Latest news with #silica
CTV News
03-06-2025
- Business
- CTV News
‘Almost intolerable:' Airdrie business concerned over potentially hazardous dust emitted from concrete company
Airdrie's Western R.V. dealership says its neighbour, Tanas Concrete, has not been cleaning up the mess left behind by its plant. Some Airdrie business owners are concerned about the dust blowing over from a neighbouring concrete business, calling it a health and environmental hazard. Western R.V., a dealership for recreational vehicles and campers says their vehicles are consistently coated in dust coming from the business to the southeast. Tanas Concrete, now owned by Lafarge, has been operating on 58 East Lake Crescent since 2016. Bruce Urban says he's noticed more dust and activity within the past five years, and says his staff and customers are worried about inhaling the fine dust. 'It's getting almost intolerable at this point,' he said. He and his son Brandon, tell CTV News they have reached out to the Airdrie mayor's office, every councillor, local MLAs and federally elected officials to address their concerns and complaints. 'I need to try to take action, but what's the action when the politicians don't want to listen? When you're up against a wall like that, my question is what do you do? Do you shut down your business because your employees are being put through this?' said Urban. Concrete and silica Concrete often contains crystalline silica, which can be harmful when inhaled, according to the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS). It adds, silica particles can have damaging effects on the lungs, and have been known to cause lung cancer. CTV News has reached out to Lafarge, and is waiting for a response to our request for comment. The City of Airdrie sent a statement which reads: 'An investigation is currently underway. We are unable to provide any specific details until the investigation is complete.' The city is also working to determine 'which areas of the expressed concern fall within the municipal areas of responsibility.' According to open data, the land-use for the concrete business is zoned as a heavy industrial employment district, while the adjacent properties to the north are zoned as an industrial park employment district. 'Clean it up' The property owner of a parcel of land to the immediate west of the concrete company says he too has been reaching out to various government organizations with concerns. 'I'd just like to see the City of Airdrie follow what the Alberta government says they should be doing,' said Ken Maines before adding, 'clean it up.' The province sent an Environmental Protection Officer to the Tanas Concrete property on May 14, according to an email obtained by CTV News from the department of Environment and Protected Areas. The officer provided a list of corrective actions for the company. These actions include; daily road sweeping in the yard and public roads, improvements to its street sweeper machinery, regrading land in the yard, installing a mat system to clean mud off the cars, and 'application of calcium chloride on their yard for dust control will be completed by the first week in June 2025.' As for health concerns, the email stated: 'Understanding the potential health impacts that the dust may have, EPA does not address specific health hazards. For concerns related to health and safety, we recommend contacting Alberta Health Services and/or Alberta Occupational Health Safety directly, as they are the appropriate authority to provide guidance and support on these matters.' Brandon Urban says he will be directing further complaints about dust as suggested. His father, Bruce Urban, says he wants to see a more urgent response. 'We need somebody to listen.'
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Argyle Announces Completion of Satellite Analysis at Saint Gabriel Silica Project
Calgary, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - May 26, 2025) - Argyle Resources Corp. (CSE: ARGL) (OTCQB: ARLYF) (FSE: ME0) ("Argyle" or the "Company ") is pleased to announce that it has received the results of remote sensing studies comprising Long-Wave Infrared (LWIR) and Short-Wave Infrared (SWIR) analysis over its St. Gabriel silica claim block and its environs including gas mapping for hydrogen, helium, radon, methane and carbon dioxide. The remote sensing studies aimed to provide highly detailed mineral mapping and actionable exploration targets on the claim block and its environs (press release March 20th, 2025). Unmixing the hyperspectral Sentinel 2-A satellite data enables identifying, differentiating, and mapping sixteen distinct endmembers or minerals, at 10m resolution, including opaline silica and chert from surface reflectance. Unmixing the ASTER thermal data identified sixteen endmember minerals, including quartz abundances, by detecting the thermal radiation emitted by materials from outcrops through vegetation and overburden at a coarser 90 m resolution. Satellite data was from two time periods, September 20th, 2024, and January 28th, 2025, which coincided with minimal to no vegetation cover and reduced the amount of non-geological generated gases. Mineral Mapping: Hyperspectral mineral mapping using opaline silica minerals outlined three distinct target areas ranging from 1.5km to 2km in length. The shortwave infrared (SWIR) Silica target areas incorporate the four high silica drill holes drilled in 1991 and between 15% and 56% of the Sigeom-denoted outcrops reported on the claims. Though not as extensive as the hyperspectral opaline silica, the long-wave infrared endmember (LWIR) mineral quartz abundance corresponds spatially to the three opaline SWIR targets. Fingerprint Target Mapping: Utilizing the georeferenced high silica drill holes, the fifteen spatially associated outcrops on the St. Gabriel claims, and the sampled quartzite outcrops from the Matapedia claims, as trainers for AI learning. For the SWIR and LWIR data, algorithms analyzed the hyperspectral/spectral data, applying quadratic discriminant function classifiers (QDFC) to each pixel within the survey area. It involved fitting the spectral signature of each pixel to the known fingerprints of target minerals, and by quantitatively assessing the spectral similarities, the AI learning system generates QDFC Predictive Fingerprint Target Maps, highlighting areas likely to contain the desired mineral deposits. Individual SWIR and LWIR QDFC predictive Fingerprint target maps were produced for both the St. Gabriel and Matapedia trainers to outline potential quartz/silica target areas. All the SWIR Fingerprint mapping data showed near identical target areas. The Fingerprint mapping data was outlined and contoured to produce the SWIR quartz/silica Fingerprint Target map. The three Fingerprint target areas correspond to the opaline silica target areas. The coarser resolution LWIR QDFC Fingerprinting delineated four target areas, three corresponding to the SWIR targets, plus a target at the eastern border of the claims. In addition to the quartz/silica targets on the claim block, three large quartz/silica target areas trending some 40 km were identified outside the St. Gabriel claims. Five historic copper showings/mines in the area were also used as trainers to search for potential copper targets on the claims and in the vicinity. Several copper target areas were identified outside the claims associated with specific regional faults, showing the absence of major copper targets on the claim block. Gas Abundance Mapping: Sentinel 2-A SWIR and VNIR data for September 2024 and January 2025, selected to minimize non-geologic gas interference, five gases were unmixed: hydrogen, helium, radon (at 10m resolution), and methane, carbon dioxide (at 20m resolution). Statistical analysis shows a strong correlation between quartz outcrops and hydrogen gas, with a minor correlation to helium, indicating hydrogen as a reliable exploration vector for quartz deposits. Hydrogen abundance, independent of the SWIR opaline minerals, reveals three distinct moderate hydrogen zones on the claims. At the same time, helium and radon distributions suggest radioactive mineral presence and potential organic sedimentary sources, with low to no abundances correlating to quartz-rich zones. Methane and carbon dioxide abundances are sparse and show no spatial correlation with quartz outcrops. Hydrogen abundance correlates well with the quartz/silica previously identified by SWIR minerals and Fingerprint target mapping. Due to the hydrogen/quartz correlation, the five gas abundance data over the known silica outcrops and high silica drill holes were used as trainers to generate a gas QDFC fingerprint Target map. The map outlined and highlighted numerous precise and discrete target areas for silica quartz. Eighty percent (80%) of the numerous gas/quartz targets occur within the three quartz/silica Fingerprint target areas. The gas mapping confirmed the presence of hydrogen, probably "geological" hydrogen. To ascertain whether the hydrogen abundance mapped is from a shallow or deep source, the Duplex Wave Migration (DWM) seismic imaging technique to visualize near-vertical structures in the Earth's subsurface was adapted to produce a deep hydrogen anomaly map at 50m resolution for the claims and the 11,000 sq. km survey region using satellite high-resolution hydrogen estimates for September 2024 at 10 m spatial resolution. A moving window of 5x5 pixels to migrate the gas response down into the earth, so the resolution is roughly 50m. Deep-sourced hydrogen on the claims was confirmed, and numerous moderate to high deep hydrogen abundances were identified correlating closely, though more defined, with the quartz/silica target areas outlined by the other remote sensing mapping. Regional areas of deep-sourced hydrogen in the 11,000 sq km area were identified as being closely associated with regional faults, deep-seated crustal faults, and a deep gravity "worm" transecting the St. Gabriel claim block. These are important features related to the movement of gases and mineral fluids in the area. LWIR Metallic TVM Overlap Mapping: Three iron minerals were identified, outlined, and contoured to delineate areas of metallic minerals and exclude contaminant zones that could degrade quartz quality. The three target zones are outside the main areas of metallics. Priority Quartz/Silica Targets The targeting process was refined by incorporating the remote sensing results from the SWIR hyperspectral, LWIR thermal, and gases to delineate quartz/silica priority target zones. Sixty (60) small, discreet priority targets were outlined in three clusters corresponding to the broad quartz/silica target areas. These targets align with known high-silica drill holes and outcrops, providing focused areas for future exploration. Metallic mineral contamination mapping further refines these targets to enhance silica quality. Satellite data integration, including multispectral imaging, gas surveys, and gravity data, has effectively delineated priority quartz target areas on the St. Gabriel claim block. The strong correlation between hydrogen gas and high-purity quartzite supports using hydrogen as an exploration vector. Structural features such as deep crustal faults and gravity worms are significant for fluid migration and mineralization. These insights provide a robust foundation for the upcoming field program. Jeff Stevens, CEO of Argyle Resources Corp., commented: "The integration of advanced remote sensing and AI-driven mineral mapping has delivered a robust foundation for our upcoming field program at St. Gabriel. The strong correlation between hydrogen gas and high-purity quartzite supports our approach of using hydrogen as an exploration vector, and the identification of discrete, high-potential targets will allow us to focus our resources efficiently for maximum impact." The Company will leverage these insights to prioritize fieldwork and further evaluate the economic potential of the St. Gabriel silica project. The results also reinforce Argyle's broader strategy of deploying cutting-edge remote sensing technologies across its Québec silica portfolio About Argyle Resources Corp. Argyle Resources Corp. is a junior mineral exploration company engaged in the business of acquiring, exploring, staking and evaluating natural resource properties in North America. In addition to the Saint Gabriel project, the Company currently holds an option to acquire up to 100% of the Frenchvale Graphite Property located in Nova Scotia, Canada and owns 100% interest in the Pilgrim Islands, Matapédia and Lac Comporté quartzite silica projects in Québec, Canada. Argyle is engaged in a research partnership with the National Institute of Scientific Research (INRS), a high-level research and training institute funded by the Québec government to conduct exploration programs on the Company's silica projects. The Company was incorporated in 2023 and its head office is located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Qualified Person John Ryder a "Qualified Person" as that term is defined under NI 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this news release. Mr. Ryder is also a consultant of the Company. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS 'Jeffrey Stevens' President & CEO For all other inquiries: Email: info@ Phone: (825) 724-0033 Website: Forward-Looking Statements All statements included in this press release that address activities, events or developments that Argyle expects, believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements. Such statements may involve, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the exploration and development of the Company's mineral properties. These forward-looking statements involve numerous assumptions made by Argyle based on its experience, perception of historical trends, current conditions, expected future developments and other factors it believes are appropriate in the circumstances. In addition, these statements involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties that contribute to the possibility that the predictions, forecasts, projections and other forward-looking statements will prove inaccurate, certain of which are beyond Argyle's control. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, Argyle does not intend to revise or update these forward-looking statements after the date hereof or revise them to reflect the occurrence of future unanticipated events. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. To view the source version of this press release, please visit Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Undermined: A small federal agency was investigating dangers to miners. Then came DOGE
The NIOSH Coal Worker's Health Surveillance Program offered periodic black lung screenings at no cost to coal miners in the U.S. (NIOSH photo) This story was originally published by InvestigateWest, a nonprofit newsroom dedicated to change-making investigative journalism. Sign up for their Watchdog Weekly newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. Like his father and his grandfather, Marshal Cummings grew up mining trona, a substance used in everything from glass to pharmaceuticals and baking soda. When he was 22, that meant spending 16-hour days in a trona mine in Green River, Wyoming, throwing heavy mining parts onto conveyor belts, up to his knees in muck, with clouds of dust in the air. 'I don't know what I did to myself,' said Cummings, now 36. 'I don't know what breathing all that dust did.' But he knows his collection of newspaper clippings about dead miners is growing. He knows that many of them died of cancer. And he knows that the levels of silica, a carcinogenic substance, in the mines has repeatedly been measured at dangerously high levels. What Cummings doesn't know is whether the trona they've been mining is adding to the danger. 'I know what silica does,' Cummings said. 'Nobody knows with trona.' In January, Genesis Alkali, the company that owned the mine, canceled a safety audit Cummings had scheduled, according to emails provided to InvestigateWest. Cummings had had enough: Asserting his role as a local union president, he called in the feds for help. In January, he appealed to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health — or NIOSH — arguing that 'our miners have the right to know if their health is being compromised by inhaling trona dust.' By February, federal epidemiologist Anne Foreman reached out to him to confirm that she and two other investigators had been assigned to visit the mine to see what they could learn. 'NIOSH is going to identify what's getting people sick and what's killing people, and then they're gonna help solve the problem,' Cummings recalled thinking. The investigative team never arrived. They'd been ousted due to sweeping federal budget cuts. 'I've been fired in the cuts to NIOSH,' Foreman wrote in an April 9 email to Cummings. 'I'm emailing you as a concerned citizen now. 92% of NIOSH has been eliminated — including everyone who runs the Health Hazard Evaluation Program.' For 55 years, the small, little known federal agency has sent specialized teams of trained medical detectives into workplaces to investigate what could be making workers sick — everything from dust, fungus, asbestos and radiation. It's an agency that has dug into zoos, libraries, aluminum smelters, state crime labs and nuclear weapons facilities. Now, dozens of these ongoing investigations have been canceled. 'We finally get to the point we're going to have some solid data, and it just gets pulled out from under you? It's infuriating,' Cummings said. 'I was so mad.' The cuts to NIOSH have sparked alarm from Republicans, Democrats, coal miners, labor activists and academics. Beyond just conducting workplace investigations, NIOSH had run programs to test and treat miners for black lung disease, funded safety worker education and even certified the quality of n95 respirators. Jordan Barab, who worked on worker safety policy as a deputy assistant secretary for the Department of Labor for the Obama administration, told InvestigateWest the cuts to NIOSH could be 'catastrophic for workers across the country.' While legal challenges and the Trump administration have temporarily reversed some of the cuts, Barab says that 'lasting damage' has already been done. To Cummings, the contradiction is particularly frustrating: The same political party that he sees fighting to create more mining jobs is also the party least interested in protecting the miners working them. 'It's crazy that health and safety has been polarized by politics,' Cummings said. The cuts to NIOSH begin with the richest man in the world: Billionaire CEO Elon Musk, who had been tapped by President Donald Trump to reshape the federal government through an initiative dubbed the 'Department of Government Efficiency,' or DOGE. Musk brought the same cut-first-ask-questions-later philosophy he'd used to slash jobs after buying the social media site Twitter. Precision wasn't part of the plan. At a conservative political conference in February, Musk waved around a chainsaw, yelling that it was 'the chainsaw for bureaucracy.' The Trump White House has focused on portraying examples of federal spending it sees as particularly wasteful or absurd — like spending $32,000 for the U.S. Embassy in Peru to publish comic books intended to combat anti-gay prejudice. But the true scope of the planned cuts was far more sweeping: Roughly 10,000 full-time employees were cut from the Department of Health and Human Services, which includes NIOSH. 'Some people are saying, 'This is what we voted for the administration to do — make cuts,'' Cummings said. 'I get it, but health and safety is not the same thing as sending comics to Peru.' Asked in a CBS interview in April why his agency hadn't gone through each cut line by line, carefully considering each individually, Trump's Health and Human Services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., argued that that mentality was part of an old, failed approach. 'It takes too long. You lose political momentum,' Kennedy said, acknowledging 'there are going to be casualties and there are going to be mistakes.' In one part of the interview, he argued inaccurately that 'virtually all the cuts' in the agencies he oversaw related to diversity, equity and inclusion programs. In another, he acknowledged that he himself was unaware of many of the cuts that had been made. 'I'm not even sure how much the new administration knows about what we do, which is maybe why they're cutting us,' said NIOSH industrial hygienist Hannah Echt, speaking with InvestigateWest as a steward for the federal employees union. In fact, NIOSH was created by Congress, not the executive branch. In 1970, Congress passed a law to create a research agency intentionally separate from regulatory agencies, intending to shelter pure scientific research from the kinds of political winds that could influence regulators. It also let NIOSH play the more likable 'good cop' where other federal agencies played the punitive 'bad cop.' 'We don't levy fines, we don't close businesses,' Foreman said. 'We're not there to be the bad guy.' But they still had the authority to access private office spaces and factory floors, take air readings, run tests, and interview employees. In his CBS interview, Kennedy insisted the purpose of the cuts was 'not to reduce any level of scientific research that's important.' And yet, NIOSH's scientific research, time and time again, had resulted in vital discoveries. It was a NIOSH investigation into a microwave popcorn plant in 2000 that led to the discovery of 'popcorn lung' — a dangerous respiratory condition caused by artificial butter flavorings. Numerous other NIOSH investigations, including into a coffee roasting facility in Oregon in 2017, have found elevated levels of the same dangerous substance at other workplaces. Foreman recounts speaking over the phone with 'people crying because they're scared and they're having cognitive symptoms' from poor indoor air quality. There have been flight attendants worried about skin problems related to their airline's new uniform. Hydroelectric dam employees in Idaho reported concerns about breathing in dust from the turbine brakes. Hair and makeup artists working on low-budget films wanted an investigation into constant exposure to theatrical fog in film warehouses. In the last decade, NIOSH has investigated lead exposures at bullet-recycling companies in New Jersey, dug into tuberculosis outbreaks among elephants in zoos in Portland and Tacoma, and found welders breathing in chromium and nickel at an Oregon airplane part manufacturer. Sometimes, Foreman said, she's able to offer reassurances — an investigation reveals that the workplace wasn't actually dangerous or that an employee had been misdiagnosed. Other times the results reveal more serious deficiencies. But now, Echt said, over 70 different health hazard investigations have been shut down. Investigations into allergens at cannabis facilities, diesel exhaust risks at fire departments, and cancer-causing chemicals at a North Carolina State University building have all been halted. Other workplaces are waiting to receive the results of investigations that have been largely completed. Among them: Multnomah County Library, where employees have increasingly struggled to deal with patrons smoking fentanyl in library bathrooms. The library's risk management team reached out to NIOSH, hoping to understand if secondhand drug exposure posed a danger to library staffers. Last June, a team of three Health Hazard Evaluation team members interviewed 95 library employees and tested ventilation systems in three different libraries. In one of the library restrooms, the initial findings revealed that the ventilation fans weren't working at all. The final report, said Multnomah County Director of Libraries Annie Lewis, is awaiting approval from NIOSH. Lewis said she's optimistic it will still be published, but has heard most of the investigative team has been fired. 'If it's not released, we will be very disappointed,' Lewis said. 'We've invested a lot of our staff time, a lot of our resources into this effort, and we are very hopeful that the research will not only benefit Multnomah County Library as an organization, but also public libraries across the nation.' Even the fate of the NIOSH website — a repository of 55 years of documented research — is uncertain, Foreman said. These cuts to the agency that conducts worker safety research come at the same moment that the Trump administration wants to dramatically expand mining. In early April, Trump stood with an array of coal miners while signing an executive order purporting to officially end the 'war on coal.' 'Unfortunately, they're also at the same time declaring a war on coal miners and the health and safety of coal miners,' Barab said. While new technology can improve safety, it's also allowed faster mining, seeking out thinner veins through more rock. And that can make it more dangerous. NIOSH data reveals that rates of black lung in coal mines have been steadily climbing after falling for decades. 'You get more rock, you get more ore, you're obviously going to be exposed more,' Cummings said. 'More mines means more miners sick, more miners dead.' In February, Genesis Alkali, the company that owned the mine where Cummings worked, was bought by international trona mining giant WE Soda. Cummings said the new owners appear to genuinely care about protecting workers. JoAnna DeWald, who oversees health and safety for WE Soda US, wrote in a statement that We Soda has 'some of the highest health and safety standards in the industry.' She stressed that, despite the NIOSH cuts, the standards from another federal agency, the Mine and Safety Health Administration, 'remain fully in effect.' But that agency has been targeted for cuts as well. The Wyoming office of the Mine Safety and Health Administration office, which had cited the Green River mine for safety violations this year, is on the chopping block. Cummings said he looked up the amount of money the closure of the office was supposedly saving on the DOGE website. 'It's going to save them like $48,000 a year,' Cummings said. 'That's what my health means to DOGE.' Meanwhile, the Trump administration lifted a new regulation that Cummings had fought for — a rule further limiting the amount of dangerous silica dust miners were allowed to breathe. The new rule required some miners to carry new respirator devices to measure the silica levels, but it had been up to NIOSH to certify those new devices — a task the hobbled agency put on hold. 'They basically suspended all enforcement of the standard because of a problem that they themselves created,' said Barab, the former Obama administration official. 'A lot of unscrupulous mine operators are going to be delighted about this because, that's fewer regulations that they have to comply with,' Barab said. 'They can make more money, but they're making more money off the blood and the health of coal miners.' But the reaction from many supporters of the mining industry has been less than enthusiastic. U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, Republican of West Virginia, stood beside Trump for his 'war on coal' executive order. Just a few weeks later Capito was waging a public battle to try to save NIOSH, sending a letter to Kennedy lamenting the loss of specialized labs 'where dedicated scientists with years of training had been researching coal and silica dust along with black mold.' Decommissioning the labs alone would cost millions of taxpayer dollars, she said. 'I urge you to bring back the NIOSH employees immediately so they can continue to support our nation's coal industry,' Capito said. Freshman Republican Rep. Michael Baumgartner, representing Eastern Washington state, also sent a letter to Kennedy, arguing that shuttering NIOSH's Spokane Research Lab would be a 'setback for the natural resource industries in the western part of the country.' He quoted a Spokane-based mining association statement arguing that NIOSH plays an 'important role in research and development for the mining industry' and that if the Trump administration wants to ramp up mineral production, 'we need NIOSH… now more than ever.' Baumgartner also included a quote from an unnamed operations and safety director of a mine in Alaska, noting that 'people will not seek employment in the industry if they believe they are risking their health and lives… NIOSH does a good job in mitigating the fact that not every mining company prioritizes safety the way they should.' The lobbying appears to have had some impact: Some NIOSH employees have temporarily been brought back to the Spokane and West Virginia offices, including those certifying respirators. Most of the staff dedicated to health hazard evaluations aren't among them, and the program remains frozen. Employees like Echt and Foreman remained on administrative leave, with their termination officially scheduled for late June or early July. But last week, a federal judge granted a temporary freeze on firings in a lawsuit brought by federal employee unions, concluding that the Trump administration needed congressional cooperation for such a sweeping reorganization. Similarly, this month, 20 attorneys general — including those from Oregon and Washington — have filed a lawsuit over the cuts to Health and Human Services, including NIOSH. But even if every job is restored, Echt said, plenty of employees have taken early retirements and left for the private sector, taking with them their years of experience. 'When you eliminate these agencies and then decide to build them back up again, you have to go and rehire people again — and you've got to find the expertise,' Barab said. From his position in Wyoming, Cummings sees the fight of employees like Foreman as inseparable from his own union battles. Cummings said he was in the middle of writing an email to his Wyoming congressional representatives about the NIOSH cuts when he got a phone call telling him that yet another local trona miner — a longtime family friend whom Cummings had called 'uncle' — had died from cancer. 'The funeral was on Good Friday,' Cummings said. 'It's almost like — we can't let this up. We have to see it to the end.'
