ELISABETH KOSTERS: Nova Scotia mining lobby propaganda undermines broader environmental debate
Contributed | Posted: a day ago
Bruce MacKinnon's cartoon for Sept. 3, 2021.
ELISABETH KOSTERS • Guest Opinion
Recently, I attended the virtual “Nova Scotia Precious and Critical Mineral Show” put on by the Mining Association of Nova Scotia (MANS).
I’m a retired geologist. I’m fully aware that the energy transition requires a massive shift in material needs at a scale that almost nobody can imagine. This challenge is an opportunity, but also a risk.
Society has left resource extraction exclusively to the private sector, with the result that our planet is in a terrifying climate and biodiversity crisis. Resource extraction typically makes a few people extraordinarily rich, but its societal impact costs all of us dearly in environmental cleanup for decades or centuries after the extractive industry has upped and left.
There’s hardly a good news story to tell. In recent years, (inter)national agencies have formulated which minerals will play an essential role in our future. These are called critical minerals.
So I was interested in this symposium. Here’s what struck me:
1. There wasn’t a single representative from any of the First Nations and not one speaker had the good manners to articulate a land acknowledgement.
2. The 12 technical presenters were all white men, a lot of them older than 60.
3. Four presentations pertained to mineral claims located in southern Nova Scotia, in the highly fragmented habitat of the critically endangered mainland moose which has been much in the news because of clearcutting and protests against it. That area also happens to be a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. None of the presenters mentioned this.
4. Five presentations pertained to gold prospects. Gold isn’t a critical mineral. Almost all of it is mined for jewelry and since it’s completely inert, the bit that we do need for medical and technical applications can easily be obtained from recycling. But MANS and its members push gold relentlessly despite these blatant facts. One of the presenters, frustrated by the stalling of the exploration of a gold claim in Cape Breton as a result of opposition by First Nations, admitted that gold isn’t a critical mineral but that “we need to mine gold to pay for developing other minerals.”
Excuse me? What if we as a society create a model for producing the materials that society needs rather than just the stuff it wants?
5. One presenter who reported on yet another future gold mine in eastern Nova Scotia shrugged off a question about environmental impact with “there’s just some stunted trees and bogs there.” Reminder: this is exactly what the developer of Owls Head thought he was buying. Maybe the mining sector should begin to read about the importance of all wetlands as critically important carbon sinks.
6. Only one presentation impressed me. It was by Don Bubar, the president and CEO of Toronto-based Avalon Advanced Materials. He talked about the possibilities for extracting tin and indium (both critical minerals) from mine waste at the historic East Kemptville mine in southern Nova Scotia. Mr. Bubar talked about the need for a circular economy and about the innovations that we need to extract critical minerals from mine waste. This talk made my day.
MANS is useless. It actively undermines a balanced discussion about our role as humans on a planet ever more under threat. Its only objective is to reduce government interference in its ambition to disembowel our province as much as possible.
MANS officials pay lip service to the environment, but they mostly waffle about how reclamation makes old quarry pits and open-cast mines “beautiful,” thus completely ignoring the fact that wilderness is incomparable with reclaimed land.
They refer to “critical minerals” only as a justification towards their goal of private profit without providing any deeper insight into the future, nor do they make any contribution to a balanced debate that we so badly need. Anyone who raises the slightest objection to their bullish talking points is called an obstructing environmentalist and is blocked from their social media platforms.
The earth resources sector in Nova Scotia has the government in its pocket, just like the forestry sector does. Unless citizens force deep and profound changes in the manner in which we treat the natural wealth that we’re responsible for, catastrophic climate change and biodiversity collapse will continue unabated.
We still have a chance, in Nova Scotia, but as long as organizations such as MANS continue with their opportunistic and bullish propaganda, brainwashing those who haven’t had the opportunity to delve deeper into the subject, I’m not optimistic.
Elisabeth Kosters lives in Wolfville
ELISABETH KOSTERS • Guest Opinion
Recently, I attended the virtual “Nova Scotia Precious and Critical Mineral Show” put on by the Mining Association of Nova Scotia (MANS).
I’m a retired geologist. I’m fully aware that the energy transition requires a massive shift in material needs at a scale that almost nobody can imagine. This challenge is an opportunity, but also a risk.
Society has left resource extraction exclusively to the private sector, with the result that our planet is in a terrifying climate and biodiversity crisis. Resource extraction typically makes a few people extraordinarily rich, but its societal impact costs all of us dearly in environmental cleanup for decades or centuries after the extractive industry has upped and left.
There’s hardly a good news story to tell. In recent years, (inter)national agencies have formulated which minerals will play an essential role in our future. These are called critical minerals.
So I was interested in this symposium. Here’s what struck me:
1. There wasn’t a single representative from any of the First Nations and not one speaker had the good manners to articulate a land acknowledgement.
2. The 12 technical presenters were all white men, a lot of them older than 60.
3. Four presentations pertained to mineral claims located in southern Nova Scotia, in the highly fragmented habitat of the critically endangered mainland moose which has been much in the news because of clearcutting and protests against it. That area also happens to be a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. None of the presenters mentioned this.
4. Five presentations pertained to gold prospects. Gold isn’t a critical mineral. Almost all of it is mined for jewelry and since it’s completely inert, the bit that we do need for medical and technical applications can easily be obtained from recycling. But MANS and its members push gold relentlessly despite these blatant facts. One of the presenters, frustrated by the stalling of the exploration of a gold claim in Cape Breton as a result of opposition by First Nations, admitted that gold isn’t a critical mineral but that “we need to mine gold to pay for developing other minerals.”
Excuse me? What if we as a society create a model for producing the materials that society needs rather than just the stuff it wants?
5. One presenter who reported on yet another future gold mine in eastern Nova Scotia shrugged off a question about environmental impact with “there’s just some stunted trees and bogs there.” Reminder: this is exactly what the developer of Owls Head thought he was buying. Maybe the mining sector should begin to read about the importance of all wetlands as critically important carbon sinks.
6. Only one presentation impressed me. It was by Don Bubar, the president and CEO of Toronto-based Avalon Advanced Materials. He talked about the possibilities for extracting tin and indium (both critical minerals) from mine waste at the historic East Kemptville mine in southern Nova Scotia. Mr. Bubar talked about the need for a circular economy and about the innovations that we need to extract critical minerals from mine waste. This talk made my day.
MANS is useless. It actively undermines a balanced discussion about our role as humans on a planet ever more under threat. Its only objective is to reduce government interference in its ambition to disembowel our province as much as possible.
MANS officials pay lip service to the environment, but they mostly waffle about how reclamation makes old quarry pits and open-cast mines “beautiful,” thus completely ignoring the fact that wilderness is incomparable with reclaimed land.
They refer to “critical minerals” only as a justification towards their goal of private profit without providing any deeper insight into the future, nor do they make any contribution to a balanced debate that we so badly need. Anyone who raises the slightest objection to their bullish talking points is called an obstructing environmentalist and is blocked from their social media platforms.
The earth resources sector in Nova Scotia has the government in its pocket, just like the forestry sector does. Unless citizens force deep and profound changes in the manner in which we treat the natural wealth that we’re responsible for, catastrophic climate change and biodiversity collapse will continue unabated.
We still have a chance, in Nova Scotia, but as long as organizations such as MANS continue with their opportunistic and bullish propaganda, brainwashing those who haven’t had the opportunity to delve deeper into the subject, I’m not optimistic.
Elisabeth Kosters lives in Wolfville
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