Celebrate and Protect our Clean Water on World Water Day
March 22 is World Water Day
Location of proposed hydrometallurgical plant and hazardous waste pits
Here in Corman Park we have an extremely clean groundwater source – the Dalmeny Aquifer. Let’s celebrate and protect it now, and for future generations.
Email the RM Councillors today to let them know how you feel about keeping our aquifer clean – and ask them to protect it by voting NO to rezoning land for Fortune Minerals’ dangerous metals processing plant on March 25. Click here for the Councillors’ email addresses.
The First Reading vote on the rezoning application will be on Monday Mar 25th at 1:00 PM at the RM office at 111 Pinehouse Drive, Saskatoon. (click for map) Please attend if you can!
Water Quality
Fortune Minerals’ Addendum to their Environmental Impact Assessment Statement, September 2013 (page 11) provides a chart of the process brine characteristics. The brine is the solution that would be injected into a deep aquifer via injection wells that would be drilled through the Dalmeny Aquifer. The chart below provides comparison of Fortune Minerals brine, Saskatchewan’s Drinking Water Quality Standards and Objectives and the most recent Dalmeny Aquifer water quality report from the Saskatchewan Water Security Agency. All amounts are measured in mg/L, which is the same as parts per million.
Fortune Minerals’ brine characterization is based on the project plans in place when they submitted their application for Environmental Impact Assessment in 2011. It did not include any analysis of the chemistry that might result from processing other materials, as they have indicated they might do as a way to extend the life of the proposed plant or increase its economic viability. Their proposed solid waste facility is larger than would be needed for processing the expected output of the NICO mine. This suggests that additional processing is planned and therefore brine chemistry would be different and its volume would be more than what was stated in their environmental impact assessment documents.
| Chemical | Fortune Minerals Brine | Saskatchewan Drinking water standards and objectives | Dalmeny Aquifer Water Quality per SWA, 2005 | Known or suspected to cause adverse effects on health |
| Chloride (Cl) | 2304 | 250 | 10 | |
| Sulphate (SO4) | 36032 | 500 | 1160 | Diarrhoea, risk of dehydration in infants and elderly |
| Bicarbonate (HCO3) | 248 | 800 | 805 | |
| Aluminum (Al) | 0.5 | 0.0012 | ||
| Arsenic (As) | 1.8 | 0.025 | 0.0004 | Cancer; neurological, skin and vascular problems |
| Bismuth (Bi) | 1.7 | |||
| Calcium (Ca) | 166 | 382 | ||
| Cadmium (Cd) | 0.04 | 0.005 | < 0.0005 | Kidney damage, bone problems |
| Cobalt (Co) | < 1 | < 0.0013 | Probable carcinogen | |
| Copper (Cu) | 0.9 | 1.0 | < 0.0002 | |
| Iron (Fe) | 3.8 | 0.3 | 9.4 | |
| Magnesium (Mg) | 1631 | 200 | 172 | |
| Manganese (Mn) | 2.5 | 0.05 | 0.22 | Neurological damage at high levels |
| Sodium (Na) | 15203 | 300 | 104 | |
| Nickel (Ni) | 1.0 | 0.0004 | ||
| Lead (Pb) | 0.1 | 0.01 | < 0.0001 | Central nervous system damage, probable carcinogen, multiple harms to infants and children |
| Zinc (Zn) | 0.7 | 5 | 0.005 |
Concerned citizens at Langham public meeting about Fortune Minerals, 2014
Click on any of the tags below for more information about how the Fortune Minerals project could harm our precious aquifer.
Sask regulator turns blind eye to air pollution, keeps residents in the dark
On October 16, 2018 investigative journalists Robert Cribb (Toronto Star), Patti Sonntag & Michael Wrobel (Institute for Investigative Journalism at Concordia University) and P.W. Elliott (University of Regina) published an alarming story about senior officials in the Saskatchewan government hiding serious air pollution issues from affected residents and not enforcing hydrogen sulfide (H2S) regulations. As a result, people in southeastern Saskatchewan are being exposed to “off the charts” levels of the toxic and corrosive gas that is affecting their health and damaging their property. The H2S comes from sour gas escaping from improperly maintained oil facilities. H2S is very toxic, and deadly in high concentrations.
Global News reported “Provincial air quality standards have been breached hundreds of times since 2014, but those living nearby — including the Gervais family — were not warned and oil companies responsible for some of the emissions have faced no charges or fines.”
The residents would still be in the dark if it wasn’t for independent research done by scientists from Harvard and Northeastern University who are working with the journalists.
The government is simply not enforcing the regulations and they are not informing residents when air quality deteriorates to harmful levels. None of the oil companies that are breaking the rules have been fined, charged or shut down, even when there are repeated violations and extreme H2S levels approaching ten times the legal limit.
The Global News story quotes a former ministry staffer, saying “If you’re an inspector who issues a fine, you don’t keep working there. And there simply aren’t the resources to issue fines … There are so few inspectors left.”
For the whole story see No fines. No public warning. And an ‘off the chart’ air quality indicator in Saskatchewan’s oil & gas country
What has this got to do with Fortune Minerals?
If the Fortune Minerals metals processing plant gets built, Langham and area residents will have to rely on provincial regulators’ willingness and capacity to protect the Dalmeny aquifer from pollution from leaks and spills, and to protect our health if/when the wind blows harmful chemical dust from the plant site.
See also
- Is Saskatchewan ignoring the potentially deadly gas from oil wells?
- Fear and money breed silence in Saskatchewan
- Fox guarding the hen house
- Why Langham?
Saskatchewan Environmental Society outlines serious concerns about Fortune Minerals project
In the article (reprinted below) published in the Clarks Crossing Gazette on September 6, 2018, the Saskatchewan Environmental Society (SES) outlines serious concerns about the proposed Fortune Minerals project, and urges Corman Park residents to express their own opinions to the RM and in public hearings on rezoning when they occur. The concerns SES mentions in the article include:
- the huge amount of electricity FM wants to use for the processing plant, and that it expects to pay half-price compared with what farmers and other residents pay
- 155,000 tonnes of hazardous waste produced annually, left behind forever
- over 10,000 tonnes of disease-causing arsenic waste generated annually for 18 to 25 years
- microbial action over time will make arsenic waste more dangerous and more mobile
- risks of spreading air-borne arsenic dust due to more frequent severe weather events
- FM has no adequate plan for long-term monitoring of waste pits
- provincial approval of FM project without any plan or cost projection for decommissioning after plant closure
- impacts on neighbours and future generations
- future health and financial liabilities for the Province, RM or municipality
Proposed processing plant poses risks for Langham area
COMMENTARY BY J. DAVID HENRY
Saskatchewan Environmental Society
david.henry@sasktel.net
Fortune Minerals Ltd (FML) is proposing to build a metals processing plant 2.5 km east of Langham, SK. For this to happen, the RM of Corman Park would have to rezone 91 hectares from agricultural land to rural industrial land.
The Saskatchewan Environmental Society (SES) has consistently expressed serious concerns about FML’s proposal.
A summary of SES’s concerns is given below. FML would ship its ore containing cobalt, gold, bismuth, and copper by train from the Northwest Territories. Why ship the ore all that way? Part of the reason is that Fortune Minerals wants a location where they would pay a very low electrical rate for the huge amount of electricity they will need to run the processing plant. FML would pay SaskPower only about half of what Saskatchewan homeowners and farmers pay for their electricity per kilowatt-hour.
The Metals Processing Plant will generate at least 155,000 tonnes of hazardous waste each year, and approximately 7% of that waste by weight will be arsenic. That means that FML’s plant will generate over 10,000 tonnes of arsenic for each of the 18 -25 years that the plant is expected to operate. All of this waste material will be placed in permanent storage pits on the FML property near Langham. The pits will be 5 metres deep and lined with industrial plastic layers and closed off with geotex fabric and compressed soil. The important question is: Will these storage pits safely contain the arsenic and other waste chemicals for centuries?
An FML spokesman tells us that much of the waste material will be scorodite, a rock crystalline material that contains arsenic in a chemically safe form. But arsenic is a chemical element; it does not decompose; it will be there forever. Furthermore, chemical reactions and microbial bacterial reactions can change arsenic from a safe to a highly toxic and soluble form. In the view of the Saskatchewan Environmental Society, there is a significant risk these chemical reactions could occur in the FML storage pits, meaning the arsenic is likely to become more dangerous and perhaps more mobile over time.
Joshua Hamilton, a Dartmouth College molecular toxicologist, recently reported that chronic exposure to very low doses of toxic arsenic increases the body’s vulnerability to a wide array of sicknesses, including lung and bladder cancers, cardiovascular disease and diabetes. In 2001 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reduced the acceptable limit of arsenic in drinking water from 50 parts per billion to 10 parts per billion—that is equivalent to one drop of arsenic in an Olympic-sized swimming pool. SES worries that over long periods of time small doses of arsenic could leak out of the storage pits and enter the ground water and ultimately the Dalmeny Aquifer and the North Saskatchewan River. Furthermore, with our increased frequency of severe weather events, if the covers to the pits are damaged, could arsenic-laden dust be spread in the surrounding area, perhaps as far away as Saskatoon? This danger has not been carefully researched.
Despite receiving over 200 submissions expressing concerns from residents of Langham, Dalmeny, Saskatoon and other parts of the province, the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment gave approval to FML’s proposal in February of 2014. FML achieved this approval without having presented a plan for how the plant will be decommissioned or what the cost of decommissioning will be. Nor has FML presented adequate plans for long-term monitoring of the storage pits, for evidence of hazardous wastes moving into new areas. These are serious oversights that may leave the Province, RM or municipality with future health and financial liabilities.
The Fortune Minerals project is expected to generate only 91 jobs during its 18-25 year operating life. Meanwhile the waste residue left behind will be hazardous for thousands of years. SES believes that there is no benefit here for our children or future generations. Furthermore, who will want to live adjacent to an area that is contaminated with this much arsenic and other toxic chemicals?
Rezoning FML’s lands to rural industrial uses is a very important decision. We encourage all interested citizens to write and express their opinions about the FML proposal to the RM of Corman Park as well as to attend and participate in the upcoming public hearing. When the public hearing is set, its date will be announced on www. rmcormanpark.ca
Past SES statements about Fortune Minerals:
February 2014 – Press release: Misfortune for Saskatchewan “The Saskatchewan Environmental Society (SES) is deeply concerned that the Government of Saskatchewan saw fit to approve the Fortune Minerals Metal Processing Plant near Langham yesterday, despite receiving more than 200 submissions of concern from residents of Langham, Dalmeny, the RM of Corman Park, and Saskatoon. “By approving the project, it is clear that minimal, short term, economic benefits have been allowed to trump public safety and protection of our drinking water resources,” said Ann Coxworth, SES Board Member. “That is not acceptable.” Read the full release
December 2013 – Press Release: A Questionable Fortune for Langham “Sodium cyanide is banned in several jurisdictions, including Montana, and arsenic is a carcinogen that is hazardous to public health in concentrations as low as ten parts per billion,” says Peter Prebble, SES Director of Environmental Policy. “The use of these chemicals on the proposed site, and the plans to dispose of arsenic laced waste, will pose a long term safety concern for local residents, and for those who move into the area in the future, as the population of the Saskatoon region expands.” Read the full release
December 2013 – Fortune Minerals Submission to Sask Minister of Environment
“The Saskatchewan Environmental Society has carefully reviewed the Environmental Impact Study and urges the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment to turn down this application from Fortune Minerals. In our judgment, the costs and risks associated with this project clearly outweigh the benefits. There are several serious deficiencies in the EIS. Moreover, the project is not at all well suited to development in an area of our province that will be steadily urbanizing over the next 40 years. Our organization has numerous concerns about this project, on which we elaborate in this submission. The following issues are discussed:
1. Use of Toxic Sodium Cyanide
2. Process Residue Wastes
3. Failure to Adequately Plan for Future Intense Precipitation Events
4. Deep Well Injection Plans
5. Water Consumption
6. Inadequate Plant Decommissioning Plan
7. Hazardous Materials and the Risk of Accidents
8. Solvent Extraction Fire Hazard
9. Inadequate Level of Confidence Expressed by Fortune Minerals Consultants
10. Subsidized Electrical Rates
11. Minimal Employment Benefit for the Risks to be Taken and the Projected Costs
12. Record of Fortune Minerals Elsewhere in Canada” Read the full submission
“The SES has been active in Saskatchewan since 1970 and is committed to supporting sustainable living and resource use in the province. We work with, and on behalf of, organizations, businesses, and policymakers to encourage informed decision-making that moves us towards sustainability. We undertake research and use educational programs, community outreach, and consultation opportunities to provide the people of Saskatchewan with support, information, and the tools they need to make informed decisions.
SES concentrates on sustainable energy and climate solutions, water protection, resource conservation, biodiversity preservation, and reduction of toxic substances. We focus on four areas of action: provision of information services, speakers, and educational material; develop policy and solutions to problems, as well as influence and participate in societal decision-making; create action projects to demonstrate the viability of solutions; support community groups and assist them in organization of reaching sustainable goals in their communities, as well as help groups to shift towards sustainability.
We respectfully acknowledge that our work in Saskatchewan spans Treaties 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, and our office is located in Saskatoon on Treaty 6 territory, the traditional territory of Cree peoples, and the homeland of the Métis Nation.”
Guardians of Eternity
Historian and filmmaker Ron Harpelle of Lakehead University is working with independent filmmakers Kelly Saxberg (of Sheba Films) and France Benoit to make a documentary film about the arsenic issue at Giant mine. Giant Mine is an old gold mine in Yellowknife NWT that was abandoned by the company and left for the federal government to manage. The mine is full of toxic arsenic waste that must be kept isolated from the environment forever.
Here is an excerpt from the film, Guardians of Eternity. The woman interviewed in this clip speaks about the immense task and responsibility of warning all future generations of the danger. If Fortune Minerals is allowed to dump its arsenic and asbestos laden waste in Corman Park how will we protect future generations?
For more about the Giant Mine project see The Toxic Legacies Project
Photos from March 19 Public Meeting
On March 19, 2014 Fortune Minerals held a public meeting in Langham.
Clark’s Crossing Gazette reported on the meeting in the March 21 edition. Read Forum tackles concerns about Fortune Minerals refinery near Langham.
Here are some photos from that event.
Scientific study shows Dalmeny aquifer vulnerable to contamination
A study published in a scientific journal in 1986 tells that the thick underground layer of clay (called an “aquitard”) between the ground surface and the Dalmeny aquifer is full of vertical and horizontal cracks (fractures) and can conduct liquids 100 times faster than the same kind of clay (called “till”) would if it was not cracked. The Fortune Minerals EIS made the unfounded assumption that the clay layer was not cracked and thus concluded it would take 50o years for contaminants to reach the aquifer. This study tells us that contaminants would move 100 times faster — that is, the arsenic from the FM waste would reach the drinking water in 50 years — make that 5 years! This study also shows that it has taken less than 50 years for surface water to reach the aquifer because in 1985 they detected a certain amount of tritium (a radioactive form of water that was only released into the environment since 1945) in the Dalmeny aquifer.
Below, see a link to the full 12-page article, the publisher and author information, the abstract (summary) and a key paragraph from the study’s conclusion.
Published in Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 1986, 23(2): 229-240, 10.1139/t86-032
Link to full article http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/t86-032
Fracture permeability and groundwater flow in clayey till near Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
C. KENT KELLER
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ont., Canada N2L 3GI
GARTH VAN DER KAMP
Sedimentary Resources, Saskatchewan Research Council, 15 Innovation Boulevard, Saskatoon, Sask., Canada S7N 2×8
AND
JOHN A. CHERRY
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ont., CanadaN2L3GI
Received July 8, 1985
Accepted December 23, 1985
Field and laboratory studies of a clayey unweathered glacial till have shown that its bulk permeability exceeds its matrix permeability by two orders of magnitude [100 times]. Such findings are common for weathered till but are rare for unweathered till, and have important implications for groundwater recharge and contaminant transport. The till in question is 6 m thick and appears to be unweathered and unfractured. It is overlain by 12m of weathered and highly fractured till. Results of consolidation tests on the unweathered till indicate a mean vertical hydraulic conductivity of 3.5 x 10-” m.s-‘ and a mean specific storage of 1.3 X m-I. Results of slug tests yield a horizontal hydraulic conductivity of about 5 x mas-‘. Drawdowns in the till in response to pumping from the aquifer below indicate a vertical hydraulic diffusivity of 4.5 x 10-5m2-s-‘. The slug test results combined with specific storage results from consolidation tests indicate a similar value for horizontal hydraulic diffusivity of 4 X m2-s-‘. Geochemical patterns, tritium data, and measured seepage fluxes from an ephemeral pond also indicate that the vertical conductivity of the unweathered till is much higher than the value obtained from the consolidation tests. The data thus show that the unweathered till has significant vertical and horizontal fracture permeability.
Key words: till, permeability, fracture, groundwater recharge, contaminant transport.
5. Conclusions
The results of this study of the Dalmeny site demonstrate that a clayey glacial till, which exists at considerable depth below the water table and which exhibits no visual evidence of weathering or fractures in vertical core samples, has hydraulic properties attributable to a permeable fracture network. The bulk vertical and horizontal hydraulic conductivity of the till is approximately 5 X lop9m-s-‘; this is two orders of magnitude greater than the hydraulic conductivity of the till matrix. The Dalmeny site is flat and is located far from river valleys that could cause local stress anomalies in the till. Thus the hydraulically conductive nature of the unweathered till at this site may be characteristic of many other unweathered clayey aquitards in the Northern Interior Plains Region. An important implication of this study is that contaminants, which may enter the till at ground surface from waste-disposal activities, agricultural application of chemicals, or chemical spills, may not be effectively isolated from the aquifer by zones of unweathered clayey till. The fractures in the weathered and unweathered till may provide significant pathways for downward contaminant migration.
Medical Journal Article about Health Effects of Arsenic in Drinking Water
The Broad Scope of Health Effects from Chronic Arsenic Exposure: Update on a Worldwide Public Health Problem
1 Abstract
Background: Concerns for arsenic exposure are not limited to toxic waste sites and massive poisoning events. Chronic exposure continues to be a major public health problem worldwide, affecting hundreds of millions of persons.
Objectives: We reviewed recent information on worldwide concerns for arsenic exposures and public health to heighten awareness of the current scope of arsenic exposure and health outcomes and the importance of reducing exposure, particularly during pregnancy and early life.
Methods: We synthesized the large body of current research pertaining to arsenic exposure and health outcomes with an emphasis on recent publications.
Discussion: Locations of high arsenic exposure via drinking water span from Bangladesh, Chile, and Taiwan to the United States. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency maximum contaminant level (MCL) in drinking water is 10 µg/L; however, concentrations of > 3,000 µg/L have been found in wells in the United States. In addition, exposure through diet is of growing concern. Knowledge of the scope of arsenic-associated health effects has broadened; arsenic leaves essentially no bodily system untouched. Arsenic is a known carcinogen associated with skin, lung, bladder, kidney, and liver cancer. Dermatological, developmental, neurological, respiratory, cardiovascular, immunological, and endocrine effects are also evident. Most remarkably, early-life exposure may be related to increased risks for several types of cancer and other diseases during adulthood.
Conclusions: These data call for heightened awareness of arsenic-related pathologies in broader contexts than previously perceived. Testing foods and drinking water for arsenic, including individual private wells, should be a top priority to reduce exposure, particularly for pregnant women and children, given the potential for life-long effects of developmental exposure.
Fortune Minerals: Toxic Time-bomb 
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