Noranda fights back against misinformation

Noranda (NOR-T) subsidiary Magnola Metallurgy is responding to recent negative media reports over its $700-million magnesium processing facility, now under construction in Asbestos, Que.

Scheduled to begin production in the year 2000, the plant will use proprietary technology to produce 58,000 tonnes of magnesium metal annually from serpentine contained in tailings from the Jeffrey asbestos mine, which is owned by privately held JM Asbestos. Noranda owns 80% of Magnola Metallurgy while the Societe generale de financement du Quebec owns the remainder.

The controversy has its roots in a major United Nations-sponsored conference, held in Montreal in late June, which saw representatives of over 100 governments meet in a first round of talks on ways to minimize emissions of persistent organic pollutants such as DDT and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).

Egged on by Greenpeace and other environmental groups attending the conference, Montreal and Toronto media produced a series of print, radio and television reports that suggested the Magnola project would “create some of the worst pollution in Canada,” spewing such toxins as dioxins, PCBs and hexachlorobenzene (HCB) into the environment.

Toronto Star environment reporter Brian McAndrew, who wrote one such article, is unrepentant, saying that, “Whether these toxins are released into the air or recaptured, this company is going to produce an enormous amount of toxic chemicals.”

Magnola Metallurgy President Michael Avedesian says that the technical data and other details quoted in the reports are “grossly inaccurate” and have caused considerable confusion. He emphasizes that the Magnola will be one of the cleanest and most environmentally responsible metallurgical plants in the world.

“These statements that we will be a major emitter of dioxins and furans are absolutely false,” says Avedesian. “You have to realize that a lot of this is emotional rhetoric.

“I agree with the objectives of Greenpeace, they’re honorable and what the group is trying to achieve is right. Unfortunately, in this particular case, they are not acting fairly and justly with us, and this is casting doubt on our credibility.”

In particular, Magnola wants to clarify four points:

* Magnola’s air emissions of PCBs, as stated in the environmental impact assessment, will be 3 kg per year (not 171 kg as reported). In addition, 1.3 kg per year will be contained in a storage pond on site.

* The project will emit 21 kg per year of HCB (not 2,100 kg as reported).

Another 54 kg per year will be contained in the storage pond.

* Magnola will release a (negligible) 0.09 gram per year (in toxic-equivalent units) of dioxins and furans. A further 20 grams per year will be produced and contained in the residue storage pond.

*At no time did the Quebec government or BAPE (the Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environment — an independent commission of public inquiry mandated by Quebec’s Minister of Environment) refuse the project. In its report, BAPE recommended approval of Magnola, subject to Magnola Metallurgy responding to certain recommendations. Following Magnola’s positive response to these, and the recommendation of BAPE, the Quebec government approved the project in an April 1998 decree.

Magnola responded to concerns raised during the public hearing process by making several changes, including: completely eliminating the use of SF6 before the end of 2005; and installing process control equipment to remove 95% of the chlorinated hydrocarbons contained in the residue, which will be secured in a storage pond that will have an additional layer of protection added.

Magnola Metallurgy has carried out an environmental impact study that cost almost $3 million and lasted about two years. It included input from emission studies, health risk analyses and public consultations. Says Avedesian, “The conclusion was that our emissions of dioxins, furans, PCBs and HCB would have no impact on the health and safety of the population or the workers.”

Quebec’s chief toxicologist, Albert Nantel, who testified at the public hearings, has been quoted as saying, “In my opinion, Magnola has no significant negative impact on the health and safety of the workers or the population.”

Gisele Page, who headed the BAPE commission studying the Magnola project, says that almost all of BAPE’s recommendations were adopted in the provincial decree authorizing the project. Adds Pag, “The conditions that allowed the project to be approved were very severe and Magnola Metallurgy, [aiming to eliminate] potential emissions problems, has re-injected money into the project to ensure it conforms with the regulations in place for these toxic contaminants.”

Regarding the toxic substances in question, the decree set the following ambient concentration limits outside the Magnola project’s property limits: HCB, 2.2 nanograms per cubic metre; decachlorobiphenyls, 1 nanogram per cubic metre; dioxins and furans, 500 femtogram per cubic metre.