Silica sand mining project getting more opposition following environmental impact study

A contentious silica sand mining project near Winnipeg is gaining more opposition, after a recent report recommends more study into environmental impacts. But residents of the area want to see the project be stopped altogether.

What used to be an area filled with trees and green space, has been completely deforested. Alberta-based company Sio Silica wants to drill over 7,000 wells across east and southeastern Manitoba to extract pure silica sand. The sand is used to produce multiple products including specialty glass, construction materials, and electronics.

“I just don’t think any of this is worth the cost of our drinking water,” said Georgina Mustard, mining property set up behind their property. “It’s very scary and possibly looking very grim if this does go through.”

Mustard and her family have been living on the property for over 25 years. For herself, her husband and their eight kids, the privacy they have had for so long will be no longer.

“We’ll have lights, I imagine 24/7, so for us to have a bonfire in the evening we probably wouldn’t have that. The noise, the air pollution, never mind the ground water contamination, or lack of water. There are just so many variables.”

On Friday, a report by the Clean Environment Commission was released, and includes eight recommendations concerning the project, including impacts on both water and air quality.

But Tangi Bell, a local resident, and the president of Our Line in the Sand, says the recommendations should have gone further.

“This is a high-risk project – it should have been stopped long ago. The CEC should’ve said, ‘that’s it stop it.’ It’s full of uncertainty, the incredible risks to the Aquifer. An aquifer system that supplies all of southeast Manitoba – the people, businesses, livestock. If that is gone there is no other place to get the water from,” said Bell.

The CEC also recommends the province appoint a project monitoring committee and have a risk assessment plan in place to determine the worst-case scenarios throughout the proposed 24-year project.

“It’s putting all of southeastern Manitoba under threat, total threat. You might as well just shutter up the doors and windows and bugger off,” said Bell.

Sio Silica says they have developed proprietary borehole extraction methods, separate the sane and return water to the aquifer, claiming the impact on local aquifers is almost net zero.

The report from the CEC now goes to Manitoba Environment Minister Kevin Klein who will have the final say. At a press conference on Friday, he said the province will review the report. Shawn Kettner with Manitoba Energy Justice Coalition says she fears projects like these will start up throughout the province.

“If that water in southeastern Manitoba is contaminated through the mining process, which ahs not been really tested yet, that’s it, there is no going back. If they start open pit mining up near Manigotagan, the community will definitely be exposed to silicosis. Silicon sand is nasty stuff – it’s a carcinogen,” said Kettner.

Kettner says mining companies and governments are not respecting Manitoba communities and Indigenous lands across the province.

“Ultimately, we are all going to affected and if we just let things go wild in order to make a buck, we are going to pay for it big time,” said Kettner.