A northeastern Ontario quarry on Lake Superior has been given an approval by a provincial planning tribunal to start mining aggregate.
The Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) will allow the Superior Aggregates Company to proceed with an open pit mine for trap rock on Michipicoten Bay.
In a 72-page report, OMB representative, Joe Sniezek, ruled in favour of the company and the Municipality of Wawa and directs the Ministry of Natural Resources to issue an Aggregate Resource Licence to the company.
The decision ends a seven-year battle between a small group of local residents and cottagers on Lake Superior and the municipality over a zoning approval of the project.
The controversial project proposal, which sits as close as 50 metres from shore has divided the community between conservation and development-minded residents.
For Wawa, the quarry means a revitalized harbour that's fallen into decline and disrepair since Algoma Steel (now Essar Steel Algoma) began reducing shipments of iron ore sinter from its now-closed mine.
Though the Superior Aggregates quarry would only employ 30 people, it represents an opportunity to regain jobs lost by the Algoma Ore Division closure in 1998 (220 jobs) and the shut-down of the Weyerhauser oriented strand board in 2007 (132 employees.)
The Wawa Economic Development Corporation is also hosting an undisclosed company interested in developing a wind farm. The company became interested in the area after viewing the province's wind atlas website, which identifies potential wind energy sites throughout the province.
.jpeg;w=120;h=80;mode=crop)
