The results of tests conducted on soil around Notre-Dame de Protection elementary school showed an arsenic rate of 4130 milligrams per kilogram - 137 times the limit for the presence of arsenic in soil around residential properties in Quebec.
Faced with several concerns of Rouyn-Noranda citizens who must be relocated due to air contamination, the city wishes to temporarily suspend the process of buying back homes by Glencore, but the multinational will continue to negotiate with those who wish to leave the area quickly.
Quebec is enacting a plan to reduce the risk of toxic fume inhalation in Rouyn-Noranda and a group of households will have to give up their homes. The newly announced action plan comes after summer 2022 reports revealed an elevated rate of lung cancer in the city and high arsenic emissions from the Fonderie Horne copper smelting plant.
The copper foundry has been authorized to exceed emissions limits, and will pay to buy homes and land belonging to residents in a buffer zone next to it.