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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

After the gold rush

Nova Scotia is ignoring the toxic legacy of past mining manias while rushing headlong into the next

June 25, 2019 By Joan Baxter 3 Comments

If learning from past mistakes were a government tradition in Nova Scotia, the current government would not be exhibiting all the symptoms of gold fever. But it is, and it looks like a raging bout of the affliction. In the past few years, it has amended legislation based on recommendations made by the industry’s cheerleader-in-chief, […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, Investigation, Province House Tagged With: 2012 Geological Survey of Canada, Adele Poirier, arsenic from mining, arsenic in well water, Arsenic Task Force, Atlantic Gold, Bruce Nunn, Christian West, Cooper Quinn, cyanide, Department of Energy and Mines, Donald James, Dustin O’Leary, Enfield, Gary Andrea, George O’Reilly, gold mining, gold rush, Gold Show, grants for mineral exploration, Historic Gold Mines Advisory Committee, historic mines tailings sites, IAMGOLD, Jacob Hanley, James Millard, John Wightman, Linda Campbell, Lisa Jarrett, Lori Blackburn, Magnum Resources, mercury, Mineral Resources Development Fund (MRDF), Mining Association of Nova Scotia (MANS), Mining Society of Nova Scotia, Montague Mines, Moose River gold mine, Osprey Gold, Perry MacKinnon, Prospectors and Developers Association Convention (PDAC), Prospectors Association of Nova Scotia, Rick Horne, Sean Kirby, St. Barbara Limited, tailings, tailings dams, Touquoy mine, Waverley

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

A lot of people in Halifax will be hungover at work on Thursday

Morning File, Tuesday, May 21, 2019

May 21, 2019 By Suzanne Rent 14 Comments

News 1. Gold “Here’s the deal,” writes Joan Baxter: On Wednesday, May 14, an Australian gold mining company called St. Barbara Limited, with one gold mine in Australia and a second one in Papua New Guinea, agreed to pay $722 million for Atlantic Gold Corporation, which operates one open pit gold mine in Nova Scotia, […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Alex Cameron, Angela MacIvor, Atlantic Gold, Brookfield Golf and Country Club, Catherine Dunphy, Charlene Boyce, employment in NS, freelancing, Jacques Vanasse, James Millard, job hunting, John Gallant, Justice David Farrar, living wage, Mayor Mike Savage, Moose River gold mine, Nova Institution for Women, NS prisons, Rebecca Thomas, Rodger Cuzner, Shelley Lawrence, Springhill Institution, statutory holidays, street checks, Todd Denton, Touquoy mine, toxic workplace, unemployment, Victoria Day

Spill at Moose River gold mine raises environmental concerns

Atlantic Gold springs an effluent leak, plugs a new mine, and sells itself to investors 

March 15, 2019 By Joan Baxter 6 Comments

Cover photo: the tailings facility at the Touquoy gold mine. Photo: Saint Mary’s River Association Atlantic Gold’s manager of environment and permitting, James Millard, calls it a “spill” or a “loss of control” caused by a “gasket failure.” By whatever name, the event happened on the night of January 3, 2019, at the company’s open […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, News, Province House Tagged With: Adele Poirier, arsenic, Atlantic Gold, Atlantic Mining NS, Barbara Markovits, Barry Clattenburg, Beaver Dam, Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA), Charles Clattenburg, Cochrane Hill, Craig Hudson, cyanide, D.D.V. Gold, Dustin O’Leary, Eastern Shore Forest Watch, Eastern Shore Wildlife Association, Eastern Shore Wildlife Centre, Fifteen-Mile Stream, Friends of the St. Mary’s River, James Millard, Jim Turner, Maryse Belanger, Moose River, Moose River Consolidated Project, Mount Polley, Nova Scotia Environment, Nova Scotia Salmon Association, Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC), Scraggy Lake, Sean Thompson, Sheet Harbour, Torquoy Gold Mine, Wayne Oakley, West River

Fool’s gold

Nova Scotia's Myopic Pursuit of Metals & Minerals (Part 2)

May 23, 2018 By Joan Baxter 3 Comments

A Halifax Examiner / Cape Breton Spectator investigation. This is the second in a series of articles on the push for mines and quarries in Nova Scotia. You can find Part I here. Going for gold The CEO and chairman of Vancouver-based Atlantic Gold Corporation, Steven Dean, a man with a history of international coal and […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, Investigation, News, Province House Tagged With: Alastair Tiver, Anaconda Mining, Andrew Bell, arsenic from mining, Atlantic Gold Corporation, Atlantic Mining NS, Barbara Markovits, Bruce Nunn, Chrissy Matheson, Cochrane Hill mine, coronet Metals, councillor Steve Streatch, Darrel Dexter, DDV Gold, Department of Environment and Climate Change, Dufferin gold mine, Eastern Shore Forest Watch Association, Emergency Response Assistance Plan (ERAP), Fifteen Mile Stream mine, Fool’s Gold part 2, Forrest Higgins, Gary Burrill, Goldboro gold mine, James Millard, Jamie Kneen, Joan Baxter, Marla MacInnis, Mayor Bill Mills, miners’ rights, Mining Watch Canada, Minister Charlie Parker, Moose River, Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board (UARB), Oceanic Iron Ore Corp., proposed Beaver Dam mine, Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC), Rachel Boomer, Resource Capital Gold Corp., Scraggy Lake, Steven Dean, tailings water, Tom Ellard, Touquoy mine, transporting cyanide, Wayne Oakley

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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