Members of the Hollinger Project Community Advisory Committee (HPCAC) at their monthly meeting on Tuesday March 29 contradicted Goldcorp's assessment that residents adjacent to the Hollinger Open Pit mine and the private haul road were generally happy despite over 400 exceedances of noise, blast and vibration limits.
At the meeting several problems were discussed that members say have disrupted their lives and those of nearby residents.
These problems include noise, dust and vibrations experienced by residents living in the Fairway Village trailer park to the south of Site 92 the largest of the three pits being established by Goldcorp.
“The blasts and the noise produced by the explosions aren’t reported on a regular basis and this last one over the Good Friday-Easter weekend was quite large,” said Rick Dubeau Chair of the HPCAC.
“I don’t why it was felt so great this last week at a point in Fairway Village, said Dubeau
Rick Dubeau is also the councillor for Ward 5 in Timmins and a resident of Gold Centre in Schumacher whose property is close to the haul road.
In a presentation to city council a week earlier Goldcorp representatives acknowledged the numerous exceedances of noise, vibration, blast and dust levels but attributed the complaints to 2 residents for 88 percent of the complaints. The other 12 percent of complaints originated from three other residents.
Two representatives of Goldcorp attended meeting of HPCAC meeting. Don Burke, Open Pit Manager and Brian Neeley, Sustainability Manager. They said Goldcorp was working with the HPCAC and the local residents to reduce the noise and vibration levels.”
“That is why we will pick it up at this moment,” said Burke, “and see if we can find a way to reduce the impact on the residents.”
The HPCAC is composed of residents and business people near the open pit mine including residents of Fairway Village Trailer Park, Schumacher, the Senator apartments and adjacent the haul road between the open pit mine and the Dome milling facility in South Porcupine.
The Fairway Village Trailer Park, which is the closest residential area to the mining activity, was purchased by Goldcorp several years ago.
When asked why Goldcorp had any interest in buying the trailer park, Burke said he didn’t know as he was hired after the purchase was made.
Another major point of concern was the rumbling low frequency noise produced by the mining trucks carrying tonnes of ore from the Hollinger Pit to Dome Mill along a private hauling road.
“Some residents adjacent to the haul road are very upset, the can't sleep,” said Councillor Joe Campbell who was a guest at the meeting.
He represents western portion of Schumacher.
“The numbers will get worse as warm weather arrives,” said Councillor Campbell. “And they have increased the last two weeks as we got milder weather and people opened their windows,”
“The complaints will only get worse as we approach summer,” Campbell predicted.
Campbell said over the last two weeks his office has been flooded with complaints via phone and email. He brought to the meeting a man named Mr. Hastings who has been having trouble sleeping because of the rumbling low sound range of the mining trucks.
“The sound is similar to the thumping base sound that penetrates walls in apartment buildings, “said Colin Novak, an acoustical engineering consultant with Akoustik Engineering Limited, who was invited to present findings of levels of noises at various locations around he open pit and the haul road.
“We are committed to identifying the sources of the noise and vibrations and attenuating it,” said Neeley.
Goldcorp has been researching state of the art mufflers used at the Malartic Gold Mine in Malartic Quebec. The mine was built in the middle of town after some 250 residents were relocated. The site was opened by Osisko God and is now jointly owed by Agnico Eagle and Yamana Gold.
“We are going to track truck movements, record the speed and noise of each truck, the shift and who was driving the truck and see if they were driving to the limits agreed to keep noise levels down,” explained Neeley.
“The shifts that have the least exceedances will receive a pizza lunch,” Neeley added. “Those exceeding limits will be expected to stop.”
With the large volume of exceedances questions by HPCAC members if that violated the Site Plan Agreement with the City of Timmins which was required before Goldcorp could begin mining at the site.
The meeting also agreed to a tour of the Hollinger Site on June 21.
More frequent open houses are being considered by Goldcorp to update the community on the project.
