Visiting the Canadian Malartic Goldmine
By June Pham
Passing the control gate, our bus moves slowly because of the bumpy road. The gloomy and windy weather emits a general depressing mood, with greyness as the dominating colour of the wholescenery.
It takes around ten minutes to finally arrive at the pit. We start to document the experience using various methods. Some prefer sound recording while others are filming, but most of us take as many pictures as possible of the pit and its surrounding. I try to take some pictures from the perspective of the rocks on the ground in fisheye mode, and then turn to panorama for the pit. We stay there for fifteen minutes. Below, the pit is teeming with activities and there is a constant noise of engine, but the noise seems to be moderate and tends to become a sort of humming background noise after sometime.
Leaving the pit, the bus takes us to a waste rock treatment site. Here, according to the guide, who is also an employee of the mine, we get to know that Malartic processes more than 50,000 tonnes of ore per operating day and produces approximately 550,000 ounces (15,600 kilograms) of gold peryear. The production cost per ounce is around $600-650.
The rocks are piled up in different shapes, some in mountain-like-form, others flatten on the top, indicating different types of treatment. For instance, the slope ones have waste rock covered in 2 layers, 1m CPO and 1 m paste rock. The whole area has nothing but grey rocks stretching in every direction beyond the horizon. Somebody remarks that this is what a dystopian, post-apocalyptic landscape looks and feels like. Interestingly, many of us notice the existence of some small trees on the ground – a sort of symbol for the perseverance of life even in the most unfavourable conditions.
Back to the bus, we are taken to the water treatment site, where the water of the mine is released back to the environment. On the way, we have glimpses of large water surfaces where cyanide used during the process of acquiring gold product is exposed to the sun. The water treatment site has a small cabin which is almost empty and is directly connected with a stream heading to the forest.
We reach our last stop - the workshop where the caterpillar trucks are maintained. The sheer size of these vehicles is overwhelming and generates some curious sensation that cannot be expressed or captured in photos.
Reflections
Considering the price of gold in CAD in the last 10 years, with the highest being $1,883 and the lowest $723, the production cost of $600 leaves a large profit margin, which explains why gold mining is still in practice despite increasing pressure from various environmental groups and communities.
I was struck by this almost absurd feeling when we came to the second last site, the water treatment site. Basically, we were presented with a very reduced and over-simplified final image of a complex process and personally speaking, I found the presentation of this image, this site, had little use in helping me to understand more about the environmental impact of the water treatment process. That is to say, there is tension between the visible and the invisible (Merleau Ponty), and the problem of bringing up the invisible without falling into the trap of overly simplistic representation,or worse,a simulacrum (Baudrillard).
Noise is another issue that occupied my thought after the trip. Even though my impression that day was relatively pleasant, I later found out that the community around the mine had been considering suing the company for noise pollution. The difference between my 2, 3 hour-visit and life of those people who are constantly exposed to the mine’s activities, needless to say, is incomparable. Apparently, there are a number of measures implemented to reduce noise as well as dust generated from the mine’ daily operations. Still, I cannot help but questioning the extent to which the company is committed not only to the environment but also to the local community.
Again, there must be a gap between what we see, what is said and what is not visible or left unsaid.
Emerging Questions/Analysis
I was trying to take some pictures of rocks and plants from their perspectives, as a way to invest more power in these elements. However, when looking back at these photos, there’s something quite wrong there. Instead of giving voice to the voiceless, the result is simply another form of dispossession, in this case, through the mechanical lens of the camera. I wonder if the it-narrative would be effective and adequate in giving voice to non-human agents and if not, which strategy will help us successfully achieve this goal without risking further dispossessing them. This will be one central issue I would like to tackle in my final project.
From my own research in the field of contemporary British theatre, I notice that the shift to narrative theatre, which focuses on language as an attempt to resist theatre’s visual imperative, may be a potential fruitful approach to engage non-human agents more effectively and democratically. In other words, by not showing and showing that one is not showing, this type of theatre brings absence into relief and in doing so, consolidate the ontological status of the absent element more firmly.
