The streets of Malartic in northwestern Quebec may not be paved with gold, but the ground underneath them is.
Some time next year, Osisko Mining Corp. plans to start ripping up those streets and digging what will become Canada’s biggest open-pit gold mine.
Never mind the 200 houses, the daycare centre, church, schools and eldercare facility that now line the streets – they’re being picked up and relocated or rebuilt in a new subdivision two kilometres to the north.
Some of the town’s residents oppose the mine on environmental grounds and because the company started working on the project more than a year before it received approval from the Quebec Environmental Assessment Board last week. Government approval could come as early as Wednesday.
But many are happy about the economic benefits it will bring to their economically depressed region, including 465 permanent jobs and close to 800 construction jobs.
“This has given us a second lease on life,” said Mayor André Vézeau. “We’ve been in decline since 1997. The mines closed, Domtar [sawmill] closed and we went from a population of about 8,000 to 3,800 in a blink of the eye.”
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Good time for the federal government to cut back on its very generous transfer payments to Quebec, the largest recipient of this plan, should this be a ‘cash-cow’ for Quebec.
Hear Hear UV
We already have the Danny Williams Discord in place.
Time for QUUUUbec to share with the ROC ?