Nova Scotia revisits uranium moratorium (June 06, 2008)

The standing committee on resources of the Nova Scotia legislative assembly has reaffirmed its support for continuing a moratorium on uranium mining, while recommending that the minister of natural resources mandate a public process to modify the moratorium to ensure that it does not discourage mining and exploration of other minerals.

The moratorium applies not only to uranium exploration and mining per se. If a company explores for another mineral, and accidentally comes across uranium mineralization exceeding 0.01%, it must cease exploring there. The committee would like to eliminate that part of the moratorium.

The ban was introduced in 1982 by then-minister Ron Barkhouse in view of local opposition to uranium mining. It was followed by an inquiry by Justice Robert McCleave, who published a report in 1985, concluding that uranium exploration and mining could be carried out safely, and that the main concern was the safe disposal of radioactive tailings.

Despite McCleave’s conclusions, the Nova Scotia government extended the moratorium, initially to 1990, and then to 1995. It formed a committee to deal with the uranium issue, and in 1994 the committee concluded that methods for tailings disposal were safe, recommending that the moratorium be lifted. Again, this was not done.

In an interview, David Morse, the Nova Scotia minister of natural resources, says that three criteria will have to be met before the moratorium is lifted: science, economy, and public consultation.

Firstly, the science must show that uranium mining in the province can be done safely. (Morse acknowledges that Justice McCleave has concluded that it can be done safely.) Secondly, it should be shown that lifting the moratorium will have a positive effect on the province’s economy.

Morse says: “I think that if you look at our sister provinces, they have considerably more exploration, and exploration, of course, is the catalyst for all the good things that follow exploration, so there is no question that it would be good for the economy.” Morse says that the debate in the Resource committee has recognized the considerable cost to exploration and mining activity from the requirement to stop exploring if uranium in excess of 0.01% is encountered.

As for the third requirement, public consultation, Morse says it means that public input through the Voluntary Planning process (a process advising the government on policies affecting the community), must demonstrate that the public is supportive of uranium exploration and mining. Morse acknowledges that Nova Scotia uses electricity produced at the Point Lepreau nuclear plant in New Brunswick, so it would be somewhat contradictory if the province were to maintain a uranium moratorium.

Morse seeks an informed discussion amongst the public, and will use input from this public debate as a significant consideration when deciding on the moratorium. Input from the community will be used by an impartial panel to consult experts and make recommendations to the government. Morse’s timetable is for public consultation to take place during 2008. In 2009 an impartial panel will discuss issues raised during the public consultation. Morse says that, so far, views from the public seem widely divergent.

In an interview, Gordon Dickie, past president of the mining association of Nova Scotia, says: “The mining association, our role as this dialogue unfolds, will be to point out to Voluntary Planning that, regarding uranium exploration and mining, these are the facts, this is the impact of it, and that the association’s view follows that there should not be a moratorium, that uranium exploration and mining is both a federally and provincially controlled activity, and is under their environmental assessment processes, which should be used to judge any particular project that is put forward. Furthermore our position is that exploration for uranium is essentially no different than exploring for anything else and that there are no higher risks. Since we know that uranium exploration and mining can take place environmentally acceptably in Canada, there is no reason to have a moratorium on exploration and mining to begin with.”

Dickie says that even the McCleave report in 1985 concluded that uranium exploration and mining can be carried out in an environmentally acceptable fashion, so he does not see the need to study the issue again after a clear conclusion has already been drawn.

He adds that the limit of 0.01% uranium mineralization that forces a company to stop exploring for any other mineral is unnecessary. If a company discovers a non-uranium ore body which happens to have some uranium mineralization, the company should be allowed to mine the ore if it can show that it will handle the uranium in an environmentally acceptable way.

He says that the public debate on uranium mining is going to be very different from the debate which preceded the introduction of the moratorium in 1982. Firstly, Canada has been one of the world’s leading producers of the metal for many years. Secondly, there is a record of successful environmental management of uranium mining, for example in the Elliot Lake area in Ontario. Another factor is the successful operation of the Point Lepreau nuclear plant in New Brunswick, which Mr. Dickie estimates is saving between 3 and 5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide which would otherwise have gone into the atmosphere every year from an equivalent coal-fired plant. Finally, he says that younger generations no longer associate uranium with nuclear weapons and with the prospect of nuclear annihilation. For all these reasons, he believes that the public is now more accepting of uranium mining.

Dickie believes that many members of the public are no longer aware of the moratorium, and are certainly not aware of the damage that it has caused to the entire exploration and mining industry in Nova Scotia. Therefore he is hopeful that, following the public consultation process through Voluntary Planning, the moratorium will be lifted.

Dickie says that, based on his own experience exploring for uranium prior to the moratorium, southwestern Nova Scotia has the potential to host uranium deposits similar to granite-hosted hydrothermal deposits found in the Massif Central mountain range in France, and to the metasediment-hosted deposits found near the city of Prague. The biggest occurrence was found by French company Aquitaine near Millett Brook, N.S., was granite-hosted, and was similar to deposits in France. Dickie believes that lifting the moratorium could lead to a surge in uranium exploration in the province because of the potential for discoveries.