June 2023 Newsletter
https://bit.ly/KWEFJune2023Newsletter
Included in this issue:
What we are up to! Please Help!
Graphite Mine in Kearney: Background & June 2023 Update
Annual Ditch Clean-up Thank you!
Significant Donations to KWEF Thank you
What we are up to!
This summer will be a busy one for KWEF!
By Carol Adamthwaite
Already, we have:
1. Organized, along with the Kearney Lions Club, the annual "Spring Litter Clean-Up” on May 13.
2. Responded to residents’ concerns pertaining to municipal issues.
3. Responded to the Environmental Registry regarding the Kearney Graphite Mine’s application to renew the “Permit to Take Water”.
Unfortunately, KWEF’s response to the application will not be published publicly because we included identifiable information in our comment. However, our comment will be considered in making the decision.
Basically, KWEF’s position is that this application should not be approved until there is a fully financed Closure Plan registered with Ministry of Northern Mines and Development (MNDM), and the ongoing regular exceedances of toxic effluent from the Mine site are corrected.
We have updated information on the Mine – see our next article, below.
In addition, KWEF is involved in the annual
4. Lake Partner program…….and
5. Surface water sampling that Stan Walker and his team of volunteers will be doing in late July and early August
Also,
6. We are presently printing and assembling 500 Owner Information packages for distribution…..and
7. We will be having a booth at the Kearney Regatta
This is where we need help! There are only 4 of us on the KWEF Executive!
We need volunteers to:
➤ Help with distributing the Owner Information Packages
If you can donate an hour or two for this, please email Carol Adamthwaite at: chair.kwef@gmail.com, or call her at: 705-636-7371 with your name, contact number and the distribution area you could cover.
➤ Staff our booth at the Kearney Regatta
The 2023 Kearney Regatta is August 5 and 6 and KWEF will have a booth at the regatta again this year. We are looking for volunteers to staff the booth for a few hours on either Saturday or Sunday.
This is a chance to meet and chat with people about what KWEF does and encourage them to become KWEF members to support our work on water quality monitoring, planning, education, and environmental issues. To learn more about KWEF, go to our website at www.kwef.ca. We hope you can spare some time on regatta weekend to help a good cause.
To volunteer, please contact John Kelly at john.kwef@gmail.com
Please Help!
Graphite Mine in Kearney: Background & June 2023 Update
Background: The Graphite Mine in Kearney is located in the NE corner of the Municipality of Kearney about 20 km from the downtown area and is accessed via Forestry Tower Road. It was owned and operated by Ontario Graphite Ltd. (OGL).
In June 1994 the site had been put into a Temporary Suspension State when operations at the mill facilities ceased. In 2011 the site's status was changed to a Production State by OGL. Due to financial constraints the mine did not actually go into production and has remained in a "care & maintenance" state awaiting additional funding. OGL's repeated difficulty in meeting the required limits in its Environmental Compliance Agreement (ECA) led Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) to issue a Director's Order (DO), due to elevated levels of toxic discharge into the Magnetawan River. MECP also issued fines, which OGL appealed. In October 2019, a settlement was reached whereby the historical DO's were rescinded and replaced by a new DO outlining new actions to be taken.
Originally, the drainage from the Tailings (mill waste) area was collected in an area called the "Polishing Pond", where lime was manually added to neutralize the acidic waste water and precipitate metals. Under the new DO, OGL was to install an automated liming and monitoring system to treat the contents of the polishing pond in the hope that the effluent parameters would always be within limits. OGL was also supposed to dredge and increase the depth of the polishing pond so that it could handle spring runoff and summer storm water without overflowing.
Photo of: Reference Site S1 – Magnetawan River, Upstream of the Graphite Mine
Photo: Stan Walker, May 28, 2023
In January 2020, KWEF got word that OGL had filed for creditor protection and the firm Deloitte was appointed to handle the case. In April 2020, Ministry of Energy, Northern Development and Mines (ENDM) stepped forward in a "caretaker role" to forestall any environmental issues, while a purchaser was sought for the Mine. The automated system was installed and appears to have reduced the toxic exceedances, but dredging and deepening of the polishing pond was not completed. OGL still owned the mine site, and leases etc., but were insolvent.
June 2023 Update: The Graphite mine in Kearney has now been sold. The new owners are G6Energy Corp., https://gsixenergy.com/, and they plan to reopen the mine for production. Since May 2022, they have been entirely responsible for its management.
KWEF’s recent request for current information on the mine was answered by both the Ministry of Northern Mines and Development (MNDM), and by the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP).
MNDM responded that by the end of this summer, they are expecting the new owners to present a revised closure plan and associated financial assurance for review and consideration by the MNDM.
MECP requires continuous pH and metals monitoring, acute toxicity measurements, as well as some other data from the mine site. The company must report weekly with results for pH and any exceedances to their Environmental Compliance Approval. The Ministry itself samples, usually spring and fall.
Despite the liming process, the company continues to regularly exceed their effluent limits at the site. It is interesting to note that when the site was under the direction of the MNDM, limit exceedances also continued.*
According to the 2019 Director’s Order, the Polishing Pond was to be deepened and dredged. This was partially completed in 2020 when it was under Ministry control. The new owners committed to completing the dredging within 16 months of acquiring ownership - so by September 2023.
KWEF sampled and tested the Magnetawan tributary the last weekend this May (2023) There was little flow due to extremely dry conditions. pH results at the output from the South Pond were slightly less acidic than a background measurement at a reference site further upstream on the Magnetawan River. Conductivity currently is about 12 times higher than background. In the past it has often been 30 times higher.
While this reading is an improvement it is still too high.
It is essential that toxic effluent from the mine site be contained and treated before the mine is allowed to go into production. KWEF continues to monitor conditions at the Mine.
(*search term: Environmental Compliance Ontario, 2021, Jan 1-May 4, 2022).
What is graphite used for? Among the many applications, natural and synthetic graphite are used for electrodes, refractories, batteries and lubricants and by foundries. Coated spherical graphite is used to manufacture the anode in lithium-ion batteries*. High-grade graphite is also used in fuel cells, semiconductors, LEDs and nuclear reactors.
*G6Energy Corp.’s tagline from their website is: “Advancing the first graphite battery anode material producer in North America.”
Further information on graphite can be found here: https://natural-resources.canada.ca/our-natural-resources/minerals-mining/minerals-metals-facts/graphite-facts/24027
Annual Ditch Clean-up Thank you!
By Stan Walker
Thank you to all who came out to support the Annual Spring Litter Cleanup in Kearney. The quantity of litter seemed less this year. We hope that this is a sign that less litter is being thrown out on the roads around
Kearney. We do know that at least on our road to town, people are continuing to pick up new litter after the initial cleanup. We also had several new folks show up to help with the blitz. All these are positive developments that encourage us to continue.
Significant Donations to KWEF Thank you!
KWEF’s ability to do the work that we do is dependent on volunteers, annual memberships and additional donations. All donations help!
KWEF is especially grateful for the significant cash donations received from Mike Rickward, Councillor, Town of Kearney and from one of our members, Terry Dyke.
We are also very grateful to Tim Brown of Scarlett Point Resort, www.scarlettpoint.ca for his continued support; Tim has paid for the printing of many of our informational brochures and is instrumental in helping to create our Owner Information Packages.
These donations will help greatly in funding our recent one-time expenses:
Development of our new website and on-going annual costs
Ontario Not-for-Profit Corporations Act (ONCA) compliance costs
New Owner Package production costs
Thank you – these go a long way in our small organization