Four main buildings in the moth balled Magnola magnesium smelter complex will be demolished soon following the granting of a demolition permit by the Asbestos town council Monday evening.
“There was some resistance to the granting of the permit on the council, but after some discussion, we realized there was no other choice,” said mayor Jean Philippe Bachand.
“If we had not granted the permit, then we would have shown bad faith and could have been subject to a possible lawsuit.  The owners of the smelter have the right to demolish their property if they want.”
The town and the local municipal regional council have tried to save the smelter from the wrecking ball for the past two years, but met only resistance from Xstrata, the European owner of the complex.
The town also got little help from the provincial and federal governments, who were resistant to lending money to the town so it could buy and maintain the smelter until another buyer could be found.
“Both sides wanted serious business plans and substantial money put up, which we did not have,” said Bachand.
“We tried our best to save the smelter, but we could not do it alone.”
Built in 2000, the smelter provided some 350  jobs and an economic future for the town by transforming waste asbestos tailings into magnesium ingots using an electro-chemical process. But the smelter closed three years later when then-owner Noranda discovered it could not compete with Chinese magnesium producers on the world markets.
Despite years of lobbying by local authorities to transform the smelter into an industrial development area where small companies could set up operations, owners Noranda, then Falconbridge, then Xstrata said no.
Xstrata’s Louis- Philippe Gariepy had said in past interviews the main reason for resisting development was the fact the four main buildings were contaminated with toxic chemicals and the company could not guarantee any new owners a complete industrial clean bill of health.
Neither Gariepy nor smelter site manager Bernard Hince could be reached for comment at press time.  No specific date for the demolition has been announced, but in the past, Hince has said the main smelter buildings will be ready to come down this summer.
Bachand said the town will concentrate on finding uses for the nine smaller buildings in the complex that Xstrata has not targeted for demolition.  But he added that with no help from Quebec and Ottawa and no investment from the private sector, there is no guarantee they won’t be next for demolition.
“As long as those buildings are up, we can charge taxes on them and the land,” he said.
“If Xstrata is not interested in keeping them, they will be gone soon too.”

By Stephen McDougall
Asbestos
 

2009-06-10