Gatineau Valley residents fear graphite mining could be headed their way

One year before the referendum on the La Loutre graphite mine project near the town of Duhamel, Que., a movement opposing mining activity is gaining momentum in the Gatineau Valley.

The company leading the project, Lomiko Metals, also has mining claims in Low, Que., and Kitigan Zibi Anishinābeg, communities north of Ottawa in the MRC Vallée-de-la-Gatineau.

The Quebec government announced in September it would not fund the La Loutre mine, but despite that decision, Lomiko Metals is continuing its mining explorations in other areas.

The operation is completely legal, the company has argued, but many of the valley's residents are worried about the possibility of mining developments close to home.

"We've started a community group that is against all mining activity in the municipality of Low, and part of that is putting up signage to let everybody know that we are not compatible with mining activity," said Carolyn Raab, a member of the community group ActionLow.

All 17 municipalities in the MRC Vallée-de-la-Gatineau have received these signs, Raab told Radio-Canada, and they will be posted "in solidarity with the other areas in Quebec that are also protesting."

Lomiko Metals did not respond to Radio-Canada's interview request.

Change to legislation

ActionLow is asking Quebec to give more powers to regional municipalities to control mining activity.

"The fact that Quebec won't invest [in the La Loutre mine], I'm glad to hear that. However, it's really a change of law that would be needed to stop any further mining activity," Raab said. 

Quebec Premier François Legault indicated in August 2022 that no mining projects would be carried out without what's referred to in the province as "social acceptability."

That authorization came into effect in May 2024, according to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forests, to ensure the concerns of local municipalities and Indigenous communities are taken into consideration. 

"There's a lot of regions right now that are battling [against mines]," said Claude Bouffard, co-ordinator of the Citizens' Committee Opposing La Loutre Mining Project.

"We're hoping that new modification to the law of mining in Quebec will really help so that citizens don't get caught in having to fight like this, because it's time-consuming."

'We feel for them'

Bouffard has been challenging the La Loutre mine project for years and said the province's decision to not fund the project was "a big victory."

The committee has expressed concerns in the past that the project could contaminate the local environment and put public health at risk.

"I think [Lomiko Metals] is struggling now, and it's fine by us, you know. We don't want that project to be developed. So the harder it is for them, the better it is for us," he said.  

But just because things are looking up in his area near Duhamel, Que., doesn't mean he wants the project relocated to another town in western Quebec. 

"We feel for them," he said. "We're the ones that alerted them in the first place that their territories were claimed about six months [to] nine months ago, and we made presentations to them in order to help them realize what was happening."

In the Low area, over 5,000 hectares of land has already been claimed, according to ActionLow's website. 

But meanwhile in nearby Gracefield, mining isn't as big of a worry — at least for now. 

"Here in Gracefield, we hear a little less about it," said Mayor Mathieu Caron in a french interview with Radio-Canada. "But the day a concrete mining project is going to be developed, it is [certain] that people will not want it."