Former Lennoxville mine discovered after ground opens up on main artery

Quebec's Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources will secure and analyze the site of a former mine discovered in Lennoxville after part of the ground caved in on a main artery earlier this week.

A two-metre-deep hole appeared Monday evening under a parked car at a private residence on College Street and has since been confirmed to be a remnant of a mining operation.

No one was in the car at the time.

"Is it an access to the mine? Is it a passage or a [ground] collapse? These are all hypotheses that have to be confirmed by the ministry's work," said Sherbrooke fire chief Stéphane Simoneau.

4th collapse in a decade

It is the fourth time in 10 years that part of the ground on that stretch of the street has caved in. In 2012, a three-metre-deep hole appeared in the yard of another resident on the same street.

However, the fire chief says there is no risk to residents because the mine is small and very limited.

"It's very localized," he said. "We don't have cavities, stretches or kilometres beneath our feet."