What are the main highlights for ALTRA so far in 2023?

2023 has been a very productive year so far. We rebranded LOGISTEC Environment to ALTRA and launched a new website: ALTRAGroup.com. At the beginning of the year, we were awarded the major environmental remediation project of the former Rayrock mine in Northern Canada. This project will allow the indigenous Tlicho people to return to the land. Our team is in charge of the extensive cleanup of the former Rayrock uranium mine and its surroundings, which includes lakes and beautiful natural habitats.

We won the bid for the environmental remediation project of the former Aleris plant site in Trois-Rivières, Québec. This large-scale project will be completed for the Québec Ministère de l’Environnement et de la Lutte contre les Changements Climatiques, de la Faune et des Parcs, in order to give this vast land back to the community. Our team of experts will completely decontaminate the site to give a second life to this huge industrial wasteland with an area equivalent to 14 soccer fields. We will see more and more large-scale site remediation projects in North America, and we are very proud to be a trusted partner for cities and governments. This June, at the Water Canada Summit, our Innovation team received Water Canada's prestigious award for Best New Technology. This award underlines ALTRA’s strength in delivering water technologies that are impactful, complex, and transformative.

Can you give an overview of ALTRA’s most demanded environment services?

ALTRA has the most comprehensive “on the ground” environmental offering for the mining industry. For years, we have helped mining companies with many important aspects of mine development and actual closure. Our professionals have extensive expertise in water treatment, fluid transfer, and infrastructure solutions, including our latest ALTRA 3D technology. We have been involved in the closure and decommissioning of hundreds of industrial facilities. Our team takes an integrated approach to the management of contaminated soil, water treatment, and innovative site revegetation.

How can new technologies like ALTRA3D help answer environmental challenges for mines in Québec?

The unique properties of ALTRA 3D make it the best-performing solution for transporting minerals, water, slurry, chemicals, and other fluids in challenging mining environments. Due to the flexibility of ALTRA 3D, our woven lay flat hose can easily cope with the drastic environmental and climatic challenges typically found in mining applications in Northern Québec. The ALTRA 3D solutions are engineered to resist abrasion from solids as well as corrosion from fluids that are transported in mining applications. This means that the ALTRA 3D solutions last much longer than alternatives.

Can you expand on ALTRA’s approach to ESG and the firm’s relationship with its First Nations partners?

Our mission is to deliver a positive and long-lasting impact on the communities where we work. As an example, last February, we were awarded the large-scale environmental remediation project located on the Couchiching First Nation land, near Fort Frances, in Southwestern Ontario. This important phase marks the beginning of a multi-phase project to return Couchiching First Nations land, once used for heavy industrial purposes, to clean and safe land for use by the community. The Company currently has six successful Indigenous business partnerships in Québec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, and New Brunswick. Furthermore, we have worked with the Weenusk, Attawapiskat, and Fort Severn First Nation communities in northern Ontario for the past 10 years. Through these collaborations, ALTRA has led several key soil remediation and site clean-up projects on traditional lands, which aligns with their mission to deliver sustainable solutions that have a positive and long-lasting impact on the communities where they work.

What will Québec’s role be as a leading mining jurisdiction through its high environmental standards and sustainable practices?

Strong environmental practices are crucial to the health of the mining ecosystem and they will increasingly determine the future of the sector. Under the leadership of the Ministry of Economy and Innovation and combined with the leadership of Investissement Québec, Québec is making its voice heard and enjoying the recognition of leading international partners.

What will be ALTRA’s key priorities in the months ahead?

Supporting our customers’ ESG goals and addressing climate change, our team is accelerating the deployment of our environmental technologies, especially ALTRA 3D.