Dust from Wabush Mines requires government help: Mayor Colin Vardy

The mayor of Wabush is concerned about dust blowing around western Labrador a result of unmaintained tailings left over from the abandoned iron ore miningsite.

Colin Vardy said the dust has always been an issue in Wabush, but now that the mine is closed, there are questions about who will take care of it.

"When you see residents walking around town with dust masks on, it's unacceptable," he told CBC's Labrador Morning.

"I think this is just the start. The dust that we're seeing this year is a little earlier than we normally would. I'm very nervous of how this is going to continue."

Vardy said the cause of the dust are piles of tailings from the Wabush mines,which wererecently shut down. When Cliffs Natural Resources was operating the site, they would spray water on the tailings to keep the dust from blowing around.

Now that Cliffs has pulled out of Wabush, the tailings are left unmaintainedand the water pumps and sprinklershave frozen and busted in many cases.

Vardy said that means the wind is free to blow the dry dust throughout the area.

"When they turned off their plant and the pumps and went into closure, their ability to maintain that active tailings site was no longer available," said Vardy.

"Our biggest problem is our inability to turn the water back on."

Looking for government intervention

Vardy said now that Cliffs has essentially washed their hands clean of the site, he wants to see a level of government step in to protect the residents.

He told CBChe hasbeen sending letters and photos to provincial ministers for weeks, but to no avail. However, Vardydoes have a meeting scheduledwith Premier Paul Davis on Thursday.

"Government really has to step up here, because government allowed the mine to turn off the pumps on the active tailings line before they did an environmental assessment, which is required by the act."

In the meantime, Vardydoesn't buy the argument that the dust is justunsightly, and doesn't actually pose a health risk.

"Professionals say the dust is nuisance dust, and that our body has things in place to reject and filter it before it gets deep in our lungs," he said.

"When you stand in our driveway or walk around the town and you feel the dust and grit on your teeth, I'm not convinced, as a citizen, that that's healthy."