Environment

Natural Substance

Chrysotile like silica, mica, calcite, slate and hundreds of minerals and rocks is a natural substance present in the earth's crust of all the continents. Chrysotile as such is not a threat to the environment as it is part of it. Controlled and responsible use of chrysotile and non friable products containing it is possible and desirable for the environment.

Require little energy to produce

It is advantageous for developing countries to make and use chrysotile products because they require little energy to produce using simple, accessible and inexpensive technology. Water which prevents emission of fibres to the atmosphere is used in the fabrication of chryso-cement products (90% of chrysotile production is used for this). In addition 100% of the process water is recycled. During fabrication any broken or rejected pieces can be recycled immediately.

There is no negative impact on the environment during transportation of chrysotile. At the mill, the fibres are packed in leak proof bags which are stacked on wood pallets. These units of bags are then stretch wrapped with polyethylene film prior to being loaded into containers with fork lift trucks.
The containers are loaded onto ships : there is no manipulation of bags before they are received by the client hence no release of fibre during transport. At the end of their very long useful life (over 100 years for chryso-cement water pipes), the products can be buried in dedicated sites with no impact on the environment.

Capture and storage of CO²

The tailings resulting from the extraction of chrysotile have a positive impact on the environment. The team of Dr. Georges Beaudoin of Laval University at Quebec discovered that serpentine reacts slowly with air in the atmosphere, capturing CO² and transforming it to hydromagnesite. A consolidated layer about one metre thick forms at the surface of the tailings dumps. Researchers estimate that 1,7 million tonnes of CO² from the atmosphere have been captured and stored in the serpentine tailings in Quebec alone.

Researchers in Canada and the United States have decided to check the potential of crushed serpentine to capture the CO² emitted by coal, natural gas and oil fixed thermal power stations. Considering the availability of gigantic mineralogical zones on the American West coast and in the Appalachians in the North-East US and Canada, as well as considerable tonnages of serpentine tailings in Quebec and Vermont there is a lot of potential for capture of CO².
The recent coming into force of  Kyoto Protocol provides an interesting           opening for this application in the South of Quebec and in the New England States.