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Proposed Wentworth Valley wind farm gets blowback

While local group fears negative effects, Northern Pulp stands to profit from the giant wind project because it’s on Northern Pulp land purchased with a loan from Nova Scotians.

December 6, 2021 By Joan Baxter 1 Comment

Let’s start with a quick Nova Scotia quiz. Question #1: What do the following three things have in common? (1) A large new wind farm proposed for Wentworth Valley, (2) an open pit gold mine at Moose River in Halifax Regional Municipality that is owned by Australia’s St Barbara Ltd and operated by its subsidiary […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured Tagged With: 3G Energy, Amherst, Angus Doane, Atlantic Gold, Atlantic Mining Nova Scotia (AMNS), Beaver Dam gold mine, carbon dioxide, climate change, climate crisis, Community LIaison Committee, Dan Eaton, Darrell Dexter, Duff Montgomerie, electricity generation, Elemental Energy, Enercon, fossil fuels, Garfield Moffatt, Germany, government loan, greenhouse gas emissions, Gregor Wilson, Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM), Higgins Mountain, Higgins Mountain Wind Farm, Kejimkujik National Park, Lunenburg, Maryam Baksh, Moose River, Moose River gold mine, Muskrat Falls, NDP government, Neenah Paper, Northern Pulp, Northern Pulp Nova Scotia Corporation, Northern Timber, Nova Scotia Power Inc. (NSPI), Paul Pynn, Peggy's Cove, Protect Wentworth Valley, renewable energy, Sean Lewis, Shawn Duncan, solar energy, South Canoe, St Barbara Ltd, Stevens Wind Ltd, Strum Consulting, Supreme Court of British Columbia, Wentworth ski hill, Wentworth Valley, wind energy, wind farm, wind turbine

Atlantic Gold agrees to a tentative plea deal that would have the company pay $120,000 to the Nova Scotia Salmon Association to atone for breaking environmental rules, but ‘no deal,’ says the Salmon Association

October 26, 2021 By Joan Baxter 6 Comments

The Crown prosecutor handling the environmental prosecution against Atlantic Mining Nova Scotia, an affiliate of Atlantic Gold, has reached a tentative plea deal with the company. The deal: Atlantic Gold pays a $5,000 fine to the government, and makes a $120,000 donation to the Nova Scotia Salmon Association (NSSA). But NSSA won’t agree to it, […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured Tagged With: Atlantic Mining NS, Atlantic salmon, Beaver Dam, Cochrane Hill, Fifteen-Mile Stream, Fisheries Act, Impact Assessment Agency of Canada, Mike Bardsley, Mike Crosby, Moose River gold mine, Nova Scotia Environment and Climate Change, Nova Scotia Salmon Association, St Barbara, St. Mary's River, Touquoy open pit gold mine

Updated: Photos suggest that there is a tailings leak at Atlantic Gold’s Moose River gold mine

August 29, 2021 By Joan Baxter 6 Comments

Latest update: On Monday morning (Aug. 30), we published an update (below) with a statement from Dustin O’Leary, spokesperson for Atlantic Gold and Atlantic Mining NS, subsidiaries of the Australian company St Barbara that owns the open pit Touquoy gold mine in Moose River, HRM. O’Leary stated that “there is no leak of any kind […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, News, Province House Tagged With: acid mining drainage, Atlantic Gold, Atlantic Mining NS, Beaver Dam, Cochrane Hill, Dustin O’Leary, environmental charges, Fifteen-Mile Stream, French River watershed, French Rivert watershed, Joan Kuyek, John Perkins, Kitco, leak, Meryl Jones, MiningWatch Canada, minister of environment and climate change, Moose River gold mine, Mount Polley, No Open Pit Excavation (NOPE), Nova Scotia Environment, Nova Scotia Environment and Climate Change, Rachel Boomer, Scott Beaver, Sherbrooke, St Barbara Ltd, St. Mary’s River Association, Steven Emerman, tailings dam leak, tailings facility, Tatamagouche, Tim Houson, Touquoy gold mine, Tracy Barron, Vladimir Basov, Warwick Mountain

Atlantic Gold’s imaginary conservation land

In 2008, Atlantic Gold was given provincial approval for the gigantic Touquoy open pit gold mine with the condition that within 4 years the company buy and give the province nearby land for conservation purposes. 13 years later, that condition is still unmet, and the province is making no real effort to enforce it.

May 20, 2021 By Joan Baxter 2 Comments

Atlantic Gold has just announced that in “late spring/early summer 2021” it will be undertaking a new Class 1 Environmental Assessment for modifications to its open pit Touquoy gold mine in Moose River. Among other things, the company wants to expand its waste rock storage area that is already sky-high, prepare to store tailings in […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, Investigation, News Tagged With: Atlantic Gold, Atlantic Mining NS Corp, Auditor General, Australian, Barbara MacLean, Barbara Markovits, Beaver Dam, Beck Gilbert, Bob Bancroft, Cabot Cliffs, Cabot Links, Canadian Environmental Assessment Act 2012, CBC, Chuck Porter, Cochrane Hill gold mine, Community LIaison Committee, conservation land, DDV Gold, Department of lands and Forestry, Department of Natural Resources, Dustin O’Leary, East Coast Environmental Law Association (ECELAW), Eastern Shore Forest Watch Association, Environment Act, Environmental Approval, environmental assessment, environmental charges, Extractive Sector Transparency Measures Act (ESTMA), Fifteen Mile Stream mine, FOIPOP, Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, Freedom of Information request, golf courses, Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM), Iain Rankin, Impact Assessment Agency of Canada, industrial approval, Jamie Simpson, Jennifer Henderson, judicial review, Juniper Law, Keith Irving, Laird Brownlie, Lighthouse Links Development Company, Michael Gorman, Michael Pickup, Moose River Consolidated Project, Moose River gold mine, Nature Conservancy of Canada, Nova Scotia Environment, Nova Scotia Environment and Climate Change, Nova Scotia Environment and Labour, Nova Scotia Nature Trust, Owls Head, Owls Head Park, proposed Beaver Dam mine, Provincial Court in Dartmouth, Rachel Boomer, Save Owls Head Provincial Park, St Barbara Ltd, Supreme Court Justice Christa Brothers, Terms and Conditions, Tim Bousquet, Touquoy mine

Atlantic Gold plans to mine “paradise”

Citizens near Beaver Dam and Moose River raise the alarm about the high environmental costs of open pit gold mines in eastern Nova Scotia, the province’s “sacrifice zone.”

March 21, 2021 By Joan Baxter 3 Comments

Debbie Marlborough lives just 15 kilometres as the crow flies — 50 kilometres by road — from the giant crater, massive tailings pond, and mountains of waste rock at Atlantic Gold’s Touquoy open pit gold mine in Moose River. She’s never been able to make herself go and see it. Marlborough says that even though […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, News Tagged With: Atlantic Gold, Atlantic Mining NS, Barbara Markovits, Brighter Community Planning & Consulting, carbon dioxide, carbon emissions, Chrystal Fuller, climate change, Cochrane Hill gold mine, Debbie Marlborough, Dustin O’Leary, Eastern Shore, Eastern Shore Forest Watch Association, Fifteen Mile Stream mine, Harry Kelly, Highway 224, Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC), Killag River, Lawrence Goodland, mine tailings, Moose River, Moose River Consolidated Project, Moose River gold mine, Moose River Road, Northern Pulp, Nova Scotia Department of Transport and Infrastructure Renewal, Nova Scotia Environment, Nova Scotia Salmon Association (NSSA), Scraggy Lake, Sherbrooke, St Barbara Ltd, St. Mary's River, Touquoy mine, Veronica Chisholm, West River Sheet Harbour, wildlife

Sacrificing wild Atlantic salmon for gold

A project that is undoing environmental damage from acid rain finds itself under threat from a gold mine proposed for Beaver Dam.

March 4, 2021 By Joan Baxter 6 Comments

We’re standing on the snow-covered banks of the Killag River beside the lime doser, a white silo that has been calibrated with intricate controls to apply just the right amount of lime into the river every day. Edmund Halfyard, a biologist working with the Nova Scotia Salmon Association, tells me that the “right amount” — […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured Tagged With: acid rain, acidification, Atlantic Gold, Atlantic Mining NS, Atlantic Salmon Federation, Atle Hindar, Beaver Dam, Cameron Flowage, Cochrane Hill gold mine, Craig Jetson, Dustin O’Leary, Edmund Halfyard, environmental charges, Fifteen Mile Stream mine, gold mine, Greenland, helicopter, Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC), Jeff Hutchings, Jillian Leonard, Keef Brook, Killag River, lime doser, liming, Marinette, Mi'kmaw Conservation Group, Mike Crosby, Moose River Consolidated Project, Moose River gold mine, Newfoundland, Northern Pulp, Northern Timber, Norway, Nova Scotia Power, Nova Scotia Salmon Association (NSSA), NS Department of Lands and Forestry, proposed Beaver Dam mine, smolts, Species at Risk, St Barbara Ltd, St. Mary's River, Tent Brook, Touquoy mine, Trout Nova Scotia, US Clean Air Act, West River Sheet Harbour, wild Atlantic salmon

Atlantic Gold paid $0 in taxes in 2019

As the company is in court facing 32 charges of polluting the environment, the promised windfall in tax revenue is proving illusionary.

January 27, 2021 By Joan Baxter 1 Comment

Atlantic Mining NS Inc., an affiliate of the St. Barbara company Atlantic Gold, which operates the Touquoy open pit gold mine at Moose River, has succeeded in delaying its day in court. Arraigned in Dartmouth Provincial Court, Atlantic Mining NS asked for and received an adjournment until March 15. In September 2020, Nova Scotia Environment […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, News Tagged With: Atlantic Gold, Atlantic Mining NS, Beaver Dam, Cochrane Hill, Dartmouth Provincial Court, Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), Extractive Sector Transparency Measures Act (ESTMA), Fifteen-Mile Stream, Fisheries Act, gold price, Impact Assessment Agency of Canada, Krista Gillis, Mitchell Glawson, Moose River gold mine, Mooseland, Natural Resources Canada, Nova Scotia Environment (NSE), Prospectors and Developers of Canada Association (PDAC), royalties, Scraggy Lake, St. Barbara Limited, tax, Touquoy mine

Atlantic Gold is going to court

The St. Barbara Limited company is facing 32 environmental charges, even as more complaints roll in.

January 20, 2021 By Joan Baxter 3 Comments

Just over a month after the construction company contracted by Atlantic Gold to excavate clay for the tailings facility at its open pit gold mine at Moose River assured Krista Gillis of Mooseland that the excavation work wouldn’t cause any more sedimentation in a nearby brook, it has happened again. On Saturday, January 17, Gillis […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, News Tagged With: Adele Poirier, Atlantic Gold, Atlantic Mining NS Inc, carbon neutral, climate change, climate emergency, Dartmouth Provincial Court, DDV Gold, Dustin O’Leary, Environment Canada, Fifteen Mile Stream mine, Guysborough Journal, heavy rainfall, Kip Keen, Krista Gillis, Lake Charlotte, Moose River Consolidated Project, Moose River gold mine, Nova Scotia Environment (NSE), Rachel Boomer, rainfall records, S&P Global, Scraggy Lake, Seloam Brook, Ship Harbour Long Lake Wilderness Area, St. Barbara Limited, tailings management facility (TMF), Tangier Grand Lake Wilderness Area, Touquoy mine

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

Moose River betrayal

In 2008, the approval of the Moose River gold mine was conditioned on the mining company giving the province hundreds of acres of conservation land within four years; 12 years later, there's still no approved plan in place.

April 3, 2020 By Joan Baxter Leave a Comment

The Halifax Examiner is providing all COVID-19 coverage for free. On March 31, the Australian company St. Barbara, which last year acquired Atlantic Gold with its open pit gold mine at Moose River and a project to open three more mines along Nova Scotia’s Eastern shore, sent investors a COVID-19 update. It stated: St Barbara’s […]

Filed Under: Commentary, Featured, Investigation, News Tagged With: Atlantic Gold, Barbara Markovits, coronavirus, COVID-19, Dustin O’Leary, Eastern Shore Forest Watch Association, Ecology Action Centre (EAC), Health Protection Act, Marla MacInnis, Maryse Belanger, Minister Mark Parent, Moose River gold mine, pandemic, Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC), Rachel Boomer, social distancing, St. Barbara Limited, Touquoy mine

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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

Two young white women, one with dark hair and one blonde, smile at the camera on a sunny spring day.

Episode 79 of The Tideline, with Tara Thorne, is published.

Grace McNutt and Linnea Swinimer are the Minute Women, two Haligonians who host a podcast of the same name about Canadian history as seen through a lens of Heritage Minutes (minutewomenpodcast.ca). In a lively celebration of the show’s second birthday, they stop by to reveal how curling brought them together in podcast — and now BFF — form, their favourite Minutes, that time they thought Jean Chretien was dead, and the impact their show has had. Plus music from brand-new ECMA winners Hillsburn and Zamani.

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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