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Atlantic Gold’s lobbying blitz

The company is now in court on charges of harming the environment, regulators are casting a wary eye at its plans for future environmental protection, and investors are getting worried, so Atlantic Gold has hired a lobbyist to fast track federal approval of its Nova Scotia projects.

February 5, 2021 By Joan Baxter

Last year it was a propaganda blitz. For several weeks in the spring of 2020, Atlantic Gold, which operates an open pit gold mine in Moose River in the Halifax Regional Municipality and wants to open three more along the Eastern Shore, bombarded people in Nova Scotia with its PR. Atlantic Gold’s owner, Australia’s St...

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Filed Under: Commentary, Environment, Featured, News, Province House, Subscribers only Tagged With: Aaron Beswick, Alex Barkley, Archibald Lake, Archibald Lake Wilderness Area, Atlantic Canada Opportunity Agency (ACOA), Atlantic Gold, Atlantic Mining NS, Beaver Dam, CBC, Chronicle Herald, Cochrane Hill gold mine, Craig Jetson, Credit Suisse, Darmouth Provincial Court, DDV Gold, Department of lands and Forestry, Dustin O’Leary, Eastern Shore, Environmental Impact Statement, Fifteen Mile Stream mine, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), Freedom of Information request, Friends of the St. Mary’s River, Goldman Sachs, Impact Assessment Agency of Canada, J.P. Morgan, Joel Bakan, John Perkins, Krista Gillis, lobbyist, Lobbyists Registration Act, Margaret Anne McHugh, Maryse Belanger, Mi'kmaq, Mining Association of Nova Scotia (MANS), Mitchell Glawson, Mogran Stanley, moose, Moose River, Moose River Consolidated Project, Narrative Research, NATIONAL Public Relations, Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), NOPE campaign, Nova Scotia Environment, Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil, open pit gold mine, Ottawa, proposed Beaver Dam mine, protected wilderness areas, Sean Kirby, Sherbrooke, St Barbara Ltd, St. Mary's River, The Corporation, Tiéoulé Traoré, Touquoy mine, Tracy Barron, Wilderness Areas Protection Act

Nova Scotia has laid charges for 32 environmental infractions against Atlantic Gold

Citizens raise concerns about environmental impacts of gold mining in Nova Scotia's moose country.

December 23, 2020 By Joan Baxter 2 Comments

Much attention is focused on Crown land in Digby County that is threatened by logging operations. And last week, nine people from Extinction Rebellion were arrested while trying to prevent contractors in the employ of the WestFor consortium from accessing the public forest and moose habitat slated for cutting. But in another part of the […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured Tagged With: 15-Mile Stream, Atlantic Gold, Atlantic Mining NS, Beaver Dam, Betty Belmore, biodiversity, Bob Bancroft, Caribou, Cochrane Hill gold mine, Dave Gunning, Deborah Bayer, Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), Department of Lands and Forestry (DLF), Dustin O’Leary, Eastern Shore, endangered species, erosion, Extinction Rebellion, Impact Assessment Agency of Canada, James Millard, Krista Gillis, Mitchell Glawson, moose, Moose River, Moose River Consolidated Project, Moose River gold mine, Mooseland, Mooseland Road, Nature Nova Scotia, Northern Pulp, Northern Timber, Nova Scotia Environment (NSE), proposed Beaver Dam mine, Rachel Boomer, salmon, Save Caribou group, Scraggy Lake, sedimentation, Sherbrooke, St. Barbara Limited, St. Mary's River, Touquoy mine, trout, Veronica Chisholm

Port Wallace Gamble: the real estate boom meets Nova Scotia’s toxic mine legacy

Part 1: The making of a toxic mess and the uncalculated costs of previous gold rushes.

March 1, 2020 By Joan Baxter 4 Comments

This is Part 1 of a three-part story about the toxic legacy from historic gold mines in Nova Scotia, which its citizens will be paying many millions of dollars to try to clean up, and how the contamination at just one of these sites — Montague Mines in HRM — is still affecting lives today, […]

Filed Under: City Hall, Environment, Featured, Investigation, News, Province House Tagged With: Alexander Heatherington, arsenic from mining, Atlantic Gold, Barry's Run, Canadian Extractive Industries Transparency Measures Act (ESTMA), Clayton Developments, Cochrane Hill gold mine, Damas Touquoy, Department of Energy and Mines (DEM), Department of Lands and Forestry (DLF), Francis Paul, gold mining, gold mining pollution, Goldenville, James Paul, John Drage, John Hartlen, John Pulsiver, Kerry Rowe, Lake Charles, Lake Loon, Linda Campbell, Lisa Jarrett, mercury, Michael Parsons, mine tailings, Mining Association of Nova Scotia (MANS), Mitchell Brook, Montague Mines, Moose River gold mine, Nova Scotia Auditor General Michael Pickup, Nova Scotia Lands, Paul Paul, Raymond Plourde, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, St. Barbara Limited, Touquoy mine

Survey says: Why are people calling me with pro-mining propaganda?

February 5, 2020 By Joan Baxter 4 Comments

It looks as if someone is getting a little nervous about the growing backlash to the latest gold rush in the province, and to the development of new open pit gold mines along the Eastern Shore, particularly the proposal by the Australian company St. Barbara, which acquired Atlantic Gold in July last year for $722 […]

Filed Under: Featured, News, Province House Tagged With: Archibald Lake Wilderness Area, Atlantic Gold, Cochrane Hill gold mine, Environment Minister Gordon Wilson, Friends of St. Mary’s River, gold mining, Margaret Anne McHugh, Margaret Brigley, Moose River Consolidated Project, Narrative Research Poll, No Open Pit Excavation (NOPE), Paul Sobey, St Barbara

The province wants your input on six newly proposed wilderness areas

Morning File, Monday, January 13, 2020

January 13, 2020 By Tim Bousquet 6 Comments

1. Council preview “Rules for Uber, a plan for climate change, and a cooling-off period for politicians and staff are all on the agenda for Halifax regional council’s meeting this week,” reports Zane Woodford: The meeting, starting at 10am Tuesday, also includes an appeal hearing for a design review committee decision at 1pm and a […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Archibald Lake Wilderness Area, Blandings turtle, Brad Toms, Brandon Alcorn, Brian Baarda, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS), Cochrane Hill gold mine, eastern ribbon snake, Elizabeth McMillan, gold mining pollution, Insulated Panel Structures Inc, Jeff Scott Gooch, Linda Campbell, Mersey Tobeatic Research Insititute, Minister Gordon Wilson, Northern Pulp closure, Pleasant River Wilderness Area, Provincial Wilderness Areas, Ray Plourde, Shingle Lake

Halifax is making modest improvements in transit; so why are we preparing to pull the rug out from under transit with Uber?

Morning File, Friday, December 13, 2019

December 13, 2019 By Tim Bousquet 13 Comments

News 1. Cabinet Jennifer Henderson went to yesterday’s post-cabinet scrum. Click here to see what the cabinet ministers had to say. This article is for subscribers. Click here to subscribe. Henderson thinks the decision on the environmental assessment of Northern Pulp Mill’s proposed effluent treatment system and pipe into the Northumberland Strait could come as […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Atlantic Gold, Barbara Darby and peace of mind, bus ridership, Cochrane Hill gold mine, fire Spencer Avenue, Frances Willick, Graham Rapier, Gregory Erhardt, Halifax Transit, Jozsa Management and Economics, pedestrian incidents report, pedestrian struck Larry Uteck Boulevard, Uber, Zane Woodford

A Tree Walk will make us all rich!

Morning File, Thursday, August 22, 2019

August 22, 2019 By Tim Bousquet 5 Comments

News 1. Cod “DFO has issued a stark warning linking the demise of codfish in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence to an exploding seal population,” reports Paul Withers for the CBC: It’s contained in the most recent stock assessment of Atlantic cod in the southern gulf, which was released earlier this month. “At the current abundance […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Aaron Beswick, Abdilahi Elmi, Anjuli Patil, Atlantic cod, Atlantic Wallboard LP, Cabot Links airport, Cochrane Hill gold mine, George Canyon, grey seals, HMCS Toronto, Infrastructure Canada, Irvings and ACOA, JD Irving, Jeff Hutchings, Joseph Balaz, Kevin Bissett, Mary Campbell, NDP leader Gary Burrill, Paul Withers, Rob Wolf, Sheldon MacLeod, St Barbara, St. Mary’s River Association, Stephanie Levitz, Taryn Grant, Tree Walk, world class

Roughed up by the RCMP at a public meeting, John Perkins sues Atlantic Gold and the cops

August 13, 2019 By Jennifer Henderson 1 Comment

Sixty-eight-year-old John Perkins of Earltown is striking a blow for democracy after he says he was forcibly hauled out of a public meeting by an RCMP officer last May. Perkins held a news conference in Halifax yesterday to explain why he is filing a lawsuit against Atlantic Gold Corporation which hosted two information sessions on […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, News, Province House Tagged With: Atlantic Gold, Atlantic Gold information session, Brian Hebert, Cochrane Hill gold mine, Dustin O’Leary, East Coast Environmental Law Association (ECELAW), Ecology Action Centre (EAC), John Perkins, Justice Minister Mark Furey, Lisa Mitchell, Maryse Belanger, No Open Pit Excavation (NOPE), Police Act of Nova Scotia, Ray Plourde, RCMP Civilian Complaints Commissioner, RCMP officer Justin Greene, Scott Beaver, St. Barbara Limited, St. Mary’s River Association (SMRA), Steven Dean, Sustainable Northern Nova Scotia (SuNNS), Terry Moser

Setting the record straight on Atlantic Gold’s spin job

May 27, 2019 By Joan Baxter 8 Comments

It has been fascinating — but discouraging — watching as Atlantic Gold and the RCMP try to justify the violent arrest of John Perkins at an information session on mine tailings dams and management, which the Vancouver-based mining company hosted last Thursday in the firehall in Sherbrooke on Nova Scotia’s Eastern Shore, a fiasco you […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, News, Province House Tagged With: Aaron Beswick, Atlantic Gold, Atlantic Gold public meeting, Cochrane Hill gold mine, Dustin O’Leary, Francis Willick, James Millard, John Perkins, Keith Doucette, Madeline Conacher, Maryse Belanger, RCMP Cpl. Jennifer Clarke, RCMP violent arrest, Scott Beaver, Sherbrooke RCMP, Terry Moser

RCMP violently remove and arrest citizen at public meeting about gold mine

A security guard working for Atlantic Gold called police to have John Perkins removed from a public information session on the proposed Cochrane Hill mine.

May 24, 2019 By Joan Baxter 20 Comments

The above video is a segment of a longer video taken by author Joan Baxter. To view the full video click here; a more complete version of events is captured by the video taken by Scott Beaver, which is included in whole below. If yesterday’s information session was meant to convince the people of Sherbrooke […]

Filed Under: Featured, News, Province House Tagged With: Atlantic Gold, Atlantic Gold public meeting, Cochrane Hill gold mine, Dustin O’Leary, Élise Franceline Jordan-Rochichaud, James Millard, Joan Baxter, John Perkins, Madeline Conacher, Maryse Belanger, Peter Lightall, Raymond Plourde, RCMP, Scott Beaver, St. Barbara Limited, Sustainable Northern Nova Scotia (SuNNS), tailings dams

The Tideline, with Tara Thorne

Mo Kenney. Photo: Matt Williams

Episode #18 of The Tideline, with Tara Thorne is published.

Mo Kenney’s new record Covers is a perfect winter companion — songs from across the rock spectrum that she’s pared down to piano or guitar and turned them into sad ballads. She joins Tara to talk about choosing and arranging them, and opens up for a frank discussion of the alcohol dependency it took a pandemic for her to confront. Plus: Movies are back (again).

This episode is available today only for premium subscribers; to become a premium subscriber, click here, and join the select group of arts and entertainment supporters for just $5/month. Everyone else will have to wait until tomorrow to listen to it.

Please subscribe to The Tideline.

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.

About the Halifax Examiner

Examiner folk The Halifax Examiner was founded by investigative reporter Tim Bousquet, and now includes a growing collection of writers, contributors, and staff. Left to right: Joan Baxter, Stephen Kimber, Linda Pannozzo, Erica Butler, Jennifer Henderson, Iris the Amazing, Tim Bousquet, Evelyn C. White, El Jones, Philip Moscovitch More about the Examiner.

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