Uranium mining in Atlantic Canada

City University London – International Reporting, June 2011

A leaked cable from the Halifax consulate, released by the whistle-blowing site Wikileaks, says although uranium mining would bring economical benefits to Atlantic Canada, the region’s devoted anti-uranium mining campaigners make it a political impossibility.

The cable, released in May 2008, says mounting fuel prices and an increased interest in clean energy sources have created a growing demand for nuclear energy. This has sparked increased attention towards Canada’s untouched uranium deposits.

A three-year moratorium on uranium mining in Labrador is up for review this year. Konstantine Tsakumis, Manager of Investor Relations at Crosshair Exploration, says although the local government allows exploration activities, the moratorium is scaring away investors.

“Obviously, if you are unable to ultimately mine a discovery there is no incentive to explore the ground looking for a deposit.”

Mining company Aurora Energy Resources has signalled that Labrador holds some of the largest uranium deposits outside Saskatchewan, totalling 133 million pounds of uranium in what it known as the Central Mineral Belt of Labrador, located in the designated Inuit territory of Nunatsiavut.

Canada is already one of the world’s largest exporters of uranium, accounting for 22 per cent of world output, according to the World Nuclear Association. It was only recently taken over by Kazakhstan as the world’s largest uranium producer.

Currently, Canada’s uranium comes from mines in Northern Saskatchewan. Mining in the Athabasca region began in 1953 and is ongoing. A new mine is set to open in Cigar Lake in two years.

Tsakumis says there is no reason to keep the moratorium and that Crosshair would like to see the implementation of the draft land use for southern Labrador (LIL Lands) and the removal of the moratorium. She says that the three years during which the moratorium has been in place are enough to have created a regulatory framework to ensure the mining process would not harm people or the environment.

She says uranium mining would bring significant economic benefits to the area because they would hire locals to work during the exploration stages and spend money in local communities. She says the company’s history demonstrates it forges positive relations with local people and communities.

“In 2008 we spent $2.9 million in Labrador,” says Tsakumis. “Innu and Inuit registered businesses shared in 11% of the budget and we employed 35 local inhabitants of nine communities.”

In 2011 Crosshair plans to spend about $3.8 million on its properties. Moving forward, Tsakumis says the development of a mine would employ hundreds in the construction stage and also create permanent jobs at the mine.

She believes the political arguments against uranium mining are unfounded and far outweighed by the economic benefits.

“Uranium is a clean energy and the demand for uranium remains high for the future as there are 61 reactors under construction worldwide and hundreds in the planning stage.”

Crosshair is betting the moratorium will come to an end and is planning on further exploration work this summer.

Meanwhile, Aurora Energy Resources has said it will begin exploring the region’s uranium deposits by 2014.

Other Atlantic provinces are facing greater political backlash against uranium mining than Labrador.

New Brunswick hosts Atlantic Canada’s only nuclear reactor. It is located on indigenous land and both the Passamaquoddy First Nation chief and the Green Party of Canada are campaigning to get rid of it.

The leaked cable reveals two companies, Tripple Uranium and CVRD-Inco, are currently competing for prospecting activities in the south of the province. Though they are keeping their results secret, groups are campaigning for a ban on further exploration and development. But the government has already signed exploration agreements with the companies. The government held information sessions to sway public view, but lobbyists refused to stop their campaigning.

Roy MacMullin, Green Party MP for Moncton East and Chair of the Riverview Environmental Strategies Committee, says nuclear energy would be a poor choice for New Brunswick. He says New Brunswick needs to think outside the box to come up with new energy sources that are not nuclear. He says ultimately, nuclear would not only hurt the environment, but it would also be highly costly.

“We’re a train wreck that’s racing towards a bridge that’s out,” he says.

MacMullin says the province should not consider exporting its uranium deposits because it would damage the environment.

“Generally speaking”, he says, “when you’re mining things that have low concentrations, you have to either move a lot of earth or add a lot of chemicals.”

He says New Brunswick is already selling natural gas to the US and receives “extremely low royalties.” He expects that with uranium mining the situation would be no different.

“We’re effectively a third world economy here that provides resources for peanuts.”

Mark Butler, Policy Director at the Ecology Action Centre in Nova Scotia, says nuclear energy would not make sense for Nova Scotia either. He says the province has better alternatives including wind, geothermal, solar, tidal, and hydro.

In terms of exporting uranium for other places powered by nuclear, he says mining process itself is too risky. He says mining has left Nova Scotia with contaminated sites the taxpayer is still paying to clean up.

“With the Sydney tar ponds, a certain amount of jobs were created and money made for a limited number of years. But for 25 years there has been money spent on cleaning up the contamination.”

Crosshair says there are strict environmental regulations on uranium mining which would protect the area from contamination, but Butler disagrees. He says the uranium mining process is guaranteed to damage the region.

“You’re basically taking radioactive material which is underground and bringing it up and spreading it around. And we are a wet province so it’s hard to keep radiation contained.”

He says the environmental impacts and human impacts associated with uranium mining have been demonstrated through mining projects elsewhere. He says although it may work in scarcely populated areas like Northern Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia’s communities are spread across the province. There are no isolated areas where the impact of mining could be minimized.

According to the leaked cable, currently, one mining company is conducting exploration work in Nova Scotia, but has said it is searching for iron ore, copper and gold. If it encounters uranium deposits of more than 100 parts per million, it must stop its work. However, protesters have asked what will happen if the company falls upon a large amount of uranium. They fear the company has been pressuring the government to lift the ban on uranium mining during their meetings.

Because it is a non-renewable resource, he says uranium mining cannot contribute to a sustainable economy.

“At some point we would run out of uranium. Then you have a company that wants to get out. They want to get in see share prices go up and then they want to leave.”

Because of the environmental dangers, he says uranium mining is not the way to boost Nova Scotia’s job market.

“I wouldn’t want to work in a uranium mine or have family work in or live close to one. I would like to see us create jobs in other ways.”

Another argument by anti-uranium campaigners is its use for nuclear weapons. The Canadian Nuclear Association says around 80 per cent of the county’s uranium is exported around the world and is used solely for peaceful purposes. However, according to research published by the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, the uranium used in nuclear reactors automatically produces plutonium as a by-product. When plutonium is chemically separated from radioactive waste, it can be used to make nuclear weapons. Some groups argue selling uranium, even for energy purposes, gives more countries the option of eventually producing nuclear explosives.

According to the leaked cable, so far the politicians have walked a fine line between the political and economic factions. They acknowledge the concerns of the anti-uranium campaigners, while at the same time endorsing the industry’s assertions that modern technology has lessened the potential environmental and health impacts of mining. The debate is similar throughout the region, but ultimately, each province’s government will have to construct its own strategy for dealing with the issue.

For now, Butler says uranium mining in Atlantic Canada seems a distant possibility. Nova Scotia’s government has recently reaffirmed the province’s 29-year moratorium on uranium mining. Meanwhile, on a world scale, the reactor leaks in Japan have hurt nuclear energy markets.

The leaked cable states it will be politics rather than exploration results that determine the future of uranium mining in Atlantic Canada. Nevertheless, mining companies remain optimistic and will be looking to the example set by Labrador.

“As these events unfold,” it says, “they should shed some light on when Atlantic Canada might be joining the world uranium club, if at all.”