Duhamel, July 8, 2025 — After six years of criticizing the La Loutre mining project for its incompatibility with the environmental, economic, and tourist resources of the Outaouais region, the Regroupement de protection des Lacs de la Petite-Nation (RPLPN) is launching a grassroots civic engagement campaign ahead of the local referendums regarding the mine's social acceptance, which will be held simultaneously on August 31 in the municipalities of Duhamel, Lac des Plages, Lac Simon, Chénéville, and Saint-Émile de Suffolk.

Supported by a group of 100 business people from the Petite-Nation who have come out against the mining project, the RPLPN is relying on the Quebec government's commitment not to authorize any mining project without social license to operate, and intends to democratically demonstrate the strong citizen opposition to the project. The La Loutre project, whose main sponsor is the US Department of Defense and which is described by its promoter, Lomiko Metals Inc., as the seventh largest graphite mine development project in the world, is located in the heart of the tourist region of Outaouais.

The RPLPN and its partners are denouncing this project on the basis of its incompatibility with the identity of this region and are launching a campaign to raise public awareness of the impacts of this mining project could have on water quality, public health, quality of life, and the region's status as a tourist destination, as well as the economic risks associated with property devaluation and volatile fluctuations in the global price of graphite.

Located less than two hours from Montreal and Ottawa, the proposed location of the mining project is on the shores of Lac Doré, an inhabited lake near the Lac Simon SEPAQ provincial park, which is visited by more than 250,000 people each year. Positioned at the headwaters of two watersheds that feed the entire Petite-Nation water system, the mine poses significant risks of pollution and contamination. The mine's planned 24-hour operations, blasting, and heavy industrial truck traffic near the lakes are considered incompatible with the region's quality of life and tourism potential, in addition to posing risks to its rich biodiversity and public health.

The citizens of the five municipalities will have a unique opportunity to make their views known in a referendum on this project. The Regroupement de protection des lacs de la Petite-Nation invites citizens to make sure they are registered to vote and to vote NO in large numbers to send a clear message to political decision-makers and investors.

The Regroupement also hopes that the management of Lomiko Metals Inc., whose motto is “People First,” will not hide but instead will be present in the community to defend its project.

Quotes:

“We have been saying this for more than six years now: this project is totally incompatible with who we are and what we want to be as a region. It is our environment, our quality of life, our health, our lakes, our forests, our roads, our homes, our sustainable economy—our future—that are at stake. We urge citizens to vote NO in large numbers to prevent the mining industry from taking over our region.” Louis St-Hilaire, President of the Regroupement de Protection des lacs de la Petite-Nation and spokesperson for the QLAIM Coalition.

"The arrival of this gigantic mining project would completely upset the balance of the region's economy, which is based on the harmonious development of its very rich natural resources, namely water and forests, and involves far too many risks. We are totally opposed to it," Geneviève Gagnon, President of Groupe Gagnon, Évolution Structures, spokesperson for the business community of the Petite-Nation against the Loutre project.

For more information:

• www.nonalaloutre.com
• Louis St-Hilaire, Président du Regroupement de protection des lacs de la Petite-Nation; sthilairelouis@gmail.com, 514-591-9167
• Geneviève Gagnon, Présidente Groupe Gagnon, Évolution Structures, Porte-parole des gens d’affaires de la Petite-Nation contre le projet la Loutre; ggagnon@gagnonlgq.com, 514-244-5622