In Canada's Quebec, residents miffed over mining boom
Canada's Quebec province is rich with minerals needed for everything from electric cars to cell phones, but residents living atop the potential windfall are worried their backyards will be dug up—and they won't get a dime.
In recent months, tens of thousands of mining exploration permits have been issued in the province amid a global rush for critical and strategic minerals such as graphite, lithium, zinc, nickel and cobalt.
But under provincial mining exploration rules, subsoil in Quebec does not belong to landowners.
In Saint-Elie-de-Caxton, a town of 2,000 people about halfway between Montreal and Quebec City, residents are fed up. Signs around town proclaim "Saint-Elie, incompatible with mining activity" or "Don't Dig in my Caxton."
"We are at war, says Gilbert Guerin, spokesman for the "Don't Dig in my Caxton" committee, pointing to a map delineating exploration claims that have effectively parceled off the town for future mines.
In Quebec, it only takes a few clicks on a website and about Can$75 (US$55) to stake a mining claim covering up to 100 hectares (250 acres)—an opportunity open to locals and foreigners alike.
"I bought here. I thought I would be sovereign in my own home, but I came to understand that what's underground did not belong to me," says Yvan Lafontaine, surveying his property in the neighboring village of Saint-Mathieu-du-Parc from atop an observation tower he had built.
Residents of the Canadian town of Saint-Elie-de-Caxton are upset with an explosion in mining claims, including under their own homes.
Yvan Lafontaine, whose estate is located on territory claimed by miners, looks at nature and the forest from the top of an observation tower that was built on his land in St-Mathieu-du-Parc, Quebec, Canada.