The BAPE says no to the Falco mining project in Rouyn-Noranda

The Office of Public Hearings on the Environment (BAPE) considers that the new mega underground mine project (Horne 5) by Ressources Falco, in Rouyn-Noranda, is “not acceptable” in its current form.

In its 285-page investigation report, made public this morning, the BAPE commission of inquiry summarizes that the project does not meet the minimum requirements, both “in terms of safety, public health, environmental protection , [que] internalization of costs.

The Minister of the Environment, Benoit Charette, received a copy of this report on December 23. He had two weeks to make it public, which was done on Tuesday morning.

The minister made no comments. In writing, his office declared that it wanted to “take the time to carefully analyze the report” and said it was “sensitive to the issues raised in it”.

Action boréale calls for its rejection

For four months, the BAPE commission, chaired by Joseph Zayed, analyzed several issues, linked in particular to water, air quality, public health and the sharing of responsibilities between Falco Resources and Glencore. Most of the concerns raised by the population during the hearings were taken up by the BAPE.

“The numerous opinions and findings issued in the report clearly demonstrate that the project has no valid justification and has many more negative repercussions than benefits for the community,” reacted Henri Jacob, president of Action boréale, created following the broadcast of the documentary The Boreal Errorby Richard Desjardins. We demand that Minister Charette honor [son] mandate of environmental manager […] respecting the conclusions of the report […] and that he rejects the Horne 5 project immediately and without any gimmicks.”

For its part, Ressources Falco said it welcomed this BAPE report “with interest”, while adding that “it is common for the commission to want additional studies and analyzes in order to clarify certain aspects of the project”. “We will take the time to analyze the report in detail with our experts, but we are happy to have completed one of the last steps in the environmental assessment process,” said Falco CEO Luc Lessard.

$1 billion project

The Falco Resources project, partly owned by Osisko Development (17%) and Investissement Québec (8%), consists of the construction of a new mine, just under the Horne smelter (Glencore) and the old copper mine that Noranda Mines operated on site for fifty years, from 1927 to 1976.

If this mine were to see the light of day, the deposit more than a kilometer long and with a depth exceeding 2.6 km from the surface would allow Falco to extract 16,000 tonnes of gold, silver, copper and zinc per day.

The company estimates that the completion of the project, which is scheduled to start in 2028, would result in the hiring of 900 workers during construction and 500 people during operation, which could last 15 years.

Dive into the stock market

Concerning air quality and public health, the commission deplores “gaps in the available data”. The absence of an assessment of the total exposure of the population of Rouyn-Noranda, integrating the project’s emissions and those present, “constitutes a significant gap and one that the ministry should require a complete and integrated assessment.”

Regarding water quality, the commission believes that the ministry should also require more studies and analyses, particularly on water withdrawal from Lake Rouyn and the management of mining residues.

On Monday, shortly after the report was released, Falco’s stock fell rapidly on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Shortly before 1:30 p.m., the value of its stock had already fallen by 33.87%, to reach its lowest level of $0.20 per share.

At the end of the session, the stock recovered, closing at $0.23 per share, down 25.81% from the previous day’s closing price.

– With the QMI Agency