Proposed volcanic-rock mine divides northern New Brunswick town
In a vast quarry on New Brunswick's north shore, Réjean Carrier looks up at towering walls of ashengrey rock, cut deep into the landscape.
"We have this presence of volcanic ashes in a zone around Dalhousie," he ex‐ plains in French, pointing out a rock called pozzolan. "It will bring good jobs to the area."
Carrier, president of Que‐ bec-based Carboniq Inc., hopes to turn an existing quarry into an open mine to extract the material as a lowcarbon alternative for the ce‐ ment industry.
His vision is to take the pozzolan from a small moun‐ tain, process it at a plant in the area, and export it global‐ ly using nearby port and rail lines.
WATCH | 'Yes, it's jobs, but a job at what ex‐ pense?':
The existing rock quarry has operated as a non-con‐ forming use within Dalhousie town boundaries but is much smaller than the project Car‐ boniq imagines.
In the community of Dal‐ housie, the prospect of a new mine is raising questions over how to balance the economic benefits with po‐ tential impacts on the envi‐ ronment.
The community has faced economic struggles in recent years, struggling to reinvent itself after the loss of three major industries. The closure of a paper mill, a chemical plant and a power generation station has led to shuttered businesses and a declining population.
The idea of a new mine is being embraced by some res‐ idents, with talk of hundreds of jobs during construction and as many as 168 once the processing plant is in opera‐ tion. But others fear an open pit mine, near a school and residential areas, could im‐ pact their quality of life and harm the environment.
Mayor Normand Pelletier said residents have lots of questions and the develop‐ ers will have to make their case to the community. He said people are divided on the issue.
"We have a lot of people that are interested and would like to see a project as such take place," he said. "For one, it's going to create good-paying jobs.
"We're kind of anxious to hear the company and how they're going to promote it and make those public con‐ sultations to ease the pres‐ sure on the citizens."
Volcanic rock
The natural resource is the result of the region's prehis‐ toric past. Four hundred mil‐ lion years ago, Sugarloaf Mountain in nearby Camp‐ bellton was a volcano. As it spewed ash across the land‐ scape, it created layers of pozzolan rock.
At the Dalhousie site, studies have revealed the de‐ posit of rock is deep enough to last at least 100 years, ac‐ cording to the developers.
Pozzolan is now being looked at as a potential solu‐ tion to drastically lower emis‐ sions in cement manufactur‐ ing. In current mixtures, lime‐ stone is added to a kiln and decomposes under high heat, which produces green‐ house gas emissions. But with pozzolan, that step in the process is avoided en‐ tirely.
The material is currently being extracted at some sites in the western United States and around the Mediter‐ ranean Sea.
The project has received backing from the federal gov‐ ernment. In 2022, the At‐ lantic Canada Opportunities Agency made a conditionally repayable contribution of $1.2 million to cover geologi‐ cal and environmental sur‐ veys.
Carrier is working on the project with Guy Rousseau, president of cement com‐ pany Cimbec Canada. The pair launched their venture in 2022.
Carrier said the geological analysis of the deposit has been completed and the project is now focused on how pozzolan might need to be processed to meet the needs of the industry. The rock is being tested in a labo‐ ratory.
"The demand will increase because we're searching for products to decarbonize the production of cement," he said.
'It's going to leave a scar in the landscape'
The municipality of Heron Bay held a public meeting last month to discuss new zoning, including changes that would allow quarries and mines to operate in parts of the community of Dalhousie.
Residents filled the room to question councillors about the project, raising concerns about noise, dust, truck traf‐ fic and pollution. Many de‐ manded more information about the mine, questioning why they haven't heard di‐ rectly from the developers.
Gail Fearon, who spoke at the meeting, said she wants to see greater transparency so her community can make an informed decision.
"My problem is yes it's jobs, but a job at what ex‐ pense?" she said in an inter‐ view, overlooking post-indus‐ trial brownfields on the com‐ munity's waterfront.
Fearon said the project could lead to a permanent impact on the environment and the potential conse‐ quences need to be seriously considered. Growing up in the community, she remem‐ bers seeing waste from the paper plant being released into the bay.
"The industries that left, they left at least a flat piece of property. Whereas this project, it's going to leave a scar in the landscape," she said.
Carrier said he is listening to residents and recognizes some have questions and concerns. But he said it's too early to bring plans to the public for feedback. The project is still in a planning stage.
"We don't want to design a project in public, but we are taking these concerns into account, from an environ‐ mental survey, a social accep‐ tance survey," he said.
Carrier said a walking trail near the top of Dalhousie Mountain will not be af‐ fected, since the geological deposit stops well before that point in the landscape. He said possible impacts to neighbours could be con‐ trolled and mitigated.
"We're making the plan taking into account the differ‐ ent constraints imposed, that citizens impose, the environ‐ ment imposes, laws impose," he said.