{"id":1152329,"date":"2019-11-28T11:45:43","date_gmt":"2019-11-28T17:45:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=1007922"},"modified":"2019-11-28T11:45:43","modified_gmt":"2019-11-28T17:45:43","slug":"canadian-town-of-asbestos-in-quebec-seeks-new-name","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1152329","title":{"rendered":"Canadian town of Asbestos, in Quebec, seeks new name"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A Canadian town owning its name to asbestos, a mineral that supported the local economy for decades, but which is now associated with cancer, is finally <a href=\"https:\/\/ville.asbestos.qc.ca\/actualites\/la-ville-dasbestos-change-de-nom\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">changing its tainted moniker<\/a> to a new one to be announced next year.<\/p>\n<div class='d-flex justify-content-center'>\n<div id='div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0'><script>googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0');});<\/script><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The community of about 7,000 people in southeastern Quebec is asking citizens to contribute ideas ahead of an official change.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote alignright\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>Decision follows a failed attempt at a new name in 2006, pre-dating the 2012 shutdown of Jeffrey mine.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The word \u2018asbestos\u2019 unfortunately doesn\u2019t have a good connotation, especially for Anglophones, and it\u2019s hindering the city\u2019s plans to develop external economic relations,\u201d the city <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/permalink.php?story_fbid=2634457913441950&amp;id=1409234149297672\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">said in a Facebook post<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Asbestos&nbsp;is home to the Jeffrey mine, which was once<br \/>\nthe world&#8217;s largest producer of the commodity and the town&#8217;s largest employer.<br \/>\nIt closed in 2012.<\/p>\n<p>Due to its fire-resistance and insulation properties, asbestos was a common material used in construction since the late 1800s, but evidence of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.canada.ca\/en\/health-canada\/services\/air-quality\/indoor-air-contaminants\/health-risks-asbestos.html\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">health hazards associated to it<\/a> began to emerge only in the early 1900s.<\/p>\n<p>Countries started banning its use as early as 1970, but Canada <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/canada-invests-12m-extract-magnesium-asbestos-tailings\/\" >held on to it for longer<\/a>, with a full <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/canada-waves-au-revoir-to-asbestos-mining-20394\/\" >ban on the toxic material<\/a> only coming in effect in December last year.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/jeffrey-mine-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"Canadian town of Asbestos, in Quebec, seeks new name\" class=\"wp-image-1007926\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/jeffrey-mine-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/jeffrey-mine-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/jeffrey-mine-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/jeffrey-mine.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>Open pit of the now closed Jeffrey mine. (<em>Image courtesy of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/12394349@N06\/9614949716\/\"  rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Bryn Pinzgauer | Flickr.<\/a><\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The name-change process, expected to cost the town about<br \/>\n$100,000, has drawn the ire of many locals, who consider the idea \u201cabsurd\u201d and \u201can<br \/>\ninsult\u201d to the town&#8217;s history.<\/p>\n<p>Because the mineral is a known as&nbsp;<em>amiante<\/em>&nbsp;in<br \/>\nFrench, the town&#8217;s name isn&#8217;t really a problem for locals, who so far have put<br \/>\nforward suggestions including Ville des Trois-Lacs,&nbsp;Nobestos, Amianteville,<br \/>\nAsbestos 2.0, The Hole, Mine Craft and&nbsp;Poumontousse&nbsp;(a play on the<br \/>\nFrench words for lung and cough).<\/p>\n<p>The decision follows a failed attempt at a new name in 2006, pre-dating the shutdown of Jeffrey mine.<\/p>\n<p>Canada is currently <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/canada-invests-12m-extract-magnesium-asbestos-tailings\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"looking into processes and technologies (opens in a new tab)\">looking into processes and technologies<\/a> to extract magnesium from the tailings left behind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former mining town asks residents to submit suggestions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2648,624,2849,369,4,2857],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1152329"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1152329"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1152329\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1152422,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1152329\/revisions\/1152422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1152329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1152329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1152329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}