‘Shocking’: Anxiety grows as southern Quebec sees boom in mining claims

There were 112,477 mining claims approved in 2023, according to Quebec's Natural Resources Department, up from 72,631 the year before.

When Ellen Rice-Hogan discovered that someone had bought a mining claim under her farm, she was shocked.

There’s no mining around the Township of Low, Que., about 40 kilometres northwest of Ottawa, where she raises sheep and cattle.

“It was shocking, surprising, all of the above,” she said in a recent interview. “We’re a small community, the potential of this is huge and it’s going to have a huge negative impact, I feel, on our territory.”

A boom in mining claims is on in Quebec as prospectors anticipate explosive demand for minerals used in electric batteries. The rush has people laying claim all over — even under people’s homes. In response, residents and municipalities are calling for the rules to be tightened.

While most mining in Quebec still takes place in the province’s north, the demand for graphite and lithium — crucial components in electric vehicle batteries — has miners expanding their search to southern regions, where the industry is unfamiliar to residents and local governments.

Rice-Hogan’s town council wants much of its territory to be designated by the province as incompatible with mining. And she’s considering following the lead of some of her neighbours who are buying the mining rights to their land.

There were 112,477 mining claims approved in 2023, according to Quebec’s Natural Resources Department, up from 72,631 the year before. In the Outaouais region, where Low is located, the number of active mining claims has more than doubled since 2019, when there were 20,006 claims approved.

“In areas where, historically, there hasn’t been mining, we’ve seen an explosion in claim requests,” said Manon Cyr, the mayor of Chibougamau, Que., and a member of an organization called the UMQ, which represents the province’s municipalities.