Corman Park pulls the plug on metal processing plant

RM council pulls plug on metal processing plant From CTV Saskatoon's Francois Biber: The Rural Municipality of Corman Park council voted down a rezoning application.

The Rural Municipality of Corman Park council voted down a rezoning application for 478 acres of agricultural land Monday night, putting a multi-million-dollar metal processing plant on the shelf.

At Monday’s council meeting the RM denied a rezoning application from Fortune Minerals to turn a massive chunk of land near the Town of Langham from agricultural use to a rural industrial use.

“At this point the rezoning has been denied by council, there is no appeal of a rezoning application so unless they have a different site in mind the plant will not be going forward at that location,” said Adam Tittemore, administrator for Corman Park.

In a media release Fortune Minerals said the rezoning application was required to construct and operate a hydrometallurgical facility to process metal concentrates from the company’s planned NICO mine in the Northwest Territories into the cobalt battery materials gold and bismuth.

According to the RM office the decision to deny the rezoning application stemmed from public disapproval, citing environmental concerns over the processing plant tapping into the Dalmeny aquifer and heavy metal leaching into the land and affecting neighbouring properties.

Tittemore said Fortune Minerals and about 60 members of the public packed council chambers to voice their concerns over this project.

In 2014, Fortune Minerals received environmental assessment approval from the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment. In a media release Fortune Minerals said the assessment concluded that “the proposal was assessed to be both environmentally and technically sound, providing both environmental safeguards and outlining company plans to ensure Saskatchewan’s air, water and natural resources are protected.”

The company said the proposed metal processing plant would have provided 80 to 90 full time jobs with an annual payroll of about $9 million and contracting opportunities during the construction of the facility were estimated to be valued at $76 million.

However, Tittemore said concerns over the environmental impact outweighed the economic benefits.

“We certainly received a lot of phone calls and emails and I know the councilors did as well, of opposition to the project based on a lot of those environmental and land-use conflicts,” he said.

“Our council still felt that there were questions and concerns in particular about what would be left behind and the impact on neighbouring properties.”

A spokesperson for Fortune Minerals said in an email they have identified “several alternative sites” for this plant, but didn’t offer any specifics. As to what the company plans to do with the 400-plus acres of land by Langham, the comment wouldn’t offer a comment.

The company said it’s looking at selling concentrates directly from the NICO mine and not processing the mined ore as originally planned.

Fortune Minerals held open houses in 2013 showcasing the project.