bruce Achneepineskum, centre, in March 2020 after signing an agreement to move forward on building the Northern Road Link in the Ring of Fire area. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press )
Wallace noted that with some projects, there’s a risk that the benefit of unlocking reduced emissions from innovations like electric vehicles would not be worth the cost of the project’s greenhouse gas output. He cited the controversial Ring of Fire proposals in Ontario as one example.
“There’s also significant environmental concerns about that project because it’s covered by peatlands, and that’s basically equivalent to Canada’s Amazon rainforest, in terms of being a massive carbon sink,” he said.
London said he agrees that a balance needs to be struck between environmental impacts and developing projects. He said that dialogue should continue on controversial projects, but Canada’s focus should be more immediate.
“Our priority should be set on projects which are closer to — not shovel ready — but actually going into production,” he said.
Wilkinson said the government is “very focused” on making sure the environmental cost of mining is minimized.
“There is no such thing as a mining project that has zero impact,” he said. “But there certainly are projects that can be done in a way where the impacts are modest and that there is a plan for how you remediate in the aftermath of the mine.”
The Ring of Fire proposals are also a key test of how governments and companies interact with Indigenous communities. The Neskantaga First Nation has said it was not meaningfully consulted on the proposals and has protested them.
First Nations take their message directly to Ontario government — no resource extraction without consent
Watch this uncut exchange as leaders from five First Nations in northwestern Ontario and NDP MPP Sol Mamakwa speak to reporters after demonstrating their continued opposition to mining in the Ring of Fire without their prior consent at Question Period.
Mark Podlasly, an executive with the First Nations Major Projects Coalition, acknowledged that Indigenous people have been wronged in the past when it comes to development.
“Many First Nations are concerned that this new rush for critical minerals, towards the net zero transition, is going to be a repeat of what’s happened in the past,” he told Cullen.
“How it should work is Indigenous people have to be included in the environmental and economic decisions of the projects from the start.”
Mining faces a reputational challenge
Kirsty Liddicoat, Northern Graphite’s COO, said the mining industry also faces challenges when it comes to building up its own reputation and workforce. Along with domestic concerns, Canadian companies are frequently criticized for their actions overseas.
“I think mining as an industry is poorly understood and it doesn’t necessarily have the best reputation. So that’s leading us to a number of challenges with social acceptability and talent,” she said.
“We need to be attracting the smartest people to the biggest problems that we have as a world, to help us make this shift.”
Kirsty Liddicoat, chief operating officer of Northern Graphite, holds a rock with graphite ore at the company’s Lac-des-Îles mine. (Jennifer Chevalier/CBC)
London said the mining industry has taken steps to build in more corporate responsibility but there will always be a tradeoff in an extractive industry.
“A colleague of mine said when it comes to green technologies, amongst all that green, there’s always going to be a little black,” he said.
“It is an extractive industry, there will be some negative impact. But overall, it’s tremendously positive.”
MONTREAL – Quebec’s police watchdog says it has opened an investigation after the bodies of a mother and her son, both of whom went missing earlier this week, were discovered in a vehicle in Montreal.
Montreal police confirmed Thursday that the bodies of Lucia Giovanna Arcuri, 76, and Giuseppe Arcuri, 59, were found earlier in the day in an Infiniti SUV belonging to the man. They had been reported missing on Tuesday.
Since Montreal police were looking into their disappearance, the province’s police watchdog — Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes — has opened a file into how police conducted their investigation. The watchdog is mandated to investigate cases in which people die or are injured during interventions by Quebec police.
Montreal Const. Véronique Dubuc says the watchdog will investigate the work of city police, and provincial police will investigate the two deaths.
First responders were called at around 12:30 a.m. on Thursday to the vehicle in a parking lot. Despite attempts to revive the two people inside, both were pronounced dead at the scene, and Montreal police have described the deaths as suspicious.
Arcuri and his mother lived together in the city’s St-Leonard borough.
Giuseppe Arcuri was last seen Tuesday at around 9:30 a.m. in a restaurant in eastern Montreal. “Mr. Arcuri made disturbing comments before his disappearance,” police said in a bulletin announcing their disappearance.
The last contact with Lucia Giovanna Arcuri was also Tuesday morning. She was suffering from memory loss and rarely left her home. She disappeared without her medication or the cane she needs to walk.
Later, police put out a description of Giuseppe Arcuri’s SUV, which matched the vehicle in which the two bodies were found Thursday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Residents of Florida’s Gulf Coast who weathered back-to-back hurricanes now have something else to keep an eye on -– a possible plume of harmful algae in the waters off the state’s southwest coast.
Satellite imagery shows a bloom of algae extending along Florida’s western coastline near Tampa, though researchers caution that Hurricanes Helene and Milton have delayed regular sampling to confirm the findings. Federal officials say there is currently “no risk of respiratory irritation” from red tide in Florida.
Red tides occur when algae — plant-like organisms that live in salt and freshwater — grow out of control and produce harmful toxins that can kill fish and sicken people and pets.
“It’s so dense that it actually discolors the water, right? Hence the red tide name,” said Beth Stauffer, a professor of biology at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
According to researchers, the main species responsible for the blooms along Florida’s Gulf Coast is Karenia brevis, a single-celled organism that produces a potent neurotoxin that can be suspended in the air near beaches and make people sick when they breathe it in.
“(It) not only impacts some of the fish and manatees and some of the other marine mammals, but can impact human health through the toxin being aerosolized and hurting folks who have respiratory or autoimmune issues,” Stauffer said.
Scientists say Florida’s back-to-back hits from Hurricanes Helene and Milton could be fueling the growth of toxic algae that was already present before the storms slammed the coast.
Here’s what to know about red tide — and how hurricanes could affect it.
What is red tide?
Red tides, which scientists refer to as harmful algae blooms, occur when aquatic microorganisms grow out of control, producing toxins that can kill fish, make shellfish unsafe to eat and leave the air difficult to breathe.
Many different kinds of microorganisms cause toxic blooms in fresh and saltwater around the world, but researchers say the culprit behind southwest Florida’s cyclical blooms is a species known as Karenia brevis.
Florida typically sees red tide off the state’s southwest coast every year in late summer or early fall when warmer temperatures and wind conditions are more favorable to algae growth.
Hurricanes don’t cause red tide – but they can make it worse
Experts say there are a lot of factors that can influence a harmful algae bloom, from the availability of nutrients to wind conditions to the powerful underwater currents that help power the ocean’s food chains.
While the researchers who spoke with The Associated Press didn’t agree on whether hurricanes can disrupt a harmful algae bloom, they did say that these powerful storms can make them worse by churning up nutrient-rich water that fuels the growth of the microorganisms.
“Hurricanes do bring up deeper water in the Gulf of Mexico, which has more nutrients. They also could produce a lot of rain. You have runoff from the land, which also adds nutrients,” said Richard Stumpf, an oceanographer with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “It tends to intensify a bloom that’s already there.”
Hurricanes can also steer blooms ashore, even pushing them hundreds of miles up the coast, according to Stumpf.
“We saw an extreme case with Katrina, which of course didn’t really affect Florida, but it was such a big storm, it actually took a bloom that was off southwest Florida and put it on the Panhandle,” he said.
What are the health concerns?
Harmful algae blooms can pose a deadly threat to aquatic animals, with some causing massive die-offs that choke beaches with rotting fish. People who breathe in the toxins may experience symptoms like coughing, shortness of breath or dizziness.
“It’s like an instant cold. Go down to the beach, start coughing just as you cross over the dune and then eyes start watering and nose running,” Stumpf said.
“Once I leave and 10 minutes later, I’m fine,” he said. “It’s so odd.”
Those with asthma or other respiratory issues may experience more serious health effects or even need medical attention. Some pets that have come into contact with harmful algae have become seriously ill or even died.
What are conditions like now?
According to a red tide monitoring map maintained by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, medium and high levels of Karenia brevis concentrations were detected in some coastal locations near Pinellas County, home to St. Petersburg, between Sept. 26 and Oct. 3 – just as Hurricane Helene crashed ashore in the Big Bend region and in the week that followed.
A NOAA forecasting tool shows there is currently “no risk of respiratory irritation” from red tide algae in Florida.
Researchers say that some efforts to gather and analyze data have been delayed due to the storms.
“It looks like the hurricane actually helped facilitate what is an evolving red tide bloom along the coastline,” said Robert Weisberg, an emeritus professor of physical oceanography at the University of South Florida. “The caveat is we have not gone out to sample it yet so we don’t know exactly what’s out there.”
___ Kate Payne is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
WINNIPEG – A long-promised $600-million flood prevention project in Manitoba is now under review, and the provincial government has opened the door to redesigning it with no timeline for starting construction.
The NDP government said it has asked Ottawa to pause a decision on the plan, in order to fully consult First Nations and consider possible alternatives to the design. It would currently have two large outlet channels built to drain water from Lake Manitoba into Lake St. Martin then into Lake Winnipeg.
“The federal government had already expressed significant concerns,” Lisa Naylor, Manitoba’s minister of transportation and infrastructure, said Thursday.
“If the federal government had withdrawn the licence because of the environmental impact, the project would be dead. And so, I don’t want to see that happen.”
The project has been talked about for more than a decade, following severe flooding in 2011 that forced thousands of people from their homes.
The former Progressive Conservative government promised in 2016 to build the project quickly but butted heads for years with federal regulators, who called for more consultation with First Nations that would be affected.
In 2022, a Court of Queen’s Bench judge ruled the government did not consult properly before setting up a right of way on Crown land for preparatory work, such as groundwater monitoring.
A report in June from the federal Impact Assessment Agency said the project’s environmental effects could be addressed, but it would have significant impact on Indigenous land use. The federal environment minister said he would refer the issue to cabinet for a decision.
Seeking a pause on that process will give the province time to address concerns of First Nations communities and Ottawa, Naylor said.
The Tories, now in Opposition, said there was consultation and the project needs to move ahead to prevent another disastrous flood in the region.
“I think there were hundreds and hundreds of consultations that have been done with First Nations,” interim party leader Wayne Ewasko said. Technical documents, including papers translated into Cree and Ojibway, were posted online and shared with community members, he added.
Naylor said the pause will also let the government consider changing the project’s design.
“A number of smaller mitigation projects have taken place over the years that may change what the outcome ultimately needs to look like,” she said.
The province is signing a memorandum of understanding on next steps with the Interlake Reserves Tribal Council, which represents several communities in the region.
Cornell McLean, chief of Lake Manitoba First Nation, said he’s pleased with the government’s commitment because there has been no meaningful consultation to date.
“There has been none, and they say there were text messages, phone calls, faxes. And I said, ‘Well, that’s not consultation,'” McLean said.
“If you want to have true consultation, it’s face-to-face, meaningful consultation.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
