Image credit: De Beers (Victor Mine)
The Victor Mine is now in the closure phase, where decommissioning and remediation are supposed to leave the landscape in a clean and safe state. Much of the diamond mine waste is reusable and salvageable, and half of the proposed landfill waste will be powerline infrastructure or used to make roads.
Attawapiskat Chief David Nakogee says: "DeBeers should transport about the 100,000 cubic metres of material that could be reused or recycled. Ofcourse, they don't need it when they have the alternative of turning our lands into their garbage dump”.
The manner in which DBC is seeking Ontario approval for the extra landfill is suspect. DBC very recently got approval for a demolition landfill of exactly the same size, and now they are asking Ontario to approve a second demolition landfill bringing the total diamond mine project demolition waste volume to almost 200,000 cubic metres.
This comes on the heels of DBC also seeking approval from Ontario to stop key monitoring of water quality at the mine, through exemptions in its permit to take water.
Attawapiskat is firmly rejecting all of this but whether the Government of Ontario will pay any attention remains to be seen.
Aruna Gaitonde, Editor in Chief of the Asian Bureau, Rough&Polished
