CCB - Letter to Premier May 27 2019
May 27 2019 - 9:45AM
Premier Francois Legault, Minister Jonathan Julien and all the
elected representatives of the Coalition Avenir Quebec, we would
like to address comments made by Ugo Lapointe of Mining Watch on
May 24, 2019.
Canada Carbon is proposing a very small
environmentally benign project on private land involving marble and
graphite. The graphite found on the Miller property in GSLR
has been tested by independent labs and has proven to be the purest
graphite in the world according to available data. Canada
Carbon has many third-party reports which indicate that our project
will cause no harm to the water supply nor will there be any acid
mine drainage. Our reports have all been made public and we
invite you to review our reports. Based on the Company’s
Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”), the Miller mine could
inject $189.7 million in the local and regional economy, pay $70.5
million in tax, create 58 jobs during construction and more than
100 well-paid jobs during life of mine.
Canada Carbon received two certificates of
compliance from the former council of GSLR that were used to submit
our file to the CPTAQ. Once the new council was elected in
November 2017 they immediately took steps to block the project and
even went so far as to file false documents with the CPTAQ stating
that Canada Carbon was not in compliance with municipal
regulations. This false declaration resulted in Canada
Carbon’s file being administratively closed by the CPTAQ and in
effect, killed the project.
Canada Carbon believes very strongly in social
acceptability. We interpret social acceptability as a process in
which all interested stakeholders exchange dialogue and information
regarding a proposed project with the view to determining the
issues and attempting to find some acceptable resolutions to those
issues. We began the process of engaging with the community
and providing information about the project in 2017 prior to
municipal elections. We held a full open doors session for
the citizens of GSLR and had some discussions with the municipality
and MRC that enabled us to find solutions or answers to address the
main concerns of GSLR at the time (roads, property size, water,
sound impact, work creation). Our efforts were blocked with
the election of the new council for GSLR. Prior to, during
and subsequent to the election, citizens of GSLR have been wrongly
informed that the Miller project would poison their water and
destroy their town. Subsequent to the election, we sent a letter to
the new Mayor requesting a meeting to discuss the project but he
never responded to our request. The new council of GLSR has never
met with us to discuss their concerns or to show us any evidence
for their claims that the Miller project would result in
environmental damage.
The councillors of GSLR and Ugo Lapointe view
social acceptability as a process whereby a handful of people fear
monger and knowingly spread inaccurate information to the community
with the view of turning residents against a project. We view this
as defamation with the intent to damage. In GSLR and Mr. Lapointe’s
version of social acceptability, there is no discussion with the
mining company and no need for facts. GSLR and Mr. Lapointe
know that the law has been broken and that there may be
consequences. As a result, their plan of action has included the
following:
- Continue to spread inaccurate information about the Miller
project via the media so that the project will be vilified in the
court of public opinion;
- Focus attention on the size of the damages lawsuit with the
view of getting public sympathy;
- Attempt to discredit the Company’s PEA report by engaging an
American engineer, whom Mining Watch has utilized in the past, to
highlight all the risks in the project and to state that the
project is not economic; and
- Pressure the government to change the laws so that GSLR will
not be held accountable for their actions.
Canada Carbon’s Preliminary Economic Assessment
was prepared by Tetra Tech, an international engineering firm, and
took over a year to complete with the input of a number of
consultants and experts. Significant effort went into the
report and the Company stands by the information in the PEA. At the
time of the PEA, the Company only had inferred resources.
Predominantly on that basis, the American engineer hired by Mining
Watch concludes that the project is not economically viable.
Subsequent to the release of the PEA in March
2016, a new resource estimate model was completed in 2017. The
model significantly increased the overall resource that had been
reported in the PEA and more importantly, transferred some of the
inferred resources to the indicated category. SGS Canada is
currently working on a new resource estimate based on the results
of the Company’s last drill program. We expect to get those results
shortly. The Company was working towards preparing its
feasibility study when its Project was halted by the actions of
GSLR.
There are risks in all projects but the
existence of risk does not render a project unprofitable.
There is one statement made by Mr. Lapointe in
his May 24, 2019 communication that is correct. The handling
of this case will definitely impact the image of social
acceptability and the mining industry in Quebec. Country risk is
one of the greatest risks of mining. We suspect that the outcome of
this case will deter future mining investment in Quebec as
prospective investors realize that their projects can be halted and
their rights can be stripped away at any time due to a change of
municipal councillors that are allowed to act illegally without
communication or facts that support their actions.
We would appreciate having a sit down meeting
with you to discuss the real facts related to Canada Carbon and
Grenville-sur-la-Rouge (GSLR).
Sincerely,
CANADA CARBON INC. “R. Bruce Duncan”
CEO & Director
Contact InformationE-mail
inquiries: info@canadacarbon.comP: (604) 685-6375F: (604)
909-1163
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