Mines and Projects

Community

THE RESETTLEMENT

Once the main exploration work was over, it was necessary to move the southern Malartic neighbourhood to the north end of town to accommodate the Canadian Malartic project. The new neighbourhood represents the result of meticulous collaborative planning between Osisko, the affected families, and Malartic authorities. Osisko representatives held several dozen meetings with Malartic individuals or groups from 2006 to 2009, until the move was complete. Today, the people in the north end of town live in a safe, new neighbourhood.

IN NUMBERS…

246 residences, 140 of which were moved to the new neighbourhood;
6 institutions constructed by Osisko;
Cost of the resettlement: $160 million, of which $65 million was used for the instititions
1 case of expropriation;
Construction of 6 buildings of 24 apartments each for relocated renters;

Construction of 28 new houses to compensate for the demolition of homes that could not be moved to the new neighbourhood

École Des Explorateurs elementary school (400 students)

Le Trait-d’Union adult education centre

Bambin & Câlin daycare (100 children)

Germain Paquette non profit community-owned housing (20 apartments)

Saint-Martin long-term care facility (62 beds)

Le Tremplin cultural and recreational centre (304-seat entertainment hall)

MITIGATION MEASURES

To reduce noise levels as much as possible at their source, we had to improve some of the parameters inherent to Malartic’s urban activities and businesses in addition to improving the equipment and machinery at the mine.

A buffer zone called the Green Wall has been erected between then town and the mine site. The Green Wall includes a linear park with a bicycle path, and alcoves containing sculptures by local artists.

The need to mitigate noise and dust levels also led to the idea of building an urban park to replace the homes bought by Osisko. Other ideas included noise reduction measures for the drill rigs, the installation of rubber loading box liners in trucks, and a better location for the plant, crushers and conveyors to make it easier to manage some of the noisier components of the project.

Blast-related vibrations also posed a considerable challenge. Measures taken by Osisko included the use of blast mats, the scheduling of blasting at less sensitive times of the day, no blasting when the wind is blowing from the south, etc.