After pleading guilty to releasing harmful substances into bodies of water near its operations, a Nova Scotia mining company has been ordered to pay $250,000 to the provincial and federal governments. Atlantic Mining NS Inc., which operates as Atlantic Gold in the province, pleaded guilty earlier this month to two charges: failing to test the quality of runoff water at its Touquoy open-pit gold mine in Moose River and failing to report those findings to authorities. Initially, 32 environmental infractions were laid against the company, but that number was reduced during the plea process.
St. Mary’s council won’t take sides on Archibald Lake
Council for the Municipality of the District of St. Mary’s is staying neutral on the wilderness area status of Archibald Lake, a position that has the president of the local river association accusing them of “shirking their duty.” At last week’s committee of the whole meeting (July 7), councillors neither supported nor opposed the St. Mary’s River Association’s (SMRA’s) year-long campaign to seek provincial protection of Archibald Lake, about 10 kilometres northeast of Sherbrooke, from extractive industries like Atlantic Gold, which wants to build a water-intensive mine at nearby Cochrane Hill.
Public comments on proposed N.S. gold mine overwhelmingly negative
Of the 117 comments submitted to the government recently about a proposed gold mine on Nova Scotia's Eastern Shore, just one was unequivocally in favour of the project. Almost all of the other commenters were squarely opposed to Atlantic Gold's Fifteen Mile Stream proposal, which would see a 400-hectare open-pit mine developed in the Liscomb Game Sanctuary, about 30 kilometres north of Sheet Harbour, N.S.