Miners laud bill to end Nova Scotia uranium ban

Nova Scotia’s plans to end its decades-long ban on uranium mining and exploration would allow the province to play a key role in the world’s clean energy supply chain, says Sean Kirby, executive director of the Mining Association of Nova Scotia (MANS).

Earlier this week, a government bill that includes a repeal of Nova Scotia’s uranium ban was cleared for third reading at the legislature — a major step towards the provincial government’s plan to unlock its wealth of the nuclear fuel.

“Modern uranium mining is a safe, environmentally responsible activity that is essential to achieving climate goals,” Kirby said in a release this week. “There is no health, safety or environmental reason to ban uranium, and the ban harms our industry’s ability to create more jobs for Nova Scotians.”

Experts have drawn geological similarities of Nova Scotia to Canada’s uranium hotspot, the Athabasca Basin in northern Saskatchewan. The Atlantic province was once a hotbed of uranium exploration in the late 1970s, with tens of millions of dollars spent by major energy companies like Shell and Esso. However, due to health concerns raised by the public, the province declared a moratorium on uranium mining activities in 1981. In 2009, the NDP government legislated a full ban on uranium. 

Modern methods

MANS says that modern uranium methods are much different than what they were some 40 years ago. Today, most uranium is mined using solution mining (aka in-situ leaching), which results in less disturbance at surface and produces basically no tailings or waste rock, the association said.

A poll by MANS showed that 54% of Nova Scotians are in support of uranium mining, while only 22% oppose it. According to estimates, Nova Scotia’s mining and quarrying industry employs over 3,000 people, with average total compensation (wages and benefits) of C$102,000 per year.

The groundwork for revoking the uranium ban had been laid out by Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston, who presented the policies under Bill 6 as a way for the province to capitalize on its natural resources, especially during the ongoing trade war with the US. Nova Scotia’s Energy Minister Trevor Boudreau has also been in favour of the bill.

“Nova Scotia has potential for uranium,” Kirby said. “Lifting the province’s uranium ban will let us see whether our deposits are economically viable and whether we can contribute to global supply of this critical mineral.”