Chrysotile can be used safely, for the miners as well as for the end-users

MONTREAL, Dec. 7 /CNW Telbec/ - Despite what the groups dedicated to the purpose of shutting down altogether the chrysotile production industry in Quebec are saying, chrysotile can be mined and incorporated in products in an entirely safe manner.

Apart from legacy cases, Chrysotile does not create health problems any longer in Canada, even if it is still present in thousands of buildings and homes everywhere, because we have learned how to handle it safely. The miners who want to go back into the Jeffrey mine know this very well. This is why they, their families and neighbours, their union and many other important organizations, want this project to come through. The same safe use of chrysotile can be achieved anywhere in the world through the implementation of responsible use practices and consumer education.

Under the leadership of Balcorp Limited, an international trade and marketing firm led by Baljit S. Chadha, established in Montreal since 1976 and conducting business in India and many eastern countries, a consortium of International investors are planning to buy the Jeffrey mine, located in Asbestos, Quebec, and to convert it from an open pit to an underground mining operation. Production will be expanded from 15,000 to 180,000 tonnes in 2012, and eventually to 225,000 tonnes. This 80 M $ investment project will create 500 jobs. It has been wholeheartedly supported by the workers and their union, and the local population. 

Balcorp has been exporting Chrysotile for over 15 years and has always acted in a socially responsible manner, selling only to recognized industrialists and manufacturers who have responsible use practices in place. The consortium strongly commits to be a trend-setter and a torch-bearer for safe and responsible usage of Chrysotile, both with industry and the end-users of the products. Specifically, it commits to the following:

• The consortium has suggested, and the government of Quebec has accepted, that all clients for the Chrysotile exported out of Jeffrey mine will be audited annually for responsible use. The auditors will be either government officials, or third-party experts hired by the government, who will pay their salary, travelling costs will be paid by Mine Jeffrey. 
• In a second stage, to increase safe usage at the level of end users and to eliminate ignorance, the consortium, working with local manufacturers and authorities, will support educational and safe usage initiatives targeting specifically the end users of chrysotile products.  On of the examples would be using pictorial instructions for safe and responsible usage on or with the products.

For further information:

Guy Versailles, ARP
Spokesperson for the international consortium that wants to reopen
the Jeffrey mine
[phone]
[email protected]