{"id":453537,"date":"2026-02-04T15:33:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T15:33:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/453537\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T15:33:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T15:33:07","slug":"glencore-canada-halts-major-horne-smelter-investments-needed-to-comply-with-quebec-regulations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/453537\/","title":{"rendered":"Glencore Canada halts major Horne Smelter investments needed to comply with Quebec regulations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Glencore suspended $300-million in investments at its Horne Smelter in Rouyn-Noranda, Que., pictured in 2022.Stephane Blais\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Glencore Canada GLNCY<\/a> has suspended a $300-million investment tied to emissions reductions at its Horne Smelter in Rouyn-Noranda, Que., saying it had not received regulatory certainty to proceed.<\/p>\n

The decision raises questions about the future of the smelter in northwestern Quebec as well as its refinery in Montreal, as without the investments, the smelter would not comply with provincial environment standards as of March, 2027.<\/p>\n

Glencore Canada wanted to obtain certain guarantees from the Quebec government regarding its environmental obligations before making the investment. The facilities employ about 1,000 people.<\/p>\n

The company said in a statement on Tuesday that despite sustained negotiations, the conditions aren\u2019t in place to allow it to proceed.<\/p>\n

\u201cProtecting jobs and maintaining operations remain the company\u2019s top priorities, but the conditions needed to move forward simply are not in place right now,\u201d said Marc B\u00e9dard, chief operating officer of custom metallurgical assets at Glencore.<\/p>\n

Ottawa will only have limited regulatory power over Rio buying Glencore, despite heavy Canadian footprint<\/a><\/p>\n

Glencore Canada said it was ready to invest nearly $1-billion over five years, including the $300-million for emissions reductions. But the company said that level of investment \u201cwould be irresponsible without assurance that the regulatory conditions would allow the smelter to continue operating within a predictable and realistic longer-term framework.\u201d<\/p>\n

Talks began in the summer of 2025 and Quebec may still reach an agreement with the company, but the delays would weaken the smelter and refinery, warned the United Steelworkers union, which represents 400 employees at the refinery.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The smelter has come under fire<\/a> in recent years for arsenic emissions.<\/p>\n

It far exceeds the annual standard for arsenic emissions, which is three nanograms ng\/m\u00b3, but benefits from special agreements with the Quebec government.<\/p>\n

Under the most recent ministerial authorization granted by Quebec in 2023, the smelter was required to reach a target of 45 ng\/m\u00b3 in 2024 and must comply with a target of 15 ng\/m\u00b3 starting in 2027.<\/p>\n

According to company data, the concentration of arsenic emitted into the air in 2024 reached an average of 39.1 ng\/m\u00b3, down from 73 ng\/m\u00b3 in 2022.<\/p>\n

Last July, Vincent Plante, general manager for Glencore\u2019s copper business in North America, indicated that the company considered the three ng\/m\u00b3 target \u201ctechnically impossible\u201d to achieve.<\/p>\n

Nicolas Lapierre, Quebec director of the United Steelworkers, said at a limit of 15 ng\/m\u00b3, the company and the government could have reached a reasonable compromise.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 15 nanometres project was a win-win situation for everyone, both for the smelter and for protecting public health,\u201d Lapierre said.<\/p>\n

Quebec and Ottawa must intervene to save Glencore\u2019s future, the union representing Horne Smelter employees said Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Quebec and Canadian governments need to get involved; you can\u2019t just let these jobs disappear,\u201d said Kevin Gagnon, president of the F\u00e9d\u00e9ration de l\u2019industrie manufacturi\u00e8re, associated with the CSN labour union.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Premier Fran\u00e7ois Legault said his government has the dual objective of protecting jobs and the environment, and said the province had taken \u201ca significant step\u201d by offering to launch the environmental authorization process one year earlier.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government now expects the company to make the necessary investments itself, as it will have greater visibility that mitigates the risk it incurs by continuing its efforts to reduce emissions,\u201d Legault\u2019s office said in a statement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Glencore suspended $300-million in investments at its Horne Smelter in Rouyn-Noranda, Que., pictured…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":453538,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,66,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":{"0":"post-453537","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-ca","15":"tag-canada","16":"tag-canada-news","17":"tag-canada-sports","18":"tag-canada-sports-news","19":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","20":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","21":"tag-canadian-news","22":"tag-economy","23":"tag-education","24":"tag-environment","25":"tag-federal-government","26":"tag-foreign-news","27":"tag-globe-and-mail","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","29":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","30":"tag-government","31":"tag-life-news","32":"tag-lifestyle","33":"tag-local-news","34":"tag-manitoba","35":"tag-national-news","36":"tag-new-brunswick","37":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","38":"tag-northwest-territories","39":"tag-nova-scotia","40":"tag-nunavut","41":"tag-ontario","42":"tag-pei","43":"tag-photos","44":"tag-political-news","45":"tag-political-opinion","46":"tag-politics","47":"tag-politics-news","48":"tag-quebec","49":"tag-science","50":"tag-sports-news","51":"tag-technology","52":"tag-travel","53":"tag-trudeau","54":"tag-us-news","55":"tag-world-news","56":"tag-yukon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=453537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/453538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=453537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=453537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=453537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}