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Sources tell The Chronicle Herald that the province will announce the Archibald Lake Protected Area on Monday. If true, the move would undercut one of this ...
Sources tell The Chronicle Herald that the province will announce the Archibald Lake Protected Area on Monday.The Cochrane Hill open pit gold mine proposed by Atlantic Mining, a subsidiary of Australia-based St.
Barbara Ltd., would rely upon Archibald Lake as a water source. The 684-hectare wilderness area, as defined in consultation documents, would encompass Archibald, MacDonald and Rocky Lakes along with 300 hectares of old hardwood forest. “Archibald Lake is also identified in Atlantic Gold’s description for the proposed Cochrane Hill Gold Project,” reads a consultation document for the Wilderness Area.Guysborough-Tracadie MLA/Agriculture Minister Greg Morrow is scheduled to announce a new protected area for Guysborough County on Monday morning at 11 a.m. at the St. Mary’s River Association Interpretive Centre in Sherbrooke. With him will be River Association president Scott Beaver, who has led the campaign against the gold mine and championed the proposed Archibald Lake Wilderness Area. Beaver couldn’t be reached for comment on Friday and the Department of Environment and Climate Change declined to confirm which protected area is being announced. Ecology Action Centre spokesman Raymond Plourde cautioned that he, himself, had no insider information that it will be Archibald Lake getting protected, as there are numerous other proposed protected areas in Guysborough County“And a huge kudos to the government for finally getting this over the finish line – I’m sure it hasn’t been easy.” For its part, St. Barbara has argued that the Department of Environment only raised the idea of protecting Archibald Lake after it had filed for an environmental assessment for its proposed mine. “Advocates for mining indicated that may have a chilling effect on the future development of the mining industry in Nova Scotia,” reads a summary of comments collected during public consultation held on the Archibald Lake Wilderness Area. “They expressed concern that the province is creating unexpected barriers to viability of the proposed Cochrane Hill Gold Mine while the project is undergoing environmental assessment.” According to Atlantic Mining’s project description, the 241-hectare Cochrane Hill mine site would include a kilometre-long open pit mine and a nearly two-kilometre-long tailings pond protected by a 70-metre-high earthen wall. It is located less than a kilometre from the St. Mary’s River. In its financial filings, the company estimated that it would recover 350,000 to 400,000 ounces of gold from Cochrane Hill. “I doubt they’re just going to give up – there are a lot of lakes in Guysborough County so I suspect they’ll just pivot to another water supply,” said Plourde. “Nova Scotians are never going to allow a giant open pit gold mine next to the St. Mary’s River. We’ll fight it to the bitter end. The company, and especially investors, would be well-advised to avoid Cochrane Hill and the St. Mary’s River altogether.” Last August, the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada canned the mine’s environmental assessment after Atlantic Mining didn’t submit required environmental surveys or apply for an extension by deadline. While the company hasn’t filed to restart its environmental assessment process, it has continued to make public statements that it intends to move forward with the Cochrane Hill mine. Atlantic Mining declined to provide comment before an official announcement is made regarding protected areas.Earlier this month, it blamed delays at the Department of Environment in processing its application to expand a tailings pond for it being forced to idle its Touquoy Mine in Moose River. “As a result, approximately 140 employees will prematurely lose their employment in September 2023 due to successive delays in approval of the Environmental Assessment Registration Document by the Minister of Environment and Climate Change,” reads a written statement from the company. “The key component of the EARD was the approval sought for the deposition of mine tailings in the exhausted Touquoy Mine open pit which had the support of the Independent Tailings Review Board. Furthermore, in comments provided on the Additional Information Addendum, the Department of Natural Resources and Renewables supported approval of the Environmental Assessment.” The company announced plans to abandon the environmental assessment for its proposed Beaver Dam mine, near Sheet Harbour. Its proposed Fifteen Mile Stream mine will be redesigned as a stand-alone facility and resubmitted for environmental assessment.
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