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Atlantic Gold’s parent company hints it may halt its Nova Scotia operation

After St Barbara Ltd issued a statement falsely blaming the province for permitting delays, its stock price fell by 14%.

June 25, 2022 By Joan Baxter

St Barbara Ltd, the Australian mining company that owns Atlantic Gold and Atlantic Mining NS, which operates the Touquoy open pit gold mine in Moose River, is in trouble. This week, St Barbara’s share prices crashed 14% “to a multi-year low,” after the company released a statement that warns of “near-term risk of disruption” at...

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Filed Under: Commentary, Environment, Featured, Province House, Subscribers only Tagged With: Atlantic Gold, Atlantic Mining NS, Australia, Beaver Dam, Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, CEAA, Craig Jetson, Department of Natural Resources and Renewables, DFO, DNRR, Eastern Shore Forest Watch Association, environmental assessment, environmental charges, Fifteen-Mile Stream, Fisheries and Oceans, gold mine, Halifax Regional Municipality, IAAC, Impact Assessment Agency of Canada, industrial approval, Moose River, Nova Scotia Environment and Climate Change, NSECC, open pit gold mine, Papua New Guinea, Simberi, St Barbara Ltd, Steven Dean, tailings, tailings management facility, Touquoy

Nova Scotia has a draft list of ‘critical minerals’ and gold is not on it

June 1, 2022 By Joan Baxter 2 Comments

Nova Scotia’s Department of Natural Resources and Renewables has developed a draft list of “critical minerals” it says are essential for a transition from “carbon-based energy” to “mineral-based energy” to achieve net zero and combat climate change. They are: cobalt, copper, gallium, germanium, graphite, indium, lithium, manganese, niobium, rare earth elements (REE), tantalum, tin, tungsten, […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, Province House Tagged With: Anaconda Gold, Andrew Ghattas, Atlantic Gold, carbon-based energy, climate change, cobalt, copper, critical minerals, Department of Natural Resources and Renewables (DNRR), Diane Webber, fossil fuels, gallium, germanium, gold, graphite, indium, Janice Zinck, lithium, manganese, Mining Association of Nova Scotia (MANS), mining industry, MiningWatch Canada, Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), net zero, niobium, Nova Scotia Environment and Climate Change, Nova Scotia Geological Survey, rare earth elements (REE), Ron Mills, St Barbara Ltd, tantalum, tin, tungsten, uranium, zinc

How RCMP commanders’ bumbling response to Portapique allowed the killer to continue his murder spree

Morning File, Friday, May 27, 2022

May 27, 2022 By Tim Bousquet 4 Comments

News 1. Bumbling response to Portapique Yesterday, retired RCMP Staff Sergeant Al Carroll testified via Zoom at the Mass Casualty Commission (MCC), the public inquiry into the mass murders of April 18/19, 2020. Through his questioning of Carroll, MCC lawyer Roger Burrill aptly laid out how a series of cascading policing errors built upon each […]

Filed Under: Featured, Morning File Tagged With: Al Carroll, Atlantic Gold, Cape Breton, Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM), Destination Cape Breton Association (DCBA), economy, Ivany Report, Mass Casualty Commission (MCC), mass shooting, Moose River, Nicholas Taleb, Nova Scotia Environment and Climate Change (NSECC), Other People's Money, Portapique, RCMP, resilient, Terry Smith, The Black Swan, Touquoy gold mine, Tourism, Tourism Nova Scotia, Tracy Barron, waste rock, waterfalls, Yarmouth ferry

Up close and privileged: Nova Scotia’s “One Window” process gives mining execs seats at the table in the halls of power

March 19, 2022 By Joan Baxter 2 Comments

On November 1, 2018, a year after Atlantic Gold produced its first gold bar at its Touquoy open pit mine in Moose River, 11 provincial public servants gathered for a two-hour meeting with four high-level representatives of the gold mining company. Two were with Nova Scotia Environment, six with Lands and Forestry, and three with […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured Tagged With: Atlantic Gold, Atlantic Mining NS, Beaver Dam, Cochrane Hill, corporate capture, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Department of Natural Resources and Renewables (DNRR), Dustin O’Leary, Eastern Shore, Energy and Mines, Environment Canada, environmental assessment, environmental charges, ESTMA reports, extractive industries, Extractive Sector Transparency Measures Act (ESTMA), Fifteen Mile Stream mine, fines, FOIPOP, Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy, gold mine, Guinea, Jim Millard, John Savage, Jonathan Porter, Judge Alana Murphy, Lands and Forestry, Mi’kmaq Conservation Group, mineral development, Mineral Resources Development Fund (MRDF), Mining One Window Process, Moose River, Moose River Road, Natural Resources Canada, Northern Pulp, Northern Timber, Nova Scotia, Nova Scotia Envrionment and Climate Change (NSECC), Office of L'nu Affairs, old growth forest, One Window process, one-stop-shop, open pit gold mine, Paper Excellence, Patricia Jreige, Public Accounts, public servants, regulatory capture, Sierra Leone, St Barbara Ltd, taxes, Touquoy gold mine, Unama'ki Institute of Natural Resources (UINR)

Anaconda Mining joins the gold rush on Nova Scotia’s Eastern Shore

Part 3: From West Africa's gold fields to Canada’s ocean playground

February 13, 2022 By Joan Baxter 1 Comment

Gold exploration and mining companies are lining up to get at Nova Scotia’s gold, as the province undergoes a fourth gold rush. In 2017, Atlantic Gold opened the province’s first-ever open pit gold mine in Moose River, with plans to open three more along the Eastern Shore, in what it described to potential investors as […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured Tagged With: Anaconda Mining, Atlantic Gold, Atlantic Mining NS, Aurelius Minerals, B2Gold Corp, Barbara Markovits, Barrick Gold, Blaise Compaore, Boungou mine, Burkina Faso, Canada, Canadian Dimension, Canadian Mining Assets, Cayman Islands, climate change, Côte d'Ivoire, Cuba, DDV Gold, donor countries, Eastern Shore, Eastern Shore Forest Watch Association, Endeavour Financial Corporation, Endeavour Mining, Estruscan Resources, European Union, Extractive Sector Transparency Measures Act (ESTMA), gerald McConnell, Ghana, gold, gold mine, gold rush, Goldboro, High River Gold, IAMGOLD, insurgency, International Crisis Group, International Finance Corporation (IFC), James Wilt, jihadist, John Savage, Kevin Bullock, Kiaka gold project, Kirk Woodman, Libya, Lindsay Mine Services, Mali, Meguma Gold, Mina Resources, mining laws, Moose River, Natural Resources Canada, neo-colonialism, Newfoundland, Niger, Nova Scotia, Ouagadougou, Ouoba Boukary, Owen Schalk, Progress Minerals, Roxgold, Sadiola gold mine, SEDAR, Semafo, St Barbara Ltd, The Narwhal, Thomas Sankara, Toega gold project, Toronto, United Nations, United States, Vancouver, Volta Resources, West Africa, West African Resources, World Bank Goup

Atlantic Gold sentenced to $250,000 fines and penalties after pleading guilty to federal and provincial environmental charges

February 11, 2022 By Joan Baxter 2 Comments

Provincial court judge Alana Murphy has sentenced Atlantic Mining NS, which does business in Nova Scotia as Atlantic Gold, to pay a total of $250,000 in fines and contributions for failing to comply with federal and provincial environmental regulations at and around its Touquoy open pit gold mine in Moose River, about an hour’s drive […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, News Tagged With: Atlantic Gold, Atlantic Mining NS, Beaver Dam, Cochrane Hill, David Cox, deleterious substances, Environment and Climate Change Canada, environmental charges, Fifteen-Mile Stream, Fisheries Act, gold mine, Impact Assessment Agency of Canada, Jennifer Henderson, John Perkins, Judge Alana Murphy, Marian Fortune-Stone, Meryl Jones, Mi’kmaq Conservation Group, Mining Association of Nova Scotia (MANS), Nova Scotia Environment and Climate Change, Nova Scotia Salmon Association, Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC), St Barbara Ltd, Touquoy open pit gold mine, Unama'ki Institute of Natural Resources (UINR)

Anaconda joins the gold rush on Nova Scotia’s Eastern Shore

Part 2. Anaconda aims to avoid a federal impact assessment for its proposed open pit gold mine, but some say the whole regulatory process in Canada is “rigged”

February 11, 2022 By Joan Baxter 1 Comment

Gold exploration and mining companies are lining up to get at Nova Scotia’s gold, as the province undergoes a fourth gold rush. In 2017, Atlantic Gold opened the province’s first-ever open pit gold mine in Moose River, with plans to open three more along the Eastern Shore, in what it described to potential investors as […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, News Tagged With: Abbé Jean-Louis LaLoutre, Anaconda Mining, Atlantic Gold, Atlantic Mining NS, Aurelius Minerals, Barbara Markovits, Beaver Dam, Canadian Environmental Assessment Act 2012, Cape Breton Spectator, Class I environmenal assessment, Class II environmental assessment, clearcutting, Cochrane Hill, corporate capture, DDV Gold, Department of Natural Resources and Renewables, Donna Ashamock, Eastern Shore Forest Watch Association, environmental assessment, Fifteen-Mile Stream, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, gold mine, gold rush, Goldboro, Goldboro mine project, green economy, Health Canada, Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC), Iris Communications, Joel Bakan, John Perkins, Kevin Bullock, Kirby McVicar, Kwilmu’kw Maw-klusuaqn Negotiation Office (KMKNO), lobbyist, Mainland Moose, Margaret Miller, Mary Campbell, Meguma Gold, Mi'kmaq, Mi’kmaq Rights Initiative, Mi’kmaw Ecological Knowledge, Mining Association of Canada, MiningWatch Canada, Moose River, Natural Resources Canada, Nova Scotia Department of Fisheries an Aquaculture, Nova Scotia Department of Lands and Forestry, Nova Scotia Environment and Climate Change (NSECC), One WIndow Regulatory process, open pit gold mine, Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC), regulatory capture, Seamus O'Regan, St Barbara Ltd, Stephen McNeil, Sustainable Northern Nova Scotia (SuNNS), tailings, tailings facility, The Corporation, Touquoy gold mine, Ugo Lapointe, Vernon Pitts, watersheds, Western Mining Action Network

Anaconda Mining joins the gold rush on Nova Scotia’s Eastern Shore

Part 1. What do we know about its plans for a new open pit mine in Goldboro (and haven't we been here before)?

February 10, 2022 By Joan Baxter 2 Comments

Gold exploration and mining companies are lining up to get at Nova Scotia’s gold, as the province undergoes a fourth gold rush. In 2017, Atlantic Gold opened the province’s first-ever open pit gold mine in Moose River, with plans to open three more along the Eastern Shore, in what it peddled to investors as its […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured Tagged With: acid rock drainage, Anaconda Mining, arsenic, Atlantic Gold, Atlantic Mining NS, Aurelius Minerals, CN Tower, corporate capture, Dartmouth, Department of Energy and Mines, Department of Natural Resources and Renewables, Eastern Shore Forest Watch, ESTMA, expropriation, Extractive Sector Transparency Measures Act (ESTMA), focus report, Fogarty’s Cove, FOIPOP, Geological Survey of Canada, gold, Gold Brook Lake, gold mine, Goldboro, Goldenville, historic tailings, history gold mining districts, Howard Richardson, Joan Kuyek, Joel Bakan, Kevin Bullock, Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), Lloyd Hines, man camp, Margaret Miller, Maritime Launch Services, Meguma Gold, mercury, Mi’kmaq Grassroots Grandmothers, Mike Parsons, mine tailings, Mineral Resources Act, Mining Association of Nova Scotia (MANS), MiningWatch Canada, Montague Mines, Moose River, Morien Resources, Municipality of the District of Guysborough (MODG), Natural Resources Canada, Nova Scotia Environment and Climate Change, open pit gold mine, Pieridae Energy, Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC), reclamation plan, regulatory capture, St Barbara Ltd, Stan Rogers, The Corporation, Toronto, Touquoy gold mine, Transport and Infrastructure Renewal, Unearthing Justice, Vernon Pitts, Vulcan Resources, waste rock

What if we just left gold in the ground?

An Australian professor envisions a greener gold market, with investors trading in un-mined gold.

February 7, 2022 By Joan Baxter 4 Comments

Nova Scotia is experiencing a fourth gold rush, this one far more disruptive and destructive than the underground gold mining of centuries past. While the ore is no longer processed using mercury, and arsenic-laden tailings are no longer simply dumped into streams and the landscape as they were from historic mines in the province, the […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured Tagged With: Atlantic Gold

Atlantic Gold pleads guilty to environmental charges; prosecutors propose slap-on-the-wrist fines

February 4, 2022 By Jennifer Henderson 2 Comments

Provincial court judge Alana Murphy has reserved decision on whether Atlantic Mining NS Inc., which does business in Nova Scotia as Atlantic Gold, should pay a total of $250,000 in fines and contributions for failing to comply with federal and provincial environmental regulations at its open-pit Touquoy gold mine at Moose River, an hour’s drive […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, News Tagged With: Atlantic Gold

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PRICED OUT

A collage of various housing options in HRM, including co-ops, apartment buildings, shelters, and tents
PRICED OUT is the Examiner’s investigative reporting project focused on the housing crisis.

You can learn about the project, including how we’re asking readers to direct our reporting, our published articles, and what we’re working on, on the PRICED OUT homepage.

2020 mass murders

Nine images illustrating the locations, maps, and memorials of the mass shootings

All of the Halifax Examiner’s reporting on the mass murders of April 18/19, 2020, and recent articles on the Mass Casualty Commission and newly-released documents.

Updated regularly.

Uncover: Dead Wrong

In 1995, Brenda Way was brutally murdered behind a Dartmouth apartment building. In 1999, Glen Assoun was found guilty of the murder. He served 17 years in prison, but steadfastly maintained his innocence. In 2019, Glen Assoun was fully exonerated.

Halifax Examiner founder and investigative journalist Tim Bousquet has followed the story of Glen Assoun's wrongful conviction for over five years. Now, Bousquet tells that story as host of Season 7 of the CBC podcast series Uncover: Dead Wrong.

Click here to go to listen to the podcast, or search for CBC Uncover on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast aggregator.

The Tideline, with Tara Thorne

A young white woman with dark hair and a purple shirt lies on a large rock at dusk, looking up at the sky and playing her banjolele.

Episode 85 of The Tideline, with Tara Thorne, is published.

Logan Robins (writer/director/composer) and Katherine Norris (star/composer) of the Unnatural Disaster Theatre Company are on the show this week ahead of their provincial tour of HIPPOPOSTUMOUS, Robins’ musical exploration of invasive species, colonization, environmentalism, and history. Hear how Pablo Escobar’s personal hippos have invaded and are ruining a section of Colombia, why Robins was intrigued to make a show about it, and all the places you can catch it this July. Plus Norris cracks out the banjolele to perform one of the show’s songs. And the new jam from Beauts!

Listen to the episode here.

Check out some of the past episodes here.

Subscribe to the podcast to get episodes automatically downloaded to your device — there’s a great instructional article here. Email Suzanne for help.

You can reach Tara here.

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