• First Nations Chief threatens legal action against province if tailings water is released

  Source: Alberta - Edmonton Journal (Legislature & Capital)
  Date: 2026-09-21 15:59:11.0
  Tags: [Alberta, Indigenous, Energy, Environment, Resources, Mining]

  Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation Chief Allan Adam has threatened a 20-year legal battle against the Alberta government if provincial or federal regulators approve plans to treat and release oilsands mining wastewater from companies like Suncor Energy Inc. into the Athabasca watershed. The Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation and Mikisew Cree First Nation strongly oppose the "treat and release" approach for the 1.4 billion cubic meters of fluid tailings, citing severe local health concerns and threats to Treaty rights along the 1,230-kilometer river. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith stated that wastewater release is governed under federal jurisdiction and oilsands leases, while Environment Minister Grant Hunter maintains that treated mine water release is necessary to achieve site reclamation and return land to a self-sustaining boreal forest.

  Read Original

• They're two of the biggest proposed mining projects in the Yukon. How will they be powered?

  Source: Territories - Northern Affairs (Yukon, NWT, Nunavut)
  Date: 2026-09-15 10:00:00.0
  Tags: [National, Mining, Energy, Environment, Climate, Resources]

  Two major proposed mining projects in the Yukon—Western Copper and Gold’s Casino Mining Corporation project and Talamore Mining’s Coffee Gold mine project—are planning their on-site power generation systems using liquefied natural gas, diesel, and solar power. The Casino project anticipates emitting roughly 16,310 tonnes of greenhouse gases annually and is evaluating a future connection to the proposed Yukon-B.C. Grid Connect intertie, while the Coffee Gold project expects to emit approximately 91,900 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually over its 11-year operating span. Both companies anticipate paying the industrial carbon tax while pursuing emission reduction strategies such as overhead cable systems for haul trucks and expanded solar arrays.

  Read Original

• More Nova Scotians add their names to petition calling for return of uranium ban

  Source: Nova Scotia - Halifax & Regional News
  Date: 2026-09-08 16:34:55.0
  Tags: [Nova Scotia, Mining, Energy, Environment, Resources, Governance]

  More than 10,000 Nova Scotians have signed a public petition calling on Premier Tim Houston's government to reinstate a provincial ban on uranium mining. The petition includes over 8,000 existing signatures alongside more than 2,000 new signatures being tabled by the opposition Liberals and NDP at the Nova Scotia legislature. The ban, which previously required mining operations to cease if uranium was discovered at greater than 100 parts per million, was repealed by the Progressive Conservative government in March 2025. Petition organizers, community groups, and medical professionals such as Dr. Catherine Cervin of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment argue that lifting the ban risks releasing radioactive material into air and water, while Premier Houston maintains that resource development is necessary to improve the provincial economy.

  Read Original

• Company works to sell Yukon on coal-fired electricity amid push to phase it out

  Source: Territories - Northern Affairs (Yukon, NWT, Nunavut)
  Date: 2026-08-28 22:46:19.0
  Tags: [National, Energy, Mining, Resources, Environment, Climate]

  Vancouver-based Strategic Metals has proposed developing the Division Mountain deposit southwest of Braeburn, Yukon, to fuel a proposed 100-megawatt coal-fired power plant and open pit coal mine. The facility would burn 500,000 tonnes of coal annually for over a century to address the territory's growing energy deficit and recent grid strains. The proposal faces intense criticism from researchers and conservationists, including Eyab Al-Aini of the Canadian Climate Institute and Sebastian Jones of the Yukon Conservation Society, due to a lack of carbon capture and storage details, greenhouse gas emissions that are double those of natural gas, and the federal government's 2030 phase-out pledge for unabated coal plants.

  Read Original