Jason Teakle
BRANT NEWS

Lafarge Canada is seeking to grow its sand and gravel pit on King Edward Street in Paris by applying for a licence from the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources.

The company wants the MNR to approve an additional 245-acre area for extraction. The land is located to the west and south of its current 180-acre West Paris Pit operation, which has an annual extraction limit of 850,000 tones.

Lafarge plans to extract an additional 1.5 million tones of material annually in the expansion area, according to a letter addressed to the County of Brant from MHBC Planning sent on the company’s behalf.

Chris Galway, Lafarge Canada’s land manager for southwestern Ontario, said hydrogeological, natural environment and traffic studies for the proposed expansion area are complete. Galway said groundwater contamination will not be an issue in relation to the expansion.

“All of our reports indicate that there will be no adverse impact on the wells of surrounding residents,” Galway said. “When we extract material, we are not pumping the water out. The water stays where it is.”

Galway said the company is waiting on official plan and zoning bylaw amendments from the County of Brant. Public consultation about the company’s expansion plan began last Wednesday during a presentation at county council chambers in Paris.

Galway said Lafarge Canada is not expecting extraction to begin in the proposed area for at least a year.

“We are early in the application process,” Galway said. “We don’t have an exact timeline, but it will be more than a year before extraction (in the expansion area) begins.”

Galway said the company has set up nine wells around the site to analyze groundwater.

“We have a good understanding of the physical characteristics of the site,” Galway said. “We have been monitoring it.”

Future rehabilitation at the site would involve creating two freshwater ponds with wetland areas.

Paris Coun. Cliff Atfield, who worked for Lafarge Canada during the 1970s, said he is confident the expansion will not pose an environmental threat.

“The MNR really keeps an eye on what is done,” Atfield said. “The land has to be rehabilitated back into useful land.
“As homes are built out that way, we need reservoirs. It would be perfect because the water would settle and go back to people’s wells.”