Green Mining – Page 6 – Republic of Mining

[Sudbury, Canada] From barren rock to lush forests – by Norm Tollinsky (Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal – September 2015)

August 24, 2015

This article was originally published in the September 2015 issue of Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal.

Restoring the Sudbury Basin to its original state

Delegates to the 6th Mining and Environment International Conference in Sudbury June 20 to 25 received an update on the Sudbury Regreening Program and were able to see for themselves the steady progress the city has made in reversing the devastating effects of early mining activity in the region.

For the first few decades of the program, regreening activity focused on the liming of barren lands, seeding them with a grass and legume mixture and planting a limited variety of trees.

However, a major rethink and broadening of the program was triggered by the release of the Sudbury Soil Study’s ecological risk assessment in 2009, noted Stephen Monet, manager of environmental planning initiatives for the City of Greater Sudbury.

“The ecological risk assessment basically told us that we still had a lot of work to do and that there were still a lot of biologically impoverished areas. That led Vale, Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations and the City to move forward with a Biodiversity Action Plan.”

Milkweed takes root on Vale slag pile – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – August 21, 2015)

August 21, 2015

Established in 1980, Northern Ontario Business provides Canadians and international investors with relevant, current and insightful editorial content and business news information about Ontario’s vibrant and resource-rich North. Ian Ross is the editor of Northern Ontario Business ianross@nob.on.ca.

The mountainous slag piles at nickel miner Vale in Sudbury are becoming a favourite landing spot for one of nature’s most threatened species.

A milkweed patch has also been established at the base of the waste industrial material on the periphery of the company’s Copper Cliff smelter complex in an effort to attract and boost the declining monarch butterfly population.

Long considered a nuisance plant, milkweed has been disappearing fast in recent decades due to the use of chemical herbicides and deforestation. The plant is crucial to the survival of the monarch butterfly on its journey between Mexico and Canada. It’s the only suitable plant for monarch to lay their eggs and is also a main food source of monarch caterpillars.

Lisa Lanteigne, Vale’s manager of environment, soil and water, first noticed the hardy perennial growing naturally at her Manitoulin Island cottage.

Rehabilitation efforts bring new life to Hemlo – by Lindsay Kelly (Northern Ontario Business – August 18, 2015)

August 19, 2015

Established in 1980, Northern Ontario Business provides Canadians and international investors with relevant, current and insightful editorial content and business news information about Ontario’s vibrant and resource-rich North.

Reclamation work being done by Barrick Gold at its Hemlo property near Marathon has changed the landscape of the former mining operation. Where once there stood a headframe, access roads and outbuildings, there is now only a grassy plain, accented by native trees and inhabited by a variety of wildlife.

This is what nature after mining looks like in 2015.

“It kind of caught us off guard, because the (David Bell) mine is still beside an operating mine,” said Shane Hayes, Barrick’s mine closure co-ordinator at Hemlo. “The area has been rehabilitated so quickly, I’d be lying if I said we weren’t surprised at how quickly nature re-established itself.”

Three mines started up at the Hemlo site in the 1980s. The still-operational Williams Mine produced 206,000 ounces of gold in 2014, while David Bell closed that same year. A third mine, Golden Giant, closed in 2010. The bulk of the rehabilitation work to date has focused on David Bell.

AUDIO: Vale expects to miss 2015 sulpher dioxide emissions target (CBC News Sudbury – July 20, 2015)

July 20, 2015

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury

Company says it has some emissions credits banked from past improvements to its process

Nickel giant Vale doesn’t expect to meet its sulphur dioxide emission targets this year, a decade after they were set.

Vale was granted a five-year extension, and has until the end of this year to get its annual emissions down to 66 kilotonnes.

The company reports it’s currently emitting about 150 kilotonnes, but is aiming to be down to 20 kilotonnes by 2018 — when $1 billion worth of upgrades are completed at its Copper Cliff smelter.

“There’s going to be a couple steps,” said Dan Legrand, Vale’s director of process technology. “The big one will occur in 2018 when we start capturing all of the converter gas.”

Vale has made other changes to its emissions process — racking up government credits that allow it to miss the emissions deadline without penalty. The Ministry of the Environment is keeping a close watch.

[Sudbury, Ontario] Global Lessons from a Hard-Rock Mining Town: Dr. John Gunn at TEDxLaurentianU

June 27, 2015

Published on 28 Feb 2014 Dr. Gunn presents an inspiring talk on our northern mining town Sudbury. He educates us on our history of pollution, and it’s decline and the impact Sudbury’s smoke stack plays. He illustrates the link between clean air and clean water and further explains the impact and global lessons from …

NEWS RELEASE: Goldcorp Receives Top Sustainability Ranking in Canada

June 15, 2015

VANCOUVER, June 5, 2015 /CNW/ – GOLDCORP INC. (TSX: G, NYSE: GG) has been named one of Canada’s 50 Most Socially Responsible Corporations by Sustainalytics, an independent provider of environmental, social and governance (ESG) research to institutional investors and financial institutions around the world. The annual list recognizes companies with an outstanding commitment to social and environmental responsibility.

“Operating in a transparent and socially responsible manner is a commitment that is absolutely fundamental to the way we do business,” said Chuck Jeannes, Goldcorp’s President and CEO. “We’re proud of the strides we’ve made incorporating best practices into everything from land reclamation to ensuring we hire local workers and source from local suppliers where possible. We believe that every community we work with should prosper. This acknowledgment from Sustainalytics validates the work we’re doing.”

Goldcorp has invested significantly in the development of policies and programs that lead the industry in areas such as workplace safety, diversity, community development, education and support for non-profits. Among the key initiatives and accomplishments:

The Six Pillar Strategy puts people, safety and sustainability at the core of Goldcorp operations;

Goldcorp’s Sustainability Excellence Management System is a framework and set of standards that incorporate best-in-class environmental, safety, social and human rights practices;

Moonscape to greenbelt: Conference celebrates regreening – by Jonathan Migneault (Sudbury Northern Life – June 9, 2015)

November 5, 2015June 10, 2015

http://www.northernlife.ca/

www2.laurentian.ca/sudbury2015

Sudbury world-renowned for its remediation program

Researchers from as far away as Russia and Norway will gather in Sudbury for the sixth Mining and Environment International Conference at Laurentian University June 20-25.

“The goal this year is to really celebrate the successes of the Sudbury regreening program,” said Graeme Spiers, an associate professor with Laurentian’s faculty of the environment, and one of the conference organizers. “Sudbury is recognized globally for this. The citizens of Sudbury should be really proud of what the city has done.”

The “Sudbury Method,” as some have termed the city’s regreening effort, which began in 1978, has served as a model for jurisdictions around the world to remediate environments damaged by mining, smelting and other industrial activities.

NEWS RELEASE: LAURENTIAN UNIVERSITY TO HOST 6TH MINING AND THE ENVIRONMENT 2015 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

June 9, 2015

SUDBURY, ON (JUNE 11, 2015) – Laurentian University’s Goodman School of Mines, in cooperation with the Laurentian University School of the Environment, will host the 6th Mining and the Environment 2015 International Conference from June 20-25, in Sudbury, Ontario.

The Conference will bring together experts in the environmental sciences and environmental health sciences, industry representatives and researchers, as well as policy makers and regulators from around the world. Conference delegates will explore mine, land and waterway rehabilitation and related environmental protection issues.

The first Mining and the Environment Conference was held in Sudbury in 1995. Since then, more than 2000 professionals have attended a series of conferences culminating in this 20th anniversary conference, to be hosted by Laurentian University.

Barrick Beyond Borders: There’s a first time for everything [Cyanide free gold]

May 5, 2015

http://barrickbeyondborders.com/

Barrick produced the first of millions of ounces of gold at its Goldstrike mine using patented technology that will save jobs and allow it to continue to contribute funds to the state of Nevada

In late November 2014, the Goldstrike mine poured a small but significant bar of gold. At 107 ounces, the pour amounted to just one-eighth the size of a typical doré gold bar, but it marked the first time the mine had produced gold using its patented thiosulfate processing method. In fact, it marked the first time any company in the western world had successfully produced gold using thiosulfate.

Long viewed as a potential alternative to cyanide, which is typically used to recover gold that is trapped inside ore, thiosulfate is a difficult chemical to master. Barrick spent more than two decades perfecting its thiosulfate processing method and relied on an unmatched level of scientific and technological expertise.

“It’s the culmination of years of hard work and a good example of how our partnership culture is manifesting itself on the ground,” says Goldstrike General Manager Andy Cole. “This was a huge initiative, and it would not have succeeded if it weren’t for the collaboration, trust and accountability that developed between our project team, the construction group and the Goldstrike operations team.”

Walter Curlook was Mining’s Green Pioneer – by Cynthia Macdonald (University of Toronto Magazine – Spring 2015)

April 24, 2015

http://www.magazine.utoronto.ca/

The engineer, inventor, Inco executive and U of T prof is remembered for his boundless passion, spirit and energy

Nickel is a metal that’s both strong and remarkably versatile. These two qualities also describe Walter Curlook: an engineer, executive, community leader and teacher whose extraordinary career was forged not just in and around the nickel mines of his native Sudbury, but in work that took him around the world.

Curlook (BASc 1950, MASc 1951, PhD 1953), who died October 3 at the age of 85, rose meteorically through the ranks at Inco Ltd: from research metallurgist to top executive at a time when the company stood atop the world in nickel production. Curlook himself invented more than a dozen process patents: even at the highest administrative level, he remained an engineer at heart.

“He was an executive, but he also got right down in the labs and contributed directly to technical development,” says Prof. Doug Perovic of materials science and engineering. “He insisted on staying close and keeping his ear to the ground; he just worked so hard.”

He also pioneered environmental responsibility in the mining industry. “Under his leadership, Inco was always progressive in the environmental area,” says colleague Mansoor Barati. A $600 million sulphur dioxide abatement program, completed in 1993, was described as the largest environmental project ever completed by the industry.

The Mining Industry’s surprising turn to Solar and Wind Energy – by Joseph Kirschke (Informed Comment – March 23, 2015)

March 24, 2015

http://www.juancole.com/

When mining professionals the world over descended on Toronto’s 2015 Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada Convention (PDAC) at the beginning of March, the investment outlook at one of the industry’s most important events was dim . A global economic slowdown and a glut of metals and minerals for construction, infrastructure and energy on the Chinese mainland also cast a long shadow over budgets for sustainability – an increasingly core element of mineral extraction in the 21st Century.

Still, an embryonic CSR narrative is glimmering more quietly within the business – one with seismic possibilities for international investment to turn the tide against global climate change. As glaciers ebb and crops wither , miners in the Americas, Australia and Africa are beginning to economize with solar, wind and geothermal power where grid electricity is expensive – or non-existent.

Chile, the world’s great copper producer, is Latin America’s green pioneer thanks to its top industry – with 18,000 megawatts of clean energy now in the pipeline. Its greatest alternative energy source is reflected by a 69.5-megawatt solar photovoltaic project and a 115-megawatt wind farm, both powering Antafogasta Minerals S.A.’s Los Pembales copper mine – in a nation that traditionally imports 70 percent of its energy.

Elsewhere in South America, Toronto’s Iamgold uses a 5-megawatt solar farm for its open-pit Rosebel mine deep inside Suriname; the $12 million project, augmenting existing hydropower, was completed under budget in July with a government agreement.

Sudbury’s Environmental Revival – by Boghos Ghougassian (Arab Forum for Environment & Development – December 1, 2012)

March 12, 2015

http://www.afedonline.org/en/

The Greater Sudbury area in Ontario Province, Canada, 400 km north of Toronto city, was one of the earliest regions of the world to feel the harmful impact of unsustainable industrial development. It was also one of the first to recognize the mistakes and determined to correct them.

For nearly a century, mining and logging activities had converted the Greater Sudbury area into an inhospitable land. It had been dubbed as moonscape, its blackened scar visible from outer space. Even the Apollo 16 astronauts have done their exercises in here in 1971, before landing on the moon surface.
Greater Sudbury encompasses one of the largest known nickel ore bodies on Earth, with an area of more than 60 km2. This has earned Sudbury international recognition as “the Nickel Capital of the World”.

Sudbury was found in 1883 as a railway station town. So dominant were the trees, the Jesuits called their parish “Ste. Anne of the pines”. The trees also caught the attention of wood logging companies who clear cut the area leading to loss of biologic diversity, erosion of soils and other environmental impacts. Records indicate that Sudbury’s forests have been swarmed with some 11,000 loggers during the late 1880s.

With the discovery of nickel, early mining and smelting processes in 1886 to 1929 delivered another devastating blow to the environment. The metal rich rock was ignited in open “roast beds” cloaking the area in dense clouds of sulfur dioxide’s acidic smoke, which devastated the remaining green vegetation and acidified the freshwater of many lakes of the region, killing fishes and many other aquatic species.

Sudbury reaches halfway mark in reclamation efforts – by Lindsay Kelly (Northern Ontario Business – January 14, 2015)

January 16, 2015

If you were a youth in Sudbury, chances are you, or someone you know, spent a summer or two lugging bags of dolomite limestone up the city’s barren hills, prepping the ground for reforestation.

The routine is so ubiquitous, it’s almost become a rite of passage, said Dr. Peter Beckett, a reclamation, restoration and wetland ecologist with Laurentian University who’s dedicated his life’s work to rejuvenating the city’s landscape.

“I’m beginning to think that, by the time we finish this program, everybody in Sudbury will have done this,” Beckett chuckled during his keynote address at a recent meeting of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum. “It’s part of growing up in Sudbury, to put lime bags down on the hills.”

Over four decades, the city has spent $28 million planting 9.5 million trees, and life has returned to Sudbury, once pegged as a barren moonscape. Yet despite the decades-long investment, the work is only half done: 3,450 hectares have been reclaimed, but 7,000 altogether need to be done.

That’s still a fraction of the 81,000 hectares impacted by industrial activity, which began with logging in the late 1800s and intensified with the onset of mining when open roasting beds sent high levels of sulphur dioxide into the air, raining down metal particulate, which leached into the soil, impacting the ecosystem.

Roots run deep in Sudbury’s reclamation efforts – by Lindsay Kelly (Northern Ontario Business – November 21, 2014)

November 24, 2014

Established in 1980, Northern Ontario Business provides Canadians and international investors with relevant, current and insightful editorial content and business news information about Ontario’s vibrant and resource-rich North.

Still lots of work to be done, though

Forty years, $28 million and 9.5 million trees after reclamation efforts began, the moonscape that was once Sudbury is taking on a greener hue — but only half the job is done.

A total of 81,000 hectares have been impacted by the city’s industrial activity, which started with the logging industry in the early 1800s, and intensified in the early days of mining when open roasting beds sent high levels of sulphur dioxide into the air, raining down metal particulate across the landscape.

Since its inception in 1973, VETAC (the Vegetation Enhancement Technical Advisory Committee) has brought together volunteers from science, industry, academia, government and Sudbury’s citizenry to return the land to its original state, said Dr. Peter Becket, a reclamation, restoration and wetland ecologist with Laurentian University who’s dedicated his life’s work to the task. But it hasn’t been easy.

“The estimate is that we have about 7,000 hectares to do,” said Beckett, who gave the keynote address during the Nov. 20 gathering of the Sudbury chapter of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM).