Quarry development stonewalled.

• Author: Ross, Ian

Plans for a traprock quarry on Lake Superior have been temporarily stonewalled by a group of Wawa cottagers fighting to stop industrial development along what they consider sensitive, pristine and protected shoreline.

The Superior Aggregates Company intended to start operations this past spring, but have placed their plans on hold as a land use battle shapes up. The dispute has resulted in a citizen's group issuing a court challenge against the Township of Michipicoten over zoning issues.

About 20 cottage owners calling themselves the Citizens Concerned for Michipicoten Bay are demanding the province conduct a full environmental assessment of the open pit mining operation proposed by Superior Aggregates. The company is proposing the development for the former commercial harbour just southwest of Wawa, about 240 kilometres north of Sault Ste. Marie.

The opponents say the company's method of drilling, blasting and crushing stone will cause long term environmental degradation to fish and wildlife habitat at the expense of short term economic gain.

"I really have trouble picturing we'll be doing anything commercially until next year," says Bruce Staines, Superior Aggregates mine manager. He adds there is a potential court injunction being threatened by the cottagers' group to stop the open pit operation if it proceeds.

Superior Aggregates Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Detroit-based Carlos Group of Companies, a leading Midwestern U.S. highway builder with interests in general contracting, commercial and industrial land development.

They own about 390 hectares at Michipicoten harbour where they plan to invest between $6 million to $8 million (US) to bring 13 hectares under development. Portable crushing and screening equipment would process as much as 1,000 tonnes of aggregate per hour when production is ramped up to full capacity. Staines says there are adequate reserves for a mining life of more than 50 years.

The quarry would be situated about a hundred metres from a former commercial ore dock in Michipicoten Harbour with rock being excavated by drilling and blasting through a cliff.

The former iron ore dock will be upgraded as Superior Aggregates plans to float traprock by lake freighter to ports around the Great Lakes.

But the operation's proximity to Lake Superior is too close for comfort for cottage owners who view the development as a potential environmental threat to the North Shore, an area rapidly gaining in popularity...