By Rosalind Russell – Around 70 people attended an open house on Wednesday night in Nairn Centre that focused on the disposal of tailings, or leftover waste materials from a mining operation, at a nearby site.
The Township of Nairn & Hyman engaged two scientists to review documentation by various agencies looking into the environmental impact of tailings in the Agnew Lake Tailings site.
According to local officials, the Ministry of Mines designated the Agnew Lake Tailings Management Area to receive niobium tailings from the Nova Beaucage Mine last year, but without consultation with either the municipality or its neighbour, Baldwin Township, which gets its drinking water from Agnew Lake.
The LaCloche Foothills municipalities pooled together to commission three independent studies by Hutchinson Environmental Sciences Limited.
The reports were shared at the meeting detailing that the scientists found there were deficiencies in the reports from the ministry and that more research has to be done on the environmental long-term effects of disposing of the NORM.
The project has been halted for the time being, but the municipality says there should be no transporting waste until more answers are forthcoming.
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