Canadian Malartic, the Canada’s biggest gold minedaniel rompre
Residents of Malartic in northwestern Quebec who live next door to a giant open-pit gold mine are threatening to launch a class-action suit over what they say is the owners' refusal to address significant quality-of-life concerns.
A special citizens' committee has mandated lawyer Michel Bélanger to prepare a class-action suit that will be filed in court this April if the companies fail to respond "clearly to the demands of the citizens expressed several month ago," the group said in a news release Tuesday.
The committee says it welcomes the economic benefits of the mine but that residents have been suffering for years from the negative impact of the dust, dynamiting, noise and other irritants related to the open-pit operations in the town.
Toronto-based Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. and Yamana Gold Inc. acquired the mine – known as Canadian Malartic – in 2014 in a $3.9-billion takeover of Osisko Mining Corp.
Officials at the two companies were not immediately available to comment on the citizens' action.