Whose Resources? Our Resources!
Voice of Quebeckers Opposed to Graphite Mine Rings Out Loud and Clear
Quebeckers are categorically opposed to the project to open a graphite mine in the Laurentians north of Montreal. Lomiko Metals Inc., a mining company based in Surrey, BC, announced plans for a mine called La Loutre and received $11.4 million from the United States Department of Defense (Pentagon) for the project.
The
citizens and residents of five Quebec municipalities located near the
proposed site for the graphite mine have organized to stop this
project. The people who live in Duhamel, Lac-Simon,
Chénéville, St-Émile-de-Suffolk and Lac-des-Plages
have taken charge of informing the public because the government has
been negligent in holding public hearings. They have been holding
public consultations and demand that the provincial government listen
to what they have to say. On August 25 at a public information session
in Chénéville the alliance of these municipalities
announced that a referendum on the project will take place on November
2, 2025.
Graphite is promoted as being one of the world's most sought after minerals needed to provide "green energy" solutions to the climate crisis. It is used, besides other things, to manufacture electric vehicle batteries. Graphite is not only used in lithium-ion batteries. It is also a key material in energy storage, pencils, sporting equipment and electronics, which includes smartphones and laptops. The graphite market is projected to hit $27 billion by 2025, with the demand for the material increasing in multiple industries.
The Lomiko Metals' website has this to say about "The Need for Graphite:"
"The world is waking up to the reality that the way we consume fossil fuels for energy is having an adverse impact on our planet. Alternative and clean forms of energy generation and storage are being developed at a rapid rate, and the movement includes the electrification of consumer cars and other vehicles that have up until now been fueled by gasoline.
"As the demand for electric cars grows and more automotive manufacturers offer them, they are becoming more affordable, which is having a profound effect on the consumer vehicle industry. To manufacture the large, complex batteries required to power electric vehicles, four metals are required: lithium, cobalt, nickel and graphite. There is 15x more graphite in electric car batteries than lithium, making it a key component of the movement.
"With fuel prices surging and the need for eco-friendly alternatives becoming a necessity, graphite will play a pivotal role in the electric vehicle industry in years to come.
"Up until now, China and Mozambique have been the predominant sources for graphite across the world. With deposits coming from so far away, the North American markets have struggled to justify the import prices. However, with Lomiko Metals' La Loutre deposit in Quebec, Canada, North American-sourced graphite has now become a viable option for prominent consumer vehicle companies."
This is typical market speak to disinform the public. What is key is what is missing – that these resources belong to the people and it is up to the people to decide what if anything is to be done with them. People are key. The relations they enter into are key. How they make their living, generation after generation, what happens to the lands they live on, to the well-being of both their lands and their children and families -– this is what is key.
Louis Saint-Hilaire, president of a local environmental group, told one of the first public consultation meetings in July:
"We don't want to have a gigantic open pit mine in the middle of all those lakes and all those people living around them." Few local people support the project, he said, especially after Lomiko announced in May it received a grant of $11.4 million from the Pentagon. "People are furious about this," he said.
What is also significant is the fraud committed by the narrow private interests and the governments promoting these projects. Governments use prerogative ministerial powers to circumvent environmental assessments, criminalize citizens who speak out, ignore them, lie about the benefits, lie about the aim to enrich private interests, integrate the economy to the U.S. war economy and everything else.
While mining of critical minerals is promoted as part of getting rid of fossil fuels and "greening" the economy this is a fraud. The problem is not 'fossil fuels' per se but who makes the decisions and in whose interests. Sold out individuals who are part of the cartel party system of government, members of legislative assemblies and the federal parliament who benefit from their positions of power and privilege, are part of a decision-making process which excludes the citizens of this country. They are yes-men and yes-women for governments which support genocide and wars of destruction and sustain the impoverishment of the peoples of the whole world. Because of the rule of narrow supranational private interests the peoples of the world, including Canada, suffer. Wars of destruction, genocide, droughts, climate crises, famines, mass migrations of people escaping untenable conditions and so on are because of the power structures, who controls the decision-making and who the decisions benefit.
When purified, the metal lithium is highly reactive and flammable. Lithium-ion batteries can become a source of ignition due to manufacturing defects, degradation over time, damage or improper disposal. Under such conditions, lithium-ion batteries have caused very dangerous fires which are difficult to extinguish, emit toxic smoke and cause great harm to human beings. One such fire recently took place in the Port of Montreal on September 24 when a shipping container holding some 15,000 kilograms of lithium batteries caught fire around 2:45 pm. It took the Montreal Fire Department until 3:15 am to put it out. A lockdown was declared because of the danger posed to the inhabitants of the area but people had nothing to protect them from the toxic fumes, no explanations of what was happening, no control over their lives and possessions.
Besides the dangers to which the citizens and residents of this country are subjected, with no recourse whatsoever, they know full well that these projects have nothing to do with safeguarding the natural environment and everything to do with the U.S. war economy and justifying the give-away of public funds to narrow private interests. There is absolutely no benefit to the people of this country, their well-being or livelihoods.
Of greatest significance to Canadians and Quebeckers is to see how their fight, all of them together, makes a difference. The united voice of the people is putting a spoke in the wheels of the destructive war chariot governments are propelling. It is showing the people of the country what is really taking place and the extreme measures to which governments are resorting to silence the truth of matters and to cover up their their fraud and corruption. Some projects have been forced to close down, thanks to the peoples' battle against them. In the case of the Wet'suwet'en in BC, the keepers of the land are being assaulted by the only militarized RCMP unit in the country, facing criminal charges and imprisonment for defending themselves and their land. These battles waged by Canadians from all walks of life and Indigenous land defenders deserve the support of all.
It is the human factor/social consciousness which is decisive, the working people speaking out on their own behalf, digging into the truth of the matters at hand, exposing the fraud and shaming the sell-out politicians, especially the "top guns" the federal and provincial governments are paying fortunes to commit fraud.
Notes
1. Lomiko Metals has said it will be conducting feasibility and metallurgical studies over the next five years and will be subject to a review by Quebec's environment consultations office, known as the BAPE. It says it plans to begin construction by 2027.
2. Graphite is a key mineral for manufacturing military equipment. A 2023 report by The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies, a defence and security think tank based in the Netherlands, lists graphite as a critical mineral whose supply chain is under threat. The report said European militaries need graphite for fighter aircraft, battle tanks, submarines, artillery and ammunition.
In a statement, Lomiko chief sustainability officer Cindy Valence told the Canadian Press that the company has already met with "a multitude of stakeholders" and will "follow all government processes as a responsible operator in the critical minerals sector."
The company will continue to share the results of water quality testing with the community and seek local feedback on other issues including road access, according to Valence, who added that the mine will create jobs and help Quebec meet its critical minerals strategy objectives.
The office of Quebec Minister of Natural Resources Maïte Blanchette Vézina said, "it is important that the mining projects that go forward in Quebec generate social acceptability in the communities concerned."
In a separate statement, the Natural Resources Department said it requires companies seeking mining leases to receive authorization under Quebec's Environment Quality Act, a process that generally involves consulting the BAPE.
"To ensure that a mining project integrates into its host environment, developers are strongly encouraged to set up mechanisms for dialogue with communities very early on in the development of their project," the department said.
However, Rodrigue Turgeon, national program co-lead at Mining Watch Canada, says it can take years for the BAPE to make an impact assessment, long after mining companies have begun promising jobs and centering the debate on economic development at the expense of environmental considerations.
Furthermore, what defines social acceptability remains murky.
"There are no specific guidelines in the [Quebec] Mining Act, nor in any other laws in Quebec at the moment to define social acceptability," said Turgeon.
This article was published in
September 27, 2024
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/ITN2024/Articles/TI54182.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca