The Bloom Lake iron mine is expanding. The Quebec mine, which started in 2018, has plans to more than double annual production next year. The estimated 572 million cubic metres (more than nine million shipping containers) of tailings waste created by this mine will end up in eight lakes and 37 rivers, where it will remain forever. 

Bloom Lake is but one of many mines in Canada that has either received approval to use natural bodies of water such as lakes as tailings impoundment areas — basically, permanent storage for mining waste — or is requesting authorization to do so. It is an object lesson in how mines are granted permission to destroy habitat. 

Using lakes, rivers and wetlands in this fashion is equivalent to landfilling. They will be ruined forever, require perpetual environmental monitoring and potentially spread pollution. They’ll no longer be available for fishing or recreation, or as sources of clean water. And Canada’s new push for mineral exploitation and the One Canadian Economy Act (C-5) has some worried that even more approvals are on the horizon. 

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