The Quebec government announced Monday that it will allow more time for private investors attempting to relaunch the Jeffery asbestos mine to complete their financing talks. The group now has until Oct. 1 to raise the $25 million the Quebec government is demanding before it can guarantee $58 million of loans. The initial deadline ran out Monday, August 15. It was the second extension granted to the consortium, but this time, according to government spokesperson Gabrielle St-Amand, the deadline must be “strictly” respected.
The cash infusion from the government’s loan would allow the consortium, led by Balcorp Ltd., to complete an expansion of the Jeffery asbestos mine, which has operated in the town of Asbestos, Quebec for more than 130 years. A loan guarantee could help keep the mine open for another 25 years.
Canada is the world’s fifth largest exporter of chrysotile asbestos, with the Jeffery and Thetford minds in Quebec accounting for the majority of production.
The country produced more than 150,000 tons of asbestos in 2009, and the vast majority was exported, primarily to developing nations such as India.
Once a commonly used building material, asbestos use is now strictly prohibited and even banned in a number of countries. In Canada, the material is not banned, but has strict regulations under the Hazardous Products Act and the Environmental Protection Act.
A number of public health advocates and others have repeatedly criticized the Canadian government’s attempts to re-open the Jeffrey asbestos mine, calling it “immoral” to export a cancer-causing material to other countries for profit.
The Canadian Cancer Society has estimated that more than 100,000 people die every year worldwide due to workplace exposure to asbestos, while proponents of the asbestos industry claim that the chrysotile asbestos mined in Quebec is not as dangerous as other types of asbestos, such as amphibole, and it can be handled safely.
The Quebec government has been notorious for defending the controversial industry, having recently blocked the inclusion of asbestos on a UN-sponsored list of hazardous materials. The Conservative party, who is currently in power in Quebec, even went so far as to send a cease-and-desist letter to a mesothelioma widow for using their logo in advertising to promote her anti-asbestos website.
Sadly, asbestos has been connected to a number of horrible cancers, such as mesothelioma. While mesothelioma is currently incurable, the only way to stop the disease completely is to ban all use of asbestos.
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