TRANSLATION
A BAPE inquiry into the potential effects
of operating a niobium mine and plant in Oka on surface
and ground waters and their uses
Québec City, December
8, 2004 – Last November 26, the Minister
of the Environment, Thomas
J. Mulcair, mandated the Bureau d’audiences
publiques sur l’environnement (BAPE) to hold
an inquiry into the potential effects of operating
a niobium mine and plant in Oka on surface and ground
waters and their uses.
The BAPE Commission of Inquiry will
examine the potential effects :
-
of ground water pumping on surface
water level and on the quantity and quality of ground
water ;
-
of possible ground water level
fluctuations due to pumping on the various uses
of this water, and notably on agricultural use ;
-
of stacking tailings in ditches
and tailing sites on surface and ground water quality
;
-
of stacking tailings and slag
in drifts on ground water quality ;
-
of mine drainage mine water
on Rousse river water quality and the use thereof
for irrigation purposes.
BAPE President André Harvey
has entrusted Joseph Zayed with the inquiry. In 2002,
Mr. Zayed chaired the BAPE Commission of Inquiry into
possible environmental and public health effects of
radioactivity from operation of a niobium mine and
plant by Niocan inc. The BAPE report must be submitted
to the Minister of the Environment no later than March
31, 2005. Details as to the inquiry will be issued
in a press release as soon as they have been decided
upon.
Documentation available
The BAPE will make any documents
pertaining to this mandate available to the public
as soon as possible at BAPE documentation centres
in Québec City, the Bibliothèque centrale
of the Université du Québec à
Montréal, and at regional consultation centres
open for this purpose. The documents can be accessed
at any time at the BAPE website at www.bape.gouv.qc.ca.
For more information, interested
parties are asked to contact Communications Adviser
Louise Bourdages at (418) 643-7447 extension 532,
or, toll-free at 1-800-463-4732. You can also reach
the Commission by e-mail at oka-eaux@bape.gouv.qc.ca.
– 30 –
Source: Louise Bourdages,
Communications Adviser
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