The Horne Smelter Wins Award for its Innovative Tailings Pond Reclamation Pilot Project

The Horne Smelter, located in Rouyn-Noranda, Québec, received the Environment Distinction Award at the Québec Mining Association's (QMA) 2024 annual convention for its pilot project on the reforestation of a tailings pond using municipal sludge.

The Horne Smelter implemented this innovative project in collaboration with the City of Rouyn-Noranda and Environnement Viridis Inc. (Viridis), a business which specializes in the management of mineral and organic waste in Quebec. The objective of this pilot project is to establish a boreal forest on a plot of the Quémont-1 tailings pond by making use of wastewater treatment sludge from the City of Rouyn-Noranda, which provides the nutrients necessary to promote growth to more than 1,000 trees planted in 2023.

The project, which is still in the piloting phase, has so far shown encouraging results as different varieties of trees established themselves after the sludge was added. Monitoring of different aspects of the project is expected to continue over the coming years. This monitoring should help determine whether this reforestation technique can be deployed across the entire Quémont-1 site for restoration.