The company must meet the provincial standard for all other metals it releases into the air by the end of the permit.
Environment Minister Benoit Charette presented the new certificate for the Horne foundry on Thursday afternoon.
Photo: Radio Canada / Jean-Marc Belzile
The Department for the Environment, Combating Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks says it has ensured the plan presented to Glencore is realistic and achievable and that almost all public health recommendations have been implemented.
Glencore must also come up with a plan to reach the provincial standard of 3 nanograms by the end of 2027.
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The certificate mentions that by 2023 Horne Foundry must meet Quebec standards for silver, barium, beryllium, antimony, thallium, vanadium and nickel. These standards were already applied in 2022.
Daily standards in 2027
The Horne smelter must also meet daily standards for arsenic, lead, nickel, copper, zinc and cadmium from 2027.
The Ministry believes that the company could not have complied with these restrictions when realizing the PHENIX project.
Horne Foundry will be the only Quebec company required to apply daily standards, and those standards were proposed by the National Institute of Public Health. The company must also meet daily standards for sulfur dioxide and particulate matter in March 2027.
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Add monitoring stations
The agreement also includes the addition of 3 sampling stations in the community to monitor 360 degrees of metal emissions around the company. The new stations are located in Noranda-Nord, in the Sacré-Coeur district and at the Université du Québec in Abitibi-Témiscamingue.
The ministry asserts that these new stations allow for better surveillance, but are not taken into account in the ministerial permit. The only station where the Horne foundry must meet the standards imposed is that of the legal station in the Notre-Dame neighborhood.
The Parc Tremblay air quality measuring station is located in the Montée du Sourire sector, about three kilometers as the crow flies from the Horne Foundry.
Photo: Radio Canada / Guillaume Renaud
The frequency of heavy metal sampling is every 2 days instead of every 3 days as was the case in the last agreement. The data should also be published as soon as possible. The Ministry estimates that the delay could be around 1 month.
Hexavalent chromium is also measured at the legal station when technology allows. The station in Tremblay Park in the Montée du Sourire district now also measures metals.
Better monitoring of entrances
The Department for the Environment believes there is no doubt that what goes into the Horne Smelter has a direct impact on emissions.
The department now has access to everything that comes into the company, including where it is stored. The government agency will not prevent Horne Foundry from receiving certain complex concentrates, but Horne Foundry must respect ministerial approval if it wishes to continue this type of activity. According to the ministry, the foundry must manage its inputs accordingly.
Better wastewater management
Quebec also wants to tighten the screw when it comes to waste water management at the Horne Foundry. The company has been adding non-compliance notices for more than 10 years, specifically due to its release of NO-12 effluents.
The ministry wants to tighten standards for copper and petroleum hydrocarbons and add a standard for cadmium in relation to the company’s final effluents. It is also hoped that the Horne Foundry will once and for all address the toxicity issues for the NO-12 effluent that flows into Lake Rouyn.
Punish
The department stipulates that penalties are foreseen if violations of the agreement are observed. He mentions that there could be violations and the imposition of administrative fines, as well as criminal investigations or civil remedies. The Ministry has not applied for specific amounts.