Heather Wright/The Independent

A year-long dispute over a mine clean up in Northern Ontario has a St. Clair Township’s solution.

The Ministry of Energy and Mines and the Ministry of Transportation have been cleaning up the long-abandoned Nova Beaucage Mine near Lake Nipissing. Last year, a councillor from the community of Nairn and Hyman noticed an old mining road was being used, which led the community to investigate why.

The province had decided to store 18,600 cubic meters of tailings from the Nova Beaucage mine at the abandoned Agnew Lake uranium mine, near the township of about 400 people. The tailings from the former mine in the Nippising First Nation included a radioactive chemical called Niobium. Niobium dust causes eye and skin irritation, but there are no reports of human being poisoned by it.

Word of the move sparked a public outcry in August 2024. As late as July 14 and 15, 2025 municipal leaders held a public meeting about the transfer of the tailings to Nairn and Hyman and started planning a public campaign against bringing the niobium tailings to the community. “We did not feel we had been consulted in anyway,” Mayor Amy Mazey told people at a public meeting.

Mazey met with provincial officials in August 2024. “We were told it was just like gravel…and can’t possibly leach into the water.” The MTO eventually turned over a binder with the information about the tailings and township officials told residents July 14, the tailings contained hazardous mining chemicals including hazardous heavy metals, uranium, niobium, radium, and arsenic.

Mazey added without proper testing, storing the tailings in their community was negligent.

Wednesday, the Ministry of Energy and Mines as well as the Ministry of Transportation said the plan had changed after submitting it to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.

According to a township news release the Ministry of Transportation committed to haul the niobium tailings from the Nipissing First Nation lands to the Clean Harbors in St. Clair Township “ensuring that the material is managed in a secure and regulated environment.”

Julia Caslin, Senior Media Relations Advisor for the MTO, says the material has already been moved.

“A stockpile of niobium rock tailings was transported to a private licensed disposal facility run by Clean Harbors near Sarnia in July, in accordance with all regulatory requirements,” she said in an email to The Independent.

“As with the transportation of all mining materials, the ministry upholds strict safety and environmental standards when moving niobium rock tailings. Niobium rock tailings are not classified as a hazardous substance, and their movement is considered a low-risk operation.”

Editor’s Note: This article was editted May 13, 2026, to add punctuation for clarity.