Asbestos News

Canadian Industry Minister Clement Gignac recently alluded to the fact that the country might put an end to the controversial expansion of the Jeffrey asbestos mine.

The Canadian government had agreed to provide Balcorp Ltd. a $58 million loan guarantee if the company provided $25 million by July 1. That deadline was not met but the government extended it to the middle of August, the Montreal Gazette reports.

According to the news source, Gignac said that the government was becoming impatient with the lack of financing from the company and that its offer of the loan guarantee was not indefinite.

"We put strict conditions on providing this loan guarantee and those conditions are still in place, but at some point the promoter has to deliver," he said.

The expansion of the mine in the aptly named town of Asbestos, Quebec, has caused controversy around the globe as many nations criticized Canada for shipping the carcinogenic substance to developing countries around the world. Exposure to asbestos kills 107,000 people worldwide each year through diseases such as malignant mesothelioma, asbestosis and lung cancer, according to the World Health Organization.