Community leaders in Nairn &Hyman Township, the Township of Baldwin and First Nations along the North Shore Corridor have sent letters of protest to Ontario Premier Doug Ford to voice their displeasure with an Ontario Ministry of Transportation proposal regarding niobium tailings.
According to the release, the townships also copied the letter to several cabinet ministers and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission as part of a campaign to halt the transfer.
In the letter to the premier, signed off by Nairn Township CAO Belinda Ketchabaw, it states Nairn council has passed a resolution opposing the trucking plan.
The United Chiefs and Council of Mnidoo Mnising (UCCMM) have also sent a letter of protest.
All the parties state there has to be more study, more information and more time before the trucks start moving and the plan is put in place.
The Ontario government has not confirmed when the transfer will begin, but the community leaders are launching the campaign to increase public awareness of their opposition to the plan.
Billboards and public protests are also in the works depending on the response from Premier Ford.
The plan would see 34,000 tonnes of niobium tailings, gravel and dirt hauled from Nipissing First Nation near North Bay to the Agnew Lake Uranium Tailings site located north of the two townships.
Officials say Niobium is a low-level radioactive material, also known as naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM) with the commission stating at a previous public meeting it was not worried about them, but locals are concerned about the effect on the source of their drinking water, as well as bare uranium tailings that are already exposed at the site where remedial work has not been completed.
It was revealed in the summer of 2024 that MTO had a plan to truck 34,000 tonnes of niobium tailings located at the Nipissing First Nation, just west of North Bay.
Despite that, the concern continues in Nairn over the idea of using niobium tailings to cover up radioactive uranium tailings.
The CSNC has stated it is worried about the Agnew Lake tailings because part of the ground cover there has become eroded over the years, but have not provided any further details on what work is to be carried out.
With the bare uranium tailings exposed to the environment, radiation has been detected.
