Uranium
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Feature Article - July 6, 2006High prices spark uranium exploration in Clarendon
by JeffGreen
A company called Frontenac Venture Corporation, which holds historical mining leases for uranium exploration on property near the Ardoch Road west of Crotch Lake , have recently staked land to the southwest and northeast of their original holdings.
John McCance, the President of the South Ontario Prospectors Association, keeps an eye on exploration activity in the region from his base in Kingston . In an interview with the News he said it was his understanding that the Frontenac Venture Corporation is a private company that includes people from the original family that staked uranium claims in the area at least 30 years ago.
“I was at a prospectors’ meeting back in March,” McCance said, “and the amount of interest in uranium was simply astounding. World-wide uranium exploration is picking up, and I would expect that Frontenac Venture Corporation will be doing geological studies this summer to see if their claim is viable.”
The new mining claims, which are located where the former Olden and Oso Townships intersect with the former Palmerston Township , are mostly located on Crown land.
Again, according to John McCance, the holders of the claim are undoubtedly aware that the claim falls within the Algonquin Land Claim territory, and if the claims, which are preliminary at this point, extend to an advanced stage, they would enter into a dialogue with Algonquin representatives.
“As far as I have heard at land claim meetings, extraction rights have not been considered in the claim, but that might change,” McCance said.
A study was published in 2000 by the Geological Survey of Canada on uranium deposits in the so-called Frontenac Axis of the Canadian Shield . The study says that the rock formations are distinctive enough to warrant being referred to as the “Frontenac Type”. The report includes information from Oso district, as well as Olden, Maberly, Silver Lake , and North Crosby .
Historically, uranium extraction in Ontario has been centred around Elliott Lake and in the Bancroft area, and there has never been any extraction in Frontenac County or its vicinity.
Future uranium mining in Elliott Lake is unlikely, according to McCance, but there has been lots of interest in the Bancroft area in recent months.
“Everything in Bancroft has been staked,” McCance said, “and this was all happening even before the Province of Ontario announced they will be switching from coal to nuclear.”
The fact that uranium is being prospected in this area does not necessary mean that a mine will ever be established. Ninety-nine percent of mining claims do not proceed to the extraction stage, and establishing a uranium mine anywhere in South eastern Ontario would be highly controversial, considering the inherent danger of the mineral itself.
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Feature Article - November 30, 2006Uranium exploration company gets active
by Jeff Green
Frontenac Venture Corporation, a privately held mineral exploration company, has been busily staking claims in a 25 km by 5km swath of land adjacent to Road 509 in Central and North Frontenac.
In the former Palmerston Township alone, now part of North Frontenac, 36 claims have been staked by Frontenac Venture Corporation in 2006. They have also staked 14 claims in Olden and 5 claims in Oso District of Central Frontenac.
Many of these claims have been made in lots that are owned by the Crown, while others are on privately held land where the landowners own only the surface rights to their land, leaving the lands open to mineral exploration. The News has also learned that Frontenac Venture Corporation has approached at least two landowners in the vicinity of their claims who own their own subsurface rights, seeking a leasing agreement for mineral exploration.
All of these efforts are devoted to finding a mineral that is highly valued in these energy-starved times: uranium.
Gloria and Frank Morrison own a home on about 100 acres, off Road 509 opposite the Ragged Chutes Road.
Their land is split into three parcels, and the Morrisons own the subsurface rights for two of the three parcels. They do not own the subsurface rights to the middle parcel, however, a 60 acre piece. On September 30th a prospector aligned with Frontenac Ventures, entered that parcel and staked it, cutting some trees in the process. The claim was registered on October 12th.
Although the lawyer the Morrisons used to complete the purchase of their land, back in 1996, had made some allusion to mineral rights, they were unaware that a prospector is permitted to enter their land at will, cut down trees as required, and lay claim to it for mineral exploration purchases.
In the past six weeks Gloria Morrison has learned as much as she can about the mining act, Frontenac Venture Corporation, and uranium, and what she has learned she finds more than a little bit alarming.
“They [Frontenac Venture Corporation] are very confident about what they have. They feel this is the best uranium deposit in Canada”, Gloria Morrison told the News this week, “and when I went to the Tweed office of the Ministry of Mines and Northern Development, Pam Sangster, a geologist with the ministry, showed me some maps. Even I could recognise the yellow markings that showed a strong uranium deposit.”
Gloria and Frank Morrison have been participating in a managed forest program on their land and they hoped it would make them exempt from mining. They contacted the Ministry of Natural Resources, who manages the program, but were told, “’Oh, it’s mining, there’s nothing we can do,’” Gloria Morrison recalls.
The Morrisons have decided to do what they can to prevent their land from becoming a uranium mine. They will be disputing the Frontenac Venture Corporation’s mining claim on their land, and are hoping to engage a community of people to see what can be done to resist the push for mining development in the region.
“You cannot dig up uranium without releasing radiation into the environment. There are two creeks on our land that drain into the Mississippi River and we are on the K&P trail. The entire future of the Land o’ Lakes region would be completely altered by a uranium mine, maybe even just by digging trenches to look for uranium. This is not just our issue.”
(In January of 2002, the Frontenac News published a series of articles on surface and mining rights, with a focus on the experiences of land owners in Bedford district.) Two of these articles can be found at:
http://www.newsweb.ca/Surface_and_Mining_Rights.htm and
http://www.newsweb.ca/Mining_Claims_Cause%20Nigthmare.htm
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December 21st 2006Uranium mining in FrontenacCounty?by Jeff Green--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Frontenac Venture Corporation will be diamond drilling for samples of uranium-rich granite at sites in Central and North Frontenac starting next spring, but the possibility of a uranium mine being constructed in Frontenac County is slim, at least for the foreseeable future.
When contacted at his winter residence in Florida, George White, the President of Frontenac Venture Corporation, said the company has been “flying under the radar” in the past year as it has been accumulating exploration rights to properties in Oso, Olden and Palmerston districts. Frontenac Venture has staked claims on Crown land, much of it in the vicinity of CrotchLake, and on land where the subsurface rights are not owned by the surface land owner. They have also been negotiating leases with a couple of landowners who own the subsurface rights to their property.
Thus far, claims assessment work has been done either through gamma ray spectrometer readings from the surface or through readings taken from larger instruments mounted on airplanes.
Exploration has taken place at these locations in the past; George White himself first got involved in FrontenacCounty in 1965, but today, improved technology is now being employed. As well, new regulations that came out of the BRE-X gold mining scandal require fresh data before a mining property can be sold on the open market.
Next spring, core samples will be taken at locations scattered throughout the 30 to 35,000 acres that George White says are involved in the exploration his company is planning. The company’s geologist Dr. Terry Bottrill told the News that the drilling for core samples of uranium does not cause any release of radiation at the surface. “There is already radiation present at the surface,” Bottrill explained, “all of the earth is radioactive. Taking core samples presents no risk to anybody.”
The drills that are used to take core samples are about the size of a 5 ton truck. They are generally pulled to the drilling site by a tractor. The holes drilled will be up to 200 metres deep, and rock rods about 1.5 inches in diameter will be removed and taken away for analysis.
On this point, Jamie Kneen of Mining Watch Canada, a not-for-profit organisation that monitors mining operations throughout Canada which is often critical of the uranium industry, agrees with Terry Bottrill.
“As long as the drill holes are capped, diamond drilling does not pose a risk,” Kneen told the News.
According to Pam Sangster, a geologist with the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development of Mines who works out of the Ministry office in Tweed, there are no special precautions required for uranium exploration as opposed to exploration for any other mineral.
This does not mean that drilling will not cause any difficulties. In cases where exploration is taking place on private land, bringing the drilling apparatus to the desired locations will entail clearing swaths of vegetation on the property of surface rights owners. In cases where the staking itself has made surface rights owner wary, this kind of activity will undoubtedly be seen as an infringement.
If the exploration proceeds to the mine development stage, the regulatory situation will change. At that point Natural Resources Canada gets involved, along with regulatory agencies such as the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.
According to John French, Advisor, Uranium Mines, Natural Resources Canada, “It’s a little bit ambiguous as to when these federal agencies become involved, but when it becomes clear that there is likely an economic deposit, which could happen after there has been a lot of drilling, or more likely when an economic development study is underway, a rigorous process is undertaken with lots of opportunity for public input.”
Historically, uranium deposits in Ontario have been relatively low grade, around 1% of the rock is uranium. In Saskatchewan, which is the location of currently operating mines, levels of 40% are common.
In Ontario, uranium mining requires the removal of large amounts of rock, which then must be milled. Uranium is very heavy, and the milling process allows the uranium to sink and be removed from the rest of the rock. According to Terry Bottrill, mills are generally located close to the source material in order to minimise transportation costs. The uranium is then transferred to a refinery for further processing.
What is left at the end of the milling is a small amount of uranium, and tons of powdered rock. These are known as tailings.
As George White describes it, the rock that is left behind as tailings is formerly uranium-rich rock that has had 96% of the radioactivity removed. He said “cleaner rock goes back in than is taken out.”
“The foot print of mining operations is insignificant,” added Terry Bottrill, “and in the region we are dealing with in FrontenacCounty, near CrotchLake, it will have no impact on summer cottages because there are none in the immediate vicinity.”
Bottrill points to ElliottLake [the site of the largest and longest running uranium mines in Ontario], which is now being transformed into a seniors community. “Do you think that would be the case if uranium tailings were not under control?” Bottrill said.
Jamie Kneen, of Mining Watch Canada, says that uranium tailings are indeed more dangerous than naturally occurring uranium-rich rock. “There is a difference between a rock that has been in a stable formation for several hundred million years, and one that is ground up into a powdery sand. If it is kept under control, it is still basically a perpetual hazard. As well, there are other radioactive minerals present in the tailings, such as thorium, which has a half life of 240,000 years. Historically, there have been a series of spills, starting in 1975, at ElliottLake and elsewhere. Even though they are trying to stabilise the situation at ElliottLake, where most of the tailings are now dammed up, there are a couple of places where they’ve still got dry tailings on the ground.
“It’s interesting that Elliott Lake is now being marketed to seniors,” Kneen added, “because the impacts of radiation exposure are felt over the long term, about 30 years. This makes it is less of a concern for seniors than it is for younger people.”
In Saskatchewan, it has become common practice to return most of the tailings to the mined out pits, which Kneen says is still “basically an experimental technology. It will take 30, 50, or 100 years until we find out if these tailings pits are self maintaining.”
Before a mine can proceed, according to John French of Natural Resources Canada, current regulations demand that a plan for handling tailings and a closure plan for the mine and the mine site must be approved. “The situation is different today than it was when, for example, the ElliottLake mines were established,” he said.
Concerns over tailings are probably premature, given the fact that the FrontenacCounty uranium deposits have never been economically viable in the past.
“Every time the price of uranium goes up, it leads to a flurry of activity,” said John French. “They start off with old data, they reassess. But it doesn’t change things if there is no economic deposit there.”
Jamie Kneen points out that there is no worldwide shortage of processed uranium to meet current or foreseeable demand.
“No new nuclear reactors have been ordered yet,” he pointed out. “The United States reportedly has a 40-year supply of uranium, and there is a lot of highly enriched uranium in Russia as well. Don’t forget that most of mining is about mining the stock market.”
This has not stopped George White from investing a significant amount of his own money, and money from a group of 12 investors that are behind the Frontenac Venture Corporation, into this project. He expresses the belief, as does Terry Bottrill, that not only is a uranium mine possible in this region, but that it is the kind of development that would bring much needed employment to the youth of the region, and would bring other economic benefits to a region that has been struggling for many decades.
This can be done, they assert, without hurting the existing economy, which is based on clean lakes, and the natural beauty of the area.
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Feature Article - April 12, 2007Letters to the Editor
Re road complaints & other issues
In response a number of letters which have appeared in the News I would like to say that the Township of Central Frontenac is well aware that a number of items such as roads, public works buildings and operations, recycling, landfill management and more need a great deal of attention. For that reason your new mayor and council together with staff are working on a number of projects. Some solutions are short term and obvious to almost everyone such as the immediate need for a new public works manager, more gravel and a new fire hall. On those issues responsible actions are being taken. A search for a new manager is underway, gravel has been ordered and the Mountain Grove Fire Hall will be tendered.
On the issue of the fire hall I understand the taxpayers’ concerns about the costs. Everyone, including Chief Mark MacDonald and the Mountain Grove Volunteers, who also pay taxes, has had this discussion. Something that people may not be aware of is that on completion this hall is expected to serve the needs of our community for the next 30 plus years and the new hall coupled with facilities for outdoor training will allow Central Frontenac to generate some revenue hosting training for other municipalities.
To address a number of the other highly important but not as emergent issues, council has committed to an organizational review. Almost 10 years have passed since amalgamation. Times have changed. Legislation and expectations have too. It’s time we make plans for successful future.
To the staff, who are putting in long hours plowing snow (in April), grading roads and writing work plans, to councillors, who are attending trainings, meetings and public events, and to the many volunteers like the Legion and the Lions who give of themselves every day I say thank you. Your efforts are not unnoticed. Your community is changing for the better. Initiatives like Building Inclusive Communities and the Northern Rural Youth Initiative weren’t taking place this time last year.
It generally takes a little longer for those people not involved with the work to recognize the changes. Please rest assured they are happening. It will take time and patience but together we will get there.
Sincerely,
Janet Gutowski
Mayor, Central Frontenac
Re: uranium inaccuracies
In his letter to the editor, April 12, 2007, Mr. Feasby is badly misinformed on almost every count. His letter states that, “Natural Resources Canada is not a mine regulator and has no role in uranium mine development.” Among other things, NRCan regulates the use of explosives and therefore all hard-rock mines; as the custodian of mining and energy policy it also establishes the federal government's priorities in these areas. The independent agency, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission does not regulate very carefully all aspects of uranium mining in Canada, as Mr. Feasby states. It used to be that cores or bulk samples containing more than 20 KG uranium would require a licence, but that requirement has been removed. It is true that, “Uranium deposits in Ontario, Bancroft and Elliot Lake, are all less than 0.1% (not 1%). Uranium metal is indeed heavy, but in nature it is present as a lighter oxide. Common chemicals are used to extract it from rock in a milling process. Most of the radioactivity remains with the residue - the tailings.”. However, it's still not "light". 85% of the radioactivity is left in the tailings. There is indeed a sad history of spills - tailings, water, etc. at Elliot Lake. Most radiation-related cancers, whether from environmental or workplace exposure, take 15-20 years to develop. Why does the town promote itself as a retirement haven? There is still considerable stockpiled uranium; there is liable to be a shortage only when (and if) many more reactors are actually built - and if they don't turn to reprocessed fuel. And they still have nowhere to put the high-level fuel waste.
Jamie Kneen Mining Watch Canada
Re: Ardoch Algonquins finalize building plans
I'm writing about the Pine Lake boat launch development by the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation. (AAFN nee AAFNA: Ardoch Algonquin First Nation and Allies) (ref: Frontenac News April 12 2007: Ardoch Algonquins finalise building plans and Kingston Whig-Standard April 11 2007: Building Controversy.) When this whole controversy started, I supported the idea of Powwow grounds. I even came around to the community centre idea. Now we hear that there will also be a senior centre!?
I just don’t understand why, with all of the beautiful Land o’ Lakes area to pick from, why choose a location that will endanger participants andtourists and possibly waste all that development money?
The launch is at the foot of a hill on Ardoch Road. I have lived on Brown's Lane, near the top of that hill, for only four years, but I've seen and experienced some close calls, because one cannot see the bottom of the hill from the top of the hill. Pedestrians will be at risk.
The launch is in an area that could flood. If the beaver dam at the other end of the lake broke, or if Al Gore's movie 'An Inconvenient Truth'has any truth in it, there's a good chance the Manomin Heritage Centre will suffer water damage. Why risk it? Why build on the lowest point of land? And why pick a small spit of land like that? To guarantee no growth? I can't help thinking there's more to this than what we are being told. We're promised an environmental assessment, with an opportunity for public input, but the well is already drilled. This tells me that the environmental assessment is already in the bag or they don't care about the results or they don't care about wasting hard-earned community development money.
Speaking only for myself, I fear for this beautiful dream. It is surrounded by shadow.
- Jo-Anne D'Aoust
Lions' ClubKudos to the local Lions’ Club for instituting their Vision Screening Program. We've know for a long time that many vision (and hearing) problems go undetected in young children. When I was a kid growing up in Toronto back in the late ’50s, hearing and vision tests were done regularly in the schools. In 1980, an article based on information from the Canadian Association of Optometrists estimated that 1 in 20 preschoolers (and 25% of children entering Grade 1) have visual problems interfering with their ability to learn. In April 1999, the Toronto Star carried a story about a screening program being instituted by the Toronto District School Board, based on statistics from one school that 1 in 4 children entering Senior Kindergarten had vision problems and 1 in 5 had hearing problems. The article noted that part of the problem stemmed from the cutbacks in public health nurses which had occurred 15 years earlier. Unfortunately, this came as no surprise to me.
When I was the psychologist with the local Catholic school board, I had concerns about the vision of some of the children being referred to me for learning problems. At that time, there was no vision (or hearing) screening occurring in the schools. Even when parents had concerns and took their children to their family doctor, it was usually only the Snellen chart (the one with letters that you look at with one eye covered) that was used. I did some research and discovered that the Snellen eye chart only screens for problems with distance vision. It turns out that, because of the ways our eyes focus on close objects compared to objects farther away, children can pass this test even though they have serious problems with near vision, necessary for desk and book tasks. As well, the Snellen only examines for monocular (one eye) vision problems but not for problems with inocular vision. In fact, based on studies going back into the 1940's, it was known that the Snellen test identifies perhaps only 50% of visual problems.
This is a serious problem, because it is estimated that 80% of school tasks are based on vision. As a result, optometrists were recommending vision screening for all children under age 3 years, as well as for any school-age children academically performing in the lower third of their class. In response to this information, in 1992 I wrote to the Medical Officer of Health at the public health unit in Kingston, expressing my concern about this state of affairs, and wondering if it would be possible to refer children for vision screening. In due time, his office requested the literature I had accumulated on this issue, and later returned it with no comment and no suggestions. As far as I know, public health still does not offer vision or hearing screening in the schools, although we've known for at least 30 years that a substantial proportion of children have serious problems in these areas.
So, while again I give full and heartfelt credit to the Lions’ Club for their comprehensive visual screening initiative, I am disappointed that this important task is only now being accomplished through volunteer effort.
In this regard, I say shame on the provincial government and shame on the public health unit for ignoring and neglecting this critical work decade after decade. Parents and teachers seeking more information can find many useful articles on the website of the Canadian Association of Optometrists (www.opto.ca).
- Stephen Dukoff, Ph.D., Psychologist
I really fell for the article about the pool. I was particularly pleased to read that Norm had agreed to defer the Mountain Grove firehall. I thought "We’re finally looking at the good of the whole, instead of the good of the parts". I called Philip Smith and he didn't know whatI was talking about. Then he asked if it was the April 1st issue. We both had a good laugh. Then in the next issue, we had the letter from Norm, which started out in such an irate manner; as I read on, I realized it was a spoof. I've lived in Central Frontenac for 20 years, which I realize, doesn't make me a native, and the one thing I've learned is that the citizens are warm and friendly and share a very nice sense of humor.
Our roads do leave much to be desired; as I write this, I'm trapped. The Frontenac Road is not safe to drive--we have had snow and now it's raining, and it has not been plowed. They did try but the plow went off the road trying to get to us.
I have .8km of private road, upon which are living year-round taxpayers as well as several summer residents. I am responsible for the upkeep of this road.Last week, the potholes could bury you - we graded and filled and yesterday they were lovely. Guess what they will be like tomorrow?
I guess my message is: lighten up everyone. I don't like feeling trapped (I'm officially an elderly person and live alone) but all those other good things about living here make up fortimes like today.
- Marg Purtell
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Feature Article - April 5, 2007Letters to the Editor
Save a life – know the warning signs of a stroke
Last Saturday evening after a happy family Easter celebration, my 83-year-old mother suddenly had difficulty speaking – her speech momentarily became garbled. The difficulty passed within about 2 minutes, but the term “mini-stroke” did come into my mind; unfortunately, the word “act” didn’t accompany it.
My mom seemed totally fine afterwards, and because we both were in denial about the possibility of a stroke, it was 4 hours before I phoned Telehealth Ontario and was advised to take her to hospital.
When finally confronted by the crowded waiting room and the tired triage nurses, the notion of going back to a comfortable bed was briefly tempting. The good news is that hospitals take stroke symptoms very seriously. To my amazement, within 15 minutes of arriving at emergency, my mother, chatting cheerfully and the picture of health, had been whisked past other seriously injured patients who had been brought in by ambulance, and was being examined.
The diagnosis was a TIA (Transient Ischemic Attack) or “mini-stroke”. It is a warning sign that may precede a larger stroke. My mother will be seeing a stroke specialist, but looking back, the scariest part of the whole experience was how small the voice was that was saying, “Check this out”, and how loud the voice was that was saying – “You’re just imagining things - she’s fine – it’s midnight - everybody go to bed and get some sleep.” My delay in taking action could have had very serious consequences.
Becoming familiar with the warning signs of stroke is not difficult to do, like learning CPR - and it might prevent death or serious disability for you or someone you love. If given within three hours of the start of symptoms, a clot-busting drug can reduce long-term disability for the most common type of stroke.
So if you, or someone you are with, has one or more of the following signs, even if only for a little while, don't delay! Immediately call 9-1-1:
Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body
Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding
Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination
Sudden, severe headache with no known cause
It is very important to take immediate action. Check the time so you'll know when the first symptoms appeared – you will be asked for this information.
If you're with someone who may be having stroke symptoms, expect the person to protest—denial is common. Don't take "no" for an answer. Insist on taking prompt action and immediately call 9-1-1.
For more information visit the Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation at www.heartandstroke.ca or call 1-888-473-4636.
- Jule Koch Brison
Fix our roads
I recently read the article written by the woman who complained about the state of our side roads. To be honest, I agree with her. I live in the village of Parham and often drive my husband to work on these "side roads". Not only is my car feeling the effects of all the potholes and dips and heaves in the road, but so is my wallet. Shocks, struts, tires and sometimes even rims, don't come cheap. This winter, I was driving my husband to work up Long Lake Road and spun out and hit the street sign. My car is feeling the dent, not to mention that my 1 year old was in the back seat. A road that is not in the greatest of conditions even on a bright, dry, sunny day, can become much worse in the rain.
Bell Line Road is a major issue. Every corner and straight stretch on the windy road through the landscape is constantly in need of repairs or grading. Potholes and bumps and heaves and wet muddy conditions are nothing to be "proud" of. Our township really needs to do something in order to maintain our roads. At this time, there is a Children's therapeutic children's residence on Bell Line Road that requires staff 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, rain or shine. I cannot count the number of times that staff and the owners have called the township to complain of the road conditions on Bell Line Road, let alone any other road in our township.
Long Lake Road is an emergency access road for all three of our emergency services. What I want to know is, that if these roads are as bad as they are, what is the township going to do about it? Our emergency vehicles, I'm sure, have a hard enough time accessing some of our roads, and yet come winter time, they are poorly maintained. It will not do anyone any good if our roads are not updated and emergency vehicles are unable to assist anyone in distress.
As I understand it, some of our issues with these roads do not always come to the attention of the appropriate person within our council. Not only is our township an unappealling one in some ways, it will not bring more businesses or new residents in unless we come into this century. I do plan on contacting our township and raising these issues at a council meeting. I hope that all who read this will open their mouths as well. This township cannot resolve our issues if they are not brought to their attention.
Just something for everyone to think about.
- Sarah Aulis.
RE: That’s the law, Jeff Green - April 5/07
While the tongue-in-cheek nature of the original article was probably well received, the ham-fisted ill-considered attempt at prolonging the humour penned by councillor Norm Guntensberger in collaboration, apparently, with Mr. Green himself, points up the lack of informed commentary and critical analysis of the ridiculous cost of these new fire halls and the misguided spending priorities of the current and previous township councils.
Almost a million dollars is being spent on two glorified garages -- a million dollars out of recent annual tax revenues of $4 million. Apparently a well-maintained road doesn’t look nearly as impressive as a great big fire hall in publicity photos or personal CV’s and those salt domes are just dog ugly.
While the root of the problem lies with the previous council and former Mayor Bill MacDonald, the new council seems bent upon continuing with this insanity. Before amalgamation, had the original townships been forced to replace their fire halls, you can be assured that much less expensive alternatives would have been found because quite simply the money to build half million dollar edifices would not have existed.
Kennebec Township built its own fire hall with local labour just before amalgamation. Granted, it doesn’t have a meeting room because the township hall, which is just down the road, is intended for that sort of activity. And it may not have ‘his & her’ handicapped washrooms (the necessity of which begs more questions) but these details don’t add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars unless graft and gouging are in play. The Kennebec Fire Hall has all the features necessary to keep the fire fighting equipment warm and dry and ready for instant use. In the event of a disaster, the township hall is available and easily equipped. I can count at least three such spaces available in Sharbot Lake, which makes the need for emergency space at that new fire hall completely redundant. As reported in this newspaper [May 18/06], the previous council was advised that North Frontenac Township built a four-bay fire hall for about $300,000 in 2006, which includes $35,000 worth of work performed by township crews, which means that their building actually cost a little more than half of what was spent in Sharbot Lake or proposed for Mountain Grove.
More to the point, a perfectly appropriate building could have been constructed in Sharbot Lake by local contractors using locally purchased materials for significantly less than the price paid. Such a building can also be constructed in Mountain Grove. There are endless statistics that show how much money spent in a community benefits that community, but instead we subsidize Belleville while our roads fill with potholes. Isn’t it curious how the township literature promotes patronizing local businesses.
But we’re only scratching the surface of this seemingly endless stupidity.
When the province mandated domes to prevent salt leaching into ground water from stock piles of winter sand, funding for four salt domes and two fire hall palaces wasn’t available so council decided to amalgamate the four existing township garages, closing Arden and Sharbot Lake, which instantly caused a significant decrease in road maintenance in Kennebec and elsewhere.
Trucks and graders now drive thousands of miles over the course of the year just to get to where they used to start from, considerably increasing operating costs, shortening the life span of the vehicles and adding endless hours of unproductive labour costs while significantly decreasing the amount of time the crews actually spend maintaining the roads. Not only that but the two remaining garages had to be extended to house the extra vehicles.
Once again our tax dollars fly away down the highway to benefit some other community.
Two multi-bay garages were abandoned year round because of salt issues four months of the year. For those affected, four months of salt issues equal 12 months of lousy roads.
While one salt dome has been constructed in Hinchinbrooke, the one slated for Mountain Grove that necessitated the closing of the Arden garage, has yet to be constructed and has, according to a report in this paper been “deferred”. The $465,000 fire hall in Mountain Grove? It’s still going ahead.
So once again the ratepayers of Kennebec, whose previous township councils were diligent enough to look after their priorities as well as their budgets, are forced to suffer year round with lousy, dangerous roads while seeing their tax dollars subsidize the profligate spending of a council whose priorities always seem to lie elsewhere.
But here’s the best part - the Sharbot Lake municipal garage now stands empty, about 100 feet away from the new $500,000 fire hall.
- Patrick Maloney
Re: Uranium mining
The Frontenac News article of April 5 contained several (unintentional, I suspect)inaccuracies. Natural Resources Canada is not a mine regulator and has no role in uranium mine development. The independent agency, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission regulates very carefully all aspects of uranium mining in Canada. There is little ambiguity when the CNSC gets involved. Removal of bulk samples can bea trigger. Uranium deposits in Ontario, Bancroft andElliot Lake, are all less than 0.1% (not 1%). Uranium metal is indeed heavy, but in nature it ispresent as alighter oxide.Common chemicals are used to extract it from rock in a milling process. Most of the radioactivity remains with the residue - the tailings.
There is no record of "a series of (tailings) spills in Elliot Lake, starting in 1975" as quoted fromMining Watch. The statement that seniors in Elliot Lake would be less concerned about radiation exposure than young persons has no validity.I would expect thatpersons of all ages who live comfortably and safely in Elliot Lake may be offended by this viewpoint.
No shortage of uranium supply? In the very near future demand will far exceed current production supply, especially since there are many valid (including climate change) reasons why generation of electricity from nuclear power will significantly expand.
- Grant Feasby, Tichborne
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Feature Article - April 5, 2007Uranium mining in Frontenac County?by Jeff Green
The
Frontenac Venture Corporation will be diamond drilling for samples of
uranium-rich granite at sites in Central and North Frontenac starting
next spring, but the possibility of a uranium mine being constructed in
Frontenac County is slim, at least for the foreseeable future.
When contacted at his winter residence in Florida, George White, the President of Frontenac Venture Corporation, said the company has been “flying under the radar” in the past year as it has been accumulating exploration rights to properties in Oso, Olden and Palmerston districts. Frontenac Venture has staked claims on Crown land, much of it in the vicinity of Crotch Lake, and on land where the subsurface rights are not owned by the surface land owner. They have also been negotiating leases with a couple of landowners who own the subsurface rights to their property.
Thus far, claims assessment work has been done either through gamma ray spectrometer readings from the surface or through readings taken from larger instruments mounted on airplanes.
Exploration has taken place at these locations in the past; George White himself first got involved in Frontenac County in 1965, but today, improved technology is now being employed. As well, new regulations that came out of the BRE-X gold mining scandal require fresh data before a mining property can be sold on the open market.
Next spring, core samples will be taken at locations scattered throughout the 30 to 35,000 acres that George White says are involved in the exploration his company is planning. The company’s geologist Dr. Terry Bottrill told the News that the drilling for core samples of uranium does not cause any release of radiation at the surface. “There is already radiation present at the surface,” Bottrill explained, “all of the earth is radioactive. Taking core samples presents no risk to anybody.”
The drills that are used to take core samples are about the size of a 5 ton truck. They are generally pulled to the drilling site by a tractor. The holes drilled will be up to 200 metres deep, and rock rods about 1.5 inches in diameter will be removed and taken away for analysis.
On this point, Jamie Kneen of Mining Watch Canada, a not-for-profit organisation that monitors mining operations throughout Canada which is often critical of the uranium industry, agrees with Terry Bottrill.
“As long as the drill holes are capped, diamond drilling does not pose a risk,” Kneen told the News.
According to Pam Sangster, a geologist with the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development of Mines who works out of the Ministry office in Tweed, there are no special precautions required for uranium exploration as opposed to exploration for any other mineral.
This does not mean that drilling will not cause any difficulties. In cases where exploration is taking place on private land, bringing the drilling apparatus to the desired locations will entail clearing swaths of vegetation on the property of surface rights owners. In cases where the staking itself has made surface rights owner wary, this kind of activity will undoubtedly be seen as an infringement.
If the exploration proceeds to the mine development stage, the regulatory situation will change. At that point Natural Resources Canada gets involved, along with regulatory agencies such as the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.
According to John French, Advisor, Uranium Mines, Natural Resources Canada, “It’s a little bit ambiguous as to when these federal agencies become involved, but when it becomes clear that there is likely an economic deposit, which could happen after there has been a lot of drilling, or more likely when an economic development study is underway, a rigorous process is undertaken with lots of opportunity for public input.”
Historically, uranium deposits in Ontario have been relatively low grade, around 1% of the rock is uranium. In Saskatchewan, which is the location of currently operating mines, levels of 40% are common.
In Ontario, uranium mining requires the removal of large amounts of rock, which then must be milled. Uranium is very heavy, and the milling process allows the uranium to sink and be removed from the rest of the rock. According to Terry Bottrill, mills are generally located close to the source material in order to minimise transportation costs. The uranium is then transferred to a refinery for further processing.
What is left at the end of the milling is a small amount of uranium, and tons of powdered rock. These are known as tailings.
As George White describes it, the rock that is left behind as tailings is formerly uranium-rich rock that has had 96% of the radioactivity removed. He said “cleaner rock goes back in than is taken out.”
“The foot print of mining operations is insignificant,” added Terry Bottrill, “and in the region we are dealing with in Frontenac County, near Crotch Lake, it will have no impact on summer cottages because there are none in the immediate vicinity.”
Bottrill points to Elliott Lake [the site of the largest and longest running uranium mines in Ontario], which is now being transformed into a seniors community. “Do you think that would be the case if uranium tailings were not under control?” Bottrill said.
Jamie Kneen, of Mining Watch Canada, says that uranium tailings are indeed more dangerous than naturally occurring uranium-rich rock. “There is a difference between a rock that has been in a stable formation for several hundred million years, and one that is ground up into a powdery sand. If it is kept under control, it is still basically a perpetual hazard. As well, there are other radioactive minerals present in the tailings, such as thorium, which has a half life of 240,000 years. Historically, there have been a series of spills, starting in 1975, at Elliott Lake and elsewhere. Even though they are trying to stabilise the situation at Elliott Lake, where most of the tailings are now dammed up, there are a couple of places where they’ve still got dry tailings on the ground.
“It’s interesting that Elliott Lake is now being marketed to seniors,” Kneen added, “because the impacts of radiation exposure are felt over the long term, about 30 years. This makes it is less of a concern for seniors than it is for younger people.”
In Saskatchewan, it has become common practice to return most of the tailings to the mined out pits, which Kneen says is still “basically an experimental technology. It will take 30, 50, or 100 years until we find out if these tailings pits are self maintaining.”
Before a mine can proceed, according to John French of Natural Resources Canada, current regulations demand that a plan for handling tailings and a closure plan for the mine and the mine site must be approved. “The situation is different today than it was when, for example, the Elliott Lake mines were established,” he said.
Concerns over tailings are probably premature, given the fact that the Frontenac County uranium deposits have never been economically viable in the past.
“Every time the price of uranium goes up, it leads to a flurry of activity,” said John French. “They start off with old data, they reassess. But it doesn’t change things if there is no economic deposit there.”
Jamie Kneen points out that there is no worldwide shortage of processed uranium to meet current or foreseeable demand.
“No new nuclear reactors have been ordered yet,” he pointed out. “The United States reportedly has a 40-year supply of uranium, and there is a lot of highly enriched uranium in Russia as well. Don’t forget that most of mining is about mining the stock market.”
This has not stopped George White from investing a significant amount of his own money, and money from a group of 12 investors that are behind the Frontenac Venture Corporation, into this project. He expresses the belief, as does Terry Bottrill, that not only is a uranium mine possible in this region, but that it is the kind of development that would bring much needed employment to the youth of the region, and would bring other economic benefits to a region that has been struggling for many decades.
This can be done, they assert, without hurting the existing economy, which is based on clean lakes, and the natural beauty of the area.
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Feature Article - April 5, 2007Is uranium mining a threat to our properties?by JohnKittle
Last year, you may have noticed disturbing news reports in the media about uranium prospecting in Eastern Ontario. As prospectors moved in and “staked” claims on both Crown and private properties, cottage and homeowners became very upset about the impact of mining on their lakes and watersheds and property values. The appearance of prospectors on the scene was seen as the “tip of the iceberg”.
This year, you should know that there has been a marked increase in similar prospecting activity in parts of North & Central Frontenac, Lanark and other townships. Stakes have been made by prospectors near Crotch Lake! In addition, a number of privately owned properties have already been staked in the vicinity of Ompah, Lavant, Snow Road, Oso and Olden. We believe uranium again is the main target.
We are concerned that large mining operations could present a significant threat to the environment of the headwaters of the Mississippi River and watersheds. This has the potential to be a real threat to the environment and our property values. For those of us who do not own the “mineral rights” to our properties, the Mining Act of Ontario allows a mining company to come onto your property, stake a claim, and develop and conduct mining operations … without your permission!
If you want to find out more, and possibly help us lead the charge against commercial uranium mining development, come to the Snow Road Snowmobile Club on the Gemmill Road on Friday, April 6 at 10AM. Guest experts will give us short presentations and will be available to answer your questions. Please join us.
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Feature Article - June 28, 2007Algonquin solidarity over uranium exploration
by Jeff Green
George White, the President of Frontenac Ventures Corporation, said this week that he is hoping to come to a “memorandum of understanding” with Chief Doreen Davis of the Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nation over uranium exploration in North Frontenac.
However, Doreen Davis seems to be having none of it.
“I said to him [George White] that I’ll give everyone their day, but nobody can convince me to risk the future of the land for any amount of dollars. We will listen, the community will listen, but that does not mean we will agree to uranium exploration on a territory that is sacred, traditional land for us. Not at all.
“The minute you drill into uranium, you expose it to the air. My mind set is that I can’t comprehend how this can be safe,” Doreen Davis said in an interview with the News on Monday.
The differences between Davis and the leadership of the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation (AAFNA) over the approach to ongoing land claim negotiations have been well documented in this newspaper, but in this instance, the two groups seem to be on the same page.
In an interview with the News last week, and on CBC Radio this past Monday, George White characterized AAFNA as an “unofficial group” and “a group of radicals”, claiming that the Sharbot Lake group are the official Algonquin representatives in the area around the 30,000 acre mining claim site.
Chief Davis participated in a meeting on Sunday in Maberly with the AAFNA Family Heads Council, and the Sharbot Lake and Ardoch communities will both be involved in an event scheduled for this Friday at the Robertsville mine site on Hwy. 509.
“We stand shoulder to shoulder on this, and our personal issues all have to be put aside and discarded,” Davis said regarding the relationship between Ardoch and Sharbot Lake. “We are a family, and the disagreements we have politically do not change that.”
In an email to AAFNA members sent out on Monday, co-chief Randy Cota wrote, ”In a working relationship we the leadership have entered into an agreement to have Sharbot Lake First Nation to stand beside us to further the cause [of stopping the exploration] … Chief Davis and myself have agreed on this in a public meeting yesterday, 24th June 2007,at our Council meeting.”
Chief Davis had been made aware of the mining claims several months ago and Shabot Obaadjiwan members attended a meeting of North Frontenac residents in early April to hear concerns about the uranium exploration. She brought the matter to the attention of Brian Crane, the Ontario negotiator at the Algonquin Land Claim table, and she says, “I was told that nothing is happening, but it turns out that a lot is happening.”
The fact that the exploration is taking place in proximity to the Mississippi River, which had been identified on the land claim map as a sacred land that should not be considered for economic development, is particularly upsetting to Davis. “The Mississippi River plays a such a central role for us; it is a special river. For that to be overlooked, it’s very troubling for us. We are the stewards of the land. One of my largest roles is to protect the river.”
Frontenac Ventures Corporation has vacated their base at the Robertsville mine, where they have leased office space, in anticipation of protests that are scheduled for this week.
George White told the CBC that he will be attempting to negotiate a “Memorandum of Understanding” with the Shabot Obaadjiwan before returning to the Robertsville mine.
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Feature Article - June 28, 2007Letters to the Editor
It's right in my backyardGeorge White is misinformed on two main things: the legitimacy and position of local Native people AND the harmful effects of uranium mining. He appears to live in his own little world though he is quick to point out Randy Cota's conflict of interest as an OPP officer. He tells us he has sought legal advice but there's one big problem here that overrides this specific situation and the whole picture of Native land claims. Let me put it metaphorically. Suppose someone steals some goods and sells them to you.Then the rightful owner comes forward to claim the goods.Who gets the goods? What's more, who gets to decide who gets the goods?Is it the person who sold the stolen goods, the person who bought the stolen goods or the person who rightfully and originally owned the goods?
George White is not telling the truth about his deal with the “Sharbot Lake group”, as he calls them, and Doreen Davis, at least not according to Bob Lovelace, Harold Perry, Frank Morrison and others who were at the council meeting on Sunday.There the two Algonquin factions agreed to work together to oppose the uranium mine, period. George even has the nerve to say that he is working with the Algonquins to protect sacred burial grounds and to provide employment for local Natives.Which is all such total rubbish as to be unworthy of response.Yet he got to say so on national CBC radio! The only thing I agree with George on is the part about Randy Cota's conflict of interest as chief of AAFNA and OPP officer.I don't think it's right and I don't understand why Bob and Harold go along with this. An OPP should not be a Native chief in the first place, plain and simple.The OPP takes an oath to the Crown just like the lawyer does and therefore cannot serve two masters. Bob Lovelace is a very knowledgeable Algonquin historian. He was able to tell me that the uranium seam which runs from Kaladar to Snow Road does affect the watershed that flows into Tyendinaga territory. As far as I am concerned this matter does also concern the Mohawk people as well. George White is also in dreamland when he talks about the 50's.Is he not aware of the great struggle in northern Saskatchewan over uranium mining, the devastation to the people and the land and the recent flooding of the Cigar Lake Mine, October 2006? This mine was the largest single, most concentrated deposit of uranium in the world which Cameco (and shareholders, Cogema Resources Inc (37%)[fr], Idemitsu Uranium Exploration Canada Ltd. (8%)andTEPCO Resources Inc.) saw fit to mine with expensive robots since they know how very toxic radiation is. Scott Gemmill of Gemmill Sand and Gravel, says only 20 people oppose the mine but he doesn't know how many are for it in this community.I wish he'd pay for a good survey; he'd be in for a surprise. I'll bet I can name 20 off the top of my forgetful head who oppose uranium mining. I don't think we have time to wait for people who doubt the effects of radiation to get the picture.Don't we all have enough folks dying of cancer? Neither do we have time to wait for the resolution of Native land claims.The Ontario Algonquin land claim is a recently filed claim so it would be near the end of the line of over 800 claims before the Canadian courts, who of course have no real authority to settle these disputes in the first place.Meanwhile the ravaging of the land goes on and the media are as complicit as ever.That includes CBC, the best of the bad but still not good. Jenn TsunMore on Uranium
I am writing in response to an article in your paper on June 21 entitled “Frontenac Ventures Corporation Outlines Exploration Plans”. Statements attributed to George White, founder of FVC, in your article and some of those he made in a CBC radio interview on the morning of June 25 have given rise to some confusion in my mind.
In his radio interview he stated, to the best of my recollection, that seepage had leached uranium out of Precambrian rock (the type we have here) to a depth of 6 feet (2 metres) over the past 10,000 years. This presumably contributes to normal background radiation and is deemed “natural”. He is planning to dig up, crush and expose this rock. Information I have suggests that the average lifespan of a uranium mine is 12-15 years, lets be generous and say 20. He will do in 20 years to a 200-400 metre layer of rock what mother nature did to 2 metres in 10,000 years. This would be exposing the environment, according to my rather elementary math, to potentially 400 [m]/20[yr] divided by 2[m]/10,000[yr]=100,000 times the normal background radiation from this source. This seems like rather a lot. Perhaps it is not all released at once. We do know these tailings ponds remain strongly radioactive for many, many years after the mine closes. Help me out, here, George, what happens to all this radioactivity?
Core drilling, now. This is to be done with a 9/8 inch bit, which I assume will make a hole a bit over 1 inch wide, and 200-400 metres (roughly 600-1200 feet) deep. This will presumably go through aquifers as well as strata containing uranium and its highly radioactive decay products. Many of these are soluble. Water can move through a 1 inch hole, I’ve seen it happen. We live in an area of fractured bedrock. Up is not the only way for water and dissolved radioactive compounds to get out of these holes. Can you explain to me how capping is going to reliably keep these things in, and out of our ground water and our wells?
Tailings ponds, again. You indicated that tailings would be safely contained. How long are we talking about, here, George- 77,000 years, the half life of thorium, the principal radioactive isotope left after the uranium is taken away? Were you aware that these tailings containments have a rather discouraging tendency to release their contents by leaching, leaking or outright breach?
And did you tell us about radioactive dust, from rock crushing operations, and radioactive radon gas, released as ore is broken up, and quietly forever as thorium decays in tailings? And lung cancer rates from this? I personally think the people living around here might want to know about these things.
That company Cameco, which you described in your radio interview as having safe, world class mines- according to information I have, as recently as 1975 they and/or their parent company Eldorado were dumping tailings directly into Lake Wollaston in Saskatchewan, and in 1989 a spill occurred which released 2 million litres of radioactive, heavy metal containing fluid into this same lake. If these are environmentally “safe” mining practices, would you like to define “safe” for me, I don’t quite understand how you justify this term. Or perhaps this is as safe as it gets.
I’m really left wondering, George, whether we’re getting the whole story on this uranium mining thing. Perhaps you could set me straight.
Linda Harvey
Credit to othersThank You for the article entitled “Volunteers of the Year Honored in South Frontenac”. I'd like to give credit to others who deserve to be honored as much as me.
Preserving the history of Bedford and establishingan historical society could not become a reality without the help of others. Betty O'Connor's internet research is an inspiration and Bill's stories give a glimpse into the vastness of local history stored in the minds of settlers’ descendents. Nancy Jenkins, with Bedford roots, travels the roads of Bedford gathering photos and records of schools, etc. and Marty Humphrey and Sheila Simsstep in wherever there is a need.
Thanks gotoa multitude of others too large to list for their many contributions.
Recently the Bedford Historical Society established a research centre in the Bedford Community Hall at Glendower. It is open on Tuesdays,1pm 7pm June, July, and August. There is no charge.
Anyone wanting to visit or want a visit, contribute, or help preserve the history of Bedford can call 613- 273-7241. Photos are copied while you wait. - June Quinn
Do you ever wonder?
Do you ever wonder, do you ever ponder, why most folks never go to church except for weddings, baby dedications, and funerals? Some folks also go at Christmas time, and Easter.
Did you know - that God provides, food, clothes, housing, that new skidoo, four wheeler, 350 Ford truck, fishing tackle, sunflowers, Bell towers, chocolate, and everything else you can think of! All of these things come from God's green earth, the good earth God created because he loves us - that is, you and me. I see churches poorly attended and not supported - in this Denbigh area, for one; we have five churches in the area, churches that would love to have a lot more people show up for Sunday services. How about You? Do you think you could come out to one of these churches, next Sunday morning? The New Apostolic, Catholic, Free Methodist, Luthern, and United Churches around here need you to come and support them with your presence. You will be SURPRISED how your life will change for the better all round - mentally, physically, spiritually. Give God, and the Church itself, a chance. God can change your attiutude from “woe to me” to “THANK YOU, LORD” for what you have given to me and mine. God bless you all.
Donna Carr
A note from Dwain
A friend of mine was readin' in the paper that scientists have beenexperamentin' on jelly fishes - the big ones in the ocean that glows in the dark. The scientists took the gene that makes 'em glow an' put it into pigs. Now they've got pigs that glows in the dark.
But you just wait awhile folks, 'cause pretty soon we're all gonna be glowin'up here in the Frontenacs,if that uranium mine gets goin'.
Jeffy, I'm respondin' to yer recent interview with George White of Frontenac Ventures regardin’ the proposed exploration work for his uranium mine. Ya quotes'ol Georgeyas saying there are no environmental impacts fromdrilling andextractingcore samples. I'd like ta put in my two cents about one thing Georgey had ta say. Diamond drillin', as White said, goes into the earth for hundreds of meters. When it's finished yer left with a hole, hundredsof meters deep. They don't fill the hole in, they cap it. But there's stilla hole down there, under the cap - hundreds of meters deep. Now, when they drill a water well, they put in a casing ‘cause earth and fractured rock from drillin'the wellcould fall into the well and contaminate yer drinking water?
Now, if it's true you need a casing ta protect the water, would it not stand to reason that, when your drillin' fer uranium, and you leaves a hole, that dirt and fractured rock would fall into the hole? And, if there is uraniumin that dirt and fractured rock, is that not going to contaminate the water that's down there?Also, somewhere down those holes, is the water table. Would that dirtand fractured rock not pollute the water table?
I've heard that specialists who areinto uranium say that it has a unique effect on the water table. It can cause the water table to move up and down. So, now we've got holes, and I understand not just a few holes, but a dump truck load of holes, hundreds of meters deep. And, we have the water table, maybe moving up and down. Now, have you ever used a bottle brush? It seems to me that the water table could act just like a bottle brush. That same water would also move through the cracksand fishers in the rock,possibly carrying radiation - that is if there is uranium, down those holes. And Georgey seems ta think there is, or else why's he spendin' all that money drillin' holes that could be goin' into our water table?
Those same specialistssay it takes from four to six days for the water up here to reach theOttawa River. Now, that could be a good thing. Cause if it end up comin' out of the taps of the politicians in Ottawa, we might get rid of some of them.
The problem here is folks,that, on it's way to Ottawa, that water could end up in our wells. And, not only could it end up in our wells, it could end up in places like Almonte, CarletonPlace, Pakenhametc., etc.
Now, I'm just an 'ol coot, but I understand 'ol Georgey White is seventy-four. Maybe 'ol Georgey has been hangin' aroud to many uranium mines.
Dwain Scudder, A.K.A. Frank Morrison
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Feature Article - June 21, 2007Frontenac Ventures Corporation outlines exploration plans
by Jeff Green
Frontenac Venture Corporation is a mining exploration company that was founded by George White, the retired Vice President of Westburne Industrial Enterprise Ltd.
White is not new to the Mississippi Station/Snow Road area. Thirty years ago he was involved in prospecting uranium in the same region, “until Three Mile Island hit and the price of uranium dropped to $8 a pound,” he said in an interview with The News last week. With the price now hovering at $135 US a pound, a lot of uranium finds around the world that were un-economic in the past have suddenly become lucrative.
Within the past year, Frontenac Ventures has staked mining claims on 30,000 acres in the area, which is roughly 5 km wide by 16 kilometres long. Most of the claim territory is bordered by Highway 509 to the east and north, and the Ardoch Road to the south. To the west the claim territory ends about 1 kilometre east of Crotch Lake.
The vast majority of the claims are in North Frontenac Township, but there are some in the Oso and Olden Districts of Central Frontenac.
Frontenac Venture Corporation has set up what they call their base camp at the Robertsville mine buildings on Highway 509. I met last week with the Project Manager Frank Mazewski, Greg Luster from the Queen’s University Geology Department, and George White and Dr. Sethu Raman, who both have 30 years history working on the “Frontenac Project”.
They are in the midst of a two-year exploration project, which will determine the concentration and the extent of uranium that is hidden under the rocky North Frontenac landscape.
Early this spring, airplane sweeps of the staked lands were done, conducting radio-metric, magnetometer, and electromagnetic surveys of the land. Technological advances in the past 30 years are enabling Frontenac Ventures to gather more complete and accurate information about the rock than they were able to when exploration was done in the past.
Not only have they been able to get accurate information about the surface locations with the highest radiation counts, the elecro-magentic surveys have given “detailed information about rock formations as deep as 200 metres below surface level” said geologist Greg Luster.
This summer and next, Frontenac Ventures plans to spend $2 million to determine “if indeed we have an economic resource here,” said Sethu Raman.
Most of the money will be spent drilling test holes. The holes will be diamond drilled, using a 9/8 inch bit. They will be 200 to 400 metres deep, and the core samples will be taken away and analysed.
“It costs $120 a metre, with all costs in, to drill these holes, so we need to be very careful where we drill,” said Sethu Raman.
According to Frontenac Ventures, there are no environmental impacts from the core drilling. No uranium is released in taking the samples, and the entire sample is taken away. The resulting hole is capped.
“Ninety-eight percent of what is being said by people who oppose what we are doing is completely false,” said George White in reference to information provided by groups such as Mining Watch Canada, a watchdog organization based in Ottawa.
There will be impacts on the surface of the ground from the drilling program. The land will have to be cleared to bare rock around the drill sites, and since the drill is pulled by a tractor-sized machine, some trail clearing will have to be done. According to Greg Luster, there are logging and snowmobiling trails all through the area, and they will be used extensively, minimising the amount of clearing that will need to be done.
So, far, some road widening has taken place on the old Robertsville mining road.
“If we end up with an economic claim, that will trigger a whole series of regulations, which will take years to work our way through. Uranium mining today is not what it was in the 1950s and 1960s,” said George White, “It can be done safely, and the tailings would be contained if a mine is ever built.”
What Frontenac Ventures wants to promote to the people of North Frontenac are the economic benefits of uranium exploration and mining. George White estimates a mine would employ between 500 and 600 people, and the spin-off effect would yield another 1000-1500 jobs. “A mine would also pay a whole lot of taxes to the township,” White said.
George White will be bringing this two-pronged message of environmental safety and economic benefits to a meeting of North Frontenac Council on June 28.
It promises to be a lively meeting, as Marilyn Crawford of the Bedford Mining Alert will be speaking to council as well, bringing a vastly different perspective on the impact of uranium mining on the surrounding community.
(Editor’s Note: Subsequent to the meeting with Frontenac Ventures staff at the Robertsville site, much has happened in terms of organised opposition to uranium exploration in North Frontenac. An event is planned at the Robertsville mine on June 28 and 29, organised by the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation. George White has decided to give all of the students who are employed at the site some time off until sometime after the 29th.)
