Residents raise concerns about volcanic rock project at quarry

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A project that could see volcanic rock extracted from Dalhousie Mountain might still be three or four years away, but it’s lately caused concern with some nearby residents who have posted their worries on social media about the project’s effect on the surrounding environment.

The Dalhousie Pozzolan Project was first announced on Nov. 8, 2022, when MP René Arseneault announced a conditionally repayable federal contribution of $1,223,361 to Carboniq Inc. and Cimbec Canada Inc. as part of the Canada Coal Transition Initiative – Infrastructure Fund.

But over the last month, several people taken to social media to voice their concerns with it.

A new Facebook group called “No Thanx Pozzolan – Save Dalhousie Mountain” was launched about 10 weeks ago and now has about 350 members.

One area resident and member, Lise Benoit, has even recently started a petition, concerned about the possible damage to the environment and the local impact. More than 200 people had signed it in just a few days since its launch.

She points out the project, which she terms as “an open-pit mine” is less than a kilometre from a French high school, Ecole aux quatre vents, and worries the dust from the operation could be harmful and spread across a wider area of the region.

The operation is actually intended to create an more ecologically friendly cement, according to its backers.

The rock to be mined is hardened volcanic ash, known as pozzolan, which has been used since ancient times to create cement. Unlike other materials in modern cement, pozzolan does not need to be calcined to be used to create the compound – a process that’s known to be a major source of greenhouse gases in the industry.

Carboniq Inc. president Réjean Carrier said worries about the dust are unfounded, as the project would be operating out of the same quarry that’s been in operation for the past 75 years, and several studies have been done on the types of rock.

“There is no visible sign that this type of operation could contaminate the area or pose a risk to the people who work there or around,” he wrote in an email. “The entire town of Dalhousie (Heron Bay) up to Dalhousie Junction is built on this rock formation, and several wells take their water from it, and no community health problems linked to this rock formation have been reported.”

He said the project, which is still expected to start in 2026 according to the company’s website, is still in its development stages.

“It’s still too early to talk about the size of the investment, the number of jobs that will be created or the economic benefits for the region, even though we know that this project has the potential to become a major driver for the region’s economy,” he said. “Above all, this project will play a major role in decarbonizing our economy by offering the cement and concrete industry a low-carbon solution, and this remains the main motivation behind this project.”

In 2022, when announcing the project and the funding, Madawaska-Restigouche MP René Arseneault said the extraction and processing could create up to 500 jobs during the construction phase, as well as 168 permanent jobs once the processing plant is in operation.