The Ontario government has changed course on its plans to ship several thousand tonnes of niobium tailings to a former uranium tailings site near Nairn Centre, west of Sudbury.
This follows a roughly year-long battle by the Township of Nairn and Hyman to get answers to the plan to truck old niobium tailings from the old Beaucage Mine near the Nipissing First Nation to the Agnew Lake Tailings Management Area about 25 kilometres north of Nairn Centre.
Nairn Centre is a township 50 kilometres west of Sudbury.
Although the project had been in planning stages for years, it wasn't until the summer of 2024 when township officials were formally told about it.
Township CAO Belinda Ketchabaw said Wednesday the community was happy to get a formal letter on Monday that outlined the change in plans.
"The Township of Nairn and Hyman and the Township of Baldwin are pleased to share important news: the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM) has provided written confirmation that niobium rock tailings from the former Beaucage Mine will not be transported or deposited at the Agnew Lake Tailings Management Area (ALTMA),” she said.
Amy Mazey, the mayor of Nairn and Hyman, was more than pleased with the letter.
“I am personally thrilled with this announcement and on behalf of the community I would like to thank the provincial government for listening to our grave concerns,” said Mazey in the news release.
“This has been a difficult time in our area, but we have put in the effort, supported our stand with science and pulled together as a community. The two ministries heard our concerns and have chosen the safest path forward for everyone involved — the process worked!”
Nickel Belt MPP France Gélinas said the change of plans was "a big win" for the community. Gélinas, who attended all of the community meetings, had praise for the way the issue was handled by local residents, despite the fact people were very upset and ready for civil disobedience if any truckloads of niobium came through town. That was made clear at the last public meeting held in July.
"A huge congratulations to everybody who stayed very calm, although you could see some of them were angry. They were always polite at the microphone. They were always calm. They handled themselves very well, but it was clear that there was going to be civil disobedience the day that a truck came down that road; the people were going to do a blockade. The trucks would not be allowed to go down that road," she said.
She said the onus is now on the higher levels of government to ensure that the Agnew Lake Tailings area gets more attention and that any radioactive leaks from the existing uranium tailings are resolved.
For nearly a year, the township had hosted public meetings to let area residents know about the project and to try to get firm answers on the trucking plan and why Agnew Lake was chosen.
The plan was first developed in 2015 by the Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO), which worked with Nipissing First Nation near North Bay to remove several thousand tonnes of niobium mine tailings that had been dumped on First Nations lands since the 1950s.
This also includes naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM) that was in a gravel pit on the reserve that was owned by MTO.
The original plan was to ship 34,000 tonnes of material including niobium, dirt and gravel from Nipissing FN to the Agnew Lake disposal site near Nairn Centre, using a fleet of triple-axle dump trucks along Highway 17, and then along Spanish River Road to Agnew Lake Road.
The trucking project will now see the material being hauled from Nipissing First Nation to a provincially approved hazardous waste site located near Sarnia, Ont.
“In communication with Nipissing First Nation and the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM), the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) has revised the plan to move rock tailings and will no longer be moving this material to the ALTMA site,” said the letter from the Ministry of Energy and Mines, on Monday.
The letter further stated that the mines ministry will pursue an alternate plan to fulfill its CNSC licensing obligations for the ALTMA site.
“The required cover repair will now be completed using conventional clean pit run rockfill, rather than the original proposal to use the niobium rock tailings. Preliminary work is already underway to implement this approach for the required cover repair,” said the letter.
Len Gillis covers health care and mining for Sudbury.com.
