100% Oppose the Cochrane Hill Gold Mine Proposal

I strongly oppose the Cochrane Hill Gold Mine for many reasons :

1. Cochrane Hill has only 4 1/2 years of mining decent ore, plus a couple years of processing some substantially less profitable (maybe even marginal) low grade stockpiles).
2. The majority of waste rock is definitely acid generating at this location.
3. The waste dumps are certainly a question mark there since they will be on the St Mary's side of the drainage.  
4. The water source they want to drain water from is Archibald’s Lake.  Home to native brook trout.  This also drains into the St Mary’s River.
5. Only a few years of profit for the company and some short term work in exchange for the rest of the province, stakeholders, etc having long term risk and disruption.
6. The company currently has 32 Environmental infractions in just 2 years of business
7. The stock price of this company has dropped significantly, indicating investors have some real concerns.
8. The employees of the Moose River operation have joined a union due to safety concerns, procedural concerns as well as low pay
9. The open pit of the mine would be 950m x 450m x 170m, or about the size of 38 Olympic-sized swimming pools and it will be left open once the mine closes after 5 years.
10. 43.1 million tonnes of rock would be excavated, at a rate of 22,086 tonnes per day. This will involve loud blasting 2 to 3 times per week, and 6 or more C-train truckloads of ore per day more passing through Sherbrooke to take the ore to be processed in Moose River Gold Mines.
11. Partially processed ore will be left on-site, creating a tall tailings pile. Bringing ore to the surface runs the risk of creating acid rock drainage, in which runoff from the tailings pile releases sulfuric acid and heavy metals into the river.
12. The Tailing ponds will be 2km long so roughly the length of the Sherbrooke school to the end of the village ( to put it into perspective) and 40M deep.
13. The Tailing ponds will be in the Mackeens Lake watershed which is the head waters for Atlantic Salmon and Trout and other species. This area is also has many homes and cottages that uses that water table.
14. Massive amounts of water will be needed (50,000L/day) to operate the mine and 500,000 cubic meters for start-up which would be withdrawn from the St. Mary’s River or Archibald Lake. This is a concern because Archibald’s Brook flows from the Lake and into the river and provides cooler water to help control water temps and oxygen levels for the St Mary’s River.
15. The flow of Archibald’s Brook is not being considered as well. Basic geomorphology principles tell us that stream channels form partly based on how much water runs through them. Reduced flow means the brook will become narrower and vegetation will grow in on both sides of the brook. In years 7 and 8, flows will be greatly increased of what they had been for the first 5-6 years of mine operations. This means all of the vegetation that grew in will now be torn out, in addition to major erosion throughout the original riparian area, and increased sediment transport downstream. This will degrade or ruin high quality spawning, rearing, and refuge habitats in Archibald’s Brook and St Mary's river .
16. Gold mining is ranked in the top 5 of the world’s worst and largest pollutants. This is for two reasons one is the final processing which involves arsenic and two Acid Mine Drainage
17. Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) is currently the main pollutant of surface water in the mid-Atlantic region.. AMD comes mainly from abandoned mines and currently active mining. AMD degrades more than 4500 stream miles in the mid-Atlantic region with the loss of aquatic life, and restricts stream use for recreation, public drinking water and industrial water supplies
18. A region impacted by acid mine drainage often has a decline in valued recreational fish species such as salmon and trout as well as a general decline in outdoor recreation and tourism along with contamination of groundwater drinking supplies
19. Physical habitat degradation –Flow of Archibald’s Brook is not being considered. Basic geomorphology principles tell us that stream channels form partly based on how much water runs through them. Reduced flow means the channel will become narrower and vegetation will grow in on both sides of the brook. In years 7 and 8, flows will be greatly increased of what they had been for the first 5-6 years of mine operations. This means all of the vegetation that grew in will now be torn out, in addition to major erosion throughout the original riparian area, and increased sediment transport downstream. This will degrade or ruin high quality spawning, rearing, and refuge habitats in Archibald’s Brook.
20. Habitat Quality for Compensation – Some habitat is of higher quality than other habitat for certain species. In this case, Mackeens Lake water shed’s composition represents quality spawning and rearing habitat for Atlantic Salmon. There is no compensation plan for this?
21. Proof of Barrier to Fish Passage – The proponent has not demonstrated with a study that the flow control structure is actually a barrier to fish passage. ECCC and DFO must require this of the proponent.
22. Financial Assurance – An unmet condition of approval of the provincial EIA was a requirement of the proponent to provide a Financial Securities Plan (FSP) within 6 months