Now that he's retired, Peter Wade spends much of his time at his family's camp near Capreol. fishing, hunting and just generally relaxing.
He's concerned a Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. chromite processing facility, which may be built two miles away from his property, would affect the wilderness he enjoys so much.
The facility, which could be in place sometime in 2015, would process ore from Cliffs' Black Thor chromite deposit in the Ring of Fire area, which is located in the James Bay coast region.
Wade was one of dozens of residents who attended a public information session about the proposed facility at the Capreol Community Centre Nov. 15.
“I'm here to ask questions about the environment, and the particulate that might come out of the smelter, and how it might affect me at my property, as well as noise,” he said.
“Then I also found out today that the biggest concern that the engineers have is with the leaching of the slag.
“There's going to be 2,100 tons of slag per day. Once the weather gets at that slag, it can leach things out of it, which could possibly get into the Robert's River, which dumps into the Vermillion River, which goes to the Spanish River, which goes to the Great Lakes.”
Wade said he's also concerned about continued access to his property, as he'd be using the same road Cliffs would use to get to the processing facility.
Dave Cartella, Cliffs Natural Resources Inc.'s general manager of global environmental affairs and counsel, was on hand at a Nov. 15 public information session to explain to residents the details of a chromite processing facility his company might build in Capreol. Photo by Heidi Ulrichsen.
The majority of people Northern Life spoke to at the public information session were in favour of the processing facility being built in Capreol.
“To me, this is like a boon and a godsend,” Stu Thomas, a lifelong Capreol resident, said.
“For the Sudbury area and Capreol, it would be just fantastic. Capreol being, as you know, a dead-end community in terms of there being no road out of here, just having a plant that close would bring jobs and people ... I'm really enthusiastic about this.”
Dave Cartella, general manager of global environmental affairs and counsel with Cliffs Natural Resources Inc., said a final decision on where the chromite processing facility will be located has not yet been made.
The company has been using Capreol as its “base case” for planning purposes.
“(Capreol) does meet all of our basic needs,” Cartella said. “We're just not ready to make a decision yet.”
When Cliffs announced earlier this year that the facility might be located in Capreol, it gave the caveat that high hydro prices are a barrier to the facility being located anywhere in Ontario.
Cartella said company officials are currently “analyzing” power prices “in great detail” to see whether it's feasible to build the facility here.
Although the company hasn't yet made a final decision on the facility's location, the project is already undergoing a joint federal and provincial government environmental assessment process.
Cartella expects the environmental assessment process to last until the end of 2013.
“It's a multi-year process where we'll be assessing all of the impacts and ways to mitigate (environmental impacts),” he said. “There will be lots of consultation associated with it ... At the end of the assessment, there will be a decision on whether the project moves forward, and in what form it moves forward.”
The facility would have minimal impacts on the environment because it would use up-to-date, state-of-the-art pollution control technology, Cartella said.
If all goes well, construction of the facility could start at the end of 2013, and the facility could be up and running sometime in 2015, he said.
The economic benefits to Capreol and the City of Greater Sudbury would be great, Cartella said. Four hundred to 500 people would be hired to build the facility, and another 400 to 500 would be hired to work at the facility once it's up and running.
“That doesn't include all of the spinoffs and opportunities for related service industries,” he said.
Cartella said he's excited by the support of community members.
“The level of support is humbling, in a way,” he said. “People are very excited about the project. It's a great feeling.”
Mayor Marianne Matichuk, who attended the public information session, said the facility would be a “great opportunity” for the city.
She said the city is working hard to ensure the facility is built here.
“We did go down to Cleveland to meet with (Cliffs) about a month-and-a-half ago, and basically gave them the message that whatever we need to do to work together, we're open to do that,” Matichuk said.
“It was a positive meeting. Again, it will be their decision as to where they're going to locate.”
Posted by Heidi Ulrichsen
