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Sudbury Laurentian University – Mining Faculties and Research

Laurentian University cuts world-renowned programs – by Albrecht I. Schulte-Hostedde (Sudbury Star – April 28, 2021)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Sudbury is known as the city of lakes and for its famous regreening programs, yet university is slashing expertise in those areas as it restructures

Among the programs closed in Laurentian University’s “restructuring” were environmental science, environmental studies, ecology and restoration biology.

In a city of lakes, where Sophie Mathur has galvanized global youth around the climate crisis, where the regreening of the region has reached near mythological status, an undergraduate student cannot enter into an environmental or ecology program at Laurentian University.

Think about that. Why were Laurentian’s environmental and ecology programs closed?

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How to fix Laurentian University without gutting it – by Lionel Rudd (Sudbury Star – April 15, 2021)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Start by hiring new management and appointing a new board

Recent pronouncements emanating from Robert Hache, president of Laurentian University, aided and abetted by the management, has precipitated a tsunami of events that has surely poisoned the well for the university, started by the insolvency crisis and culminating by severing ties with the three federated universities, along with throwing students and the community under the bus simultaneously.

It may take decades to rebuild and regain the hard-won confidence and reputation that has taken so much time and effort to create for Laurentian. You cannot un-ring a bell – irreparable damage has already been done.

I feel a sense of betrayal and despair, despondency and a sense the community, students, faculty, support staff and the physical plant staff share such feelings of betrayal by the management of Laurentian University. There appears to be no end to the chaos the unfolding mess management is heaping upon the faculty, staff, students and the community of Sudbury.

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$40M sought for mining network – by Harold Carmichael (Sudbury Star – June 25, 2020)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

The fate of a proposal by the Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation seeking $40 million in federal funding for its Mining Innovation Commercialization Accelerator (MICA) could be known soon.

The MICA initiative aims to connect regional mining clusters to cross-section innovation centres to create a national mining innovation ecosystem.

“Next week, we have a meeting with the government to tell us whether or not it’s going to get approved, to figure out the next step,” said Charles Nyabeze, CEMI’s vice-president of business development and commercialization Wednesday.

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Waubetek, Laurentian sign agreement for Indigenous mining centre – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – March 4, 2020)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Centre of Excellence for Indigenous Minerals Development to foster relationships between Indigenous communities and mining companies

Waubetek Business Development Corp. and Laurentian University have signed an agreement signalling an intent to cooperate on the Centre of Excellence for Indigenous Minerals Development.

Dawn Madahbee Leach, Waubetek’s general manager, and Robert Haché, president at Laurentian, signed the agreement during the 2020 conference of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) in Toronto.

The centre will be a clearinghouse of information on best practices related to consultation with Indigenous peoples in advance of mineral exploration and development.

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[Biomining/Bioremediation] Discover: Meet the Sudbury scientist who feeds minerals to microbes – by Mike Commito (Sudbury Northern Life – October 22, 2019)

https://www.sudbury.com/

One-on-one with Dr. Mike: A Q&A with microbiologist Dr. Nadia Mykytczuk

As part of Sudbury.com’s ongoing Discover Series, Dr. Mike Commito, Director of Applied Research & Innovation at Cambrian College, who is often referred to simply as Dr. Mike on campus, is sitting down with researchers and entrepreneurs in Sudbury to spotlight the innovative work they’re doing in our community and beyond.

This week, Dr. Mike had the chance to catch up with Dr. Nadia Mykytczuk on the shores of Ramsey Lake at the Vale Living with Lakes Centre at Laurentian University. Dr. Mykytczuk is a microbiologist who studies how bacteria live and adapt to extreme environments. She holds an Industrial Research Chair in Biomining, Bioremediation and Science Communication at Laurentian University.

When she’s not teaching, Dr. Mykytczuk spends most of her time investigating how bacteria can be used in the mining process. Based on her research, Dr. Myktytczuk believes there is a great opportunity for the mining industry in Canada not only to deploy bacteria in remediation efforts to break down tailings and minimize mine waste, but also to utilize this biomining technology as a catalyst during the extraction process.

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COLUMN: ‘Moonscape’ Sudbury deserves global recognition for its environmental success – by Dr. John Gunn (Northern Ontario Business – June 7, 2019)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Dr. John Gunn is the Canada Research Chair in Stressed Aquatic Systems and the director of the Vale Living with Lakes Centre in Sudbury.

Michael Moore’s recent documentary film about lead in drinking water in Flint Michigan has catapulted that city onto a growing list of places known for environmental disasters, including Chernobyl, Love Canal, Minamata, Bhopal, London with its great deadly smog of 1952, and the little town of Walkerton, Ontario, where seven died and more than 2,000 became sick because of E. coli contamination.

Positive environmental stories from specific places also exist, but like the evening news, the positive stories never get quite as much attention.

There are, however, some wonderful examples, such the Montréal Protocol and the Paris Accord, where a city’s name is forever linked to an event where world leaders came together to address global threats to the environment, such as the ozone depleting compounds in the atmosphere, or the severe threats of climate change.

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Returning green to a blackened landscape: Microbiologist opens MMTS week with talk on mine remediation using microbes – by Karen McKinley (Northern Ontario Business – April 15, 2019)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Nearly two centuries of mining in northeastern Ontario has left its mark with waste from thousands of mines.

But Nadia Mykytczuk said that waste can be turned into another mining opportunity and at the same time clean up the dirtier parts of the industry’s legacy.

Mykytczuk, a microbiologist, was the guest speaker at the kickoff luncheon for Modern Mining and Technology Sudbury Week (MMTS), hosted by the Greater Sudbury Development Corporation, on April 12.

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Sudbury Accent: Lots done, lots still to do, top biologist John Gunn (Living With Lakes Centre) says – by Donald Macdonald (Sudbury Star – January 12, 2019)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

John Gunn is a fisheries biologist who has for the past 25 years studied the effects of acid rain, climate change, and a variety of other environmental factors on coldwater fish communities. As the director of the Living with Lakes Centre in Sudbury and Canada Research Chair in Stressed Aquatic Systems, he is now leading a team of researchers in the study of the effects of multiple stressors on Shield ecosystems.

He is also investigating the recovery processes that operate once stressors are removed. Lakes near Sudbury, are particularly important for the recovery studies. Emissions of air pollutants in this area have declined by about 90 per cent in recent decades and many aquatic systems are beginning to recover. Here, he takes time to answer The Star’s 10 questions.

Forests are often described as the lungs of the planet, and freshwater as its lifeblood. Sudbury has plenty of both, although the former was missing for quite a while. Can you talk a bit about the relationship between the two and how regreening has benefited our lakes and rivers?

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New home for Sudbury Laurentian engineer labs – by Harold Carmichael (Sudbury Star – September 11, 2018)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

A building that was badly needed at Laurentian University is now open for business. The Cliff Fielding Research, Innovation and Engineering Building will also be the new home of the Bharti School of Engineering which had previously operated in the nearby Fraser and Science buildings.

“It wouldn’t be a stretch of the imagination to say space was tight,” Markus Timusk, the school’s director said at a press conference Monday to officially open the new building. “We had students with projects in the trunks of their cars … We finally have a space that lives up to the potential of our students and faculty.” Funding for the new facility was all lined up in a whirlwind 18-day span in the spring of 2016.

Located in Founders’ Square between the Parker and Fraser buildings on the Sudbury campus, the 60,000-square-foot building will house all engineering labs, offering four capstone innovation labs, a material analysis lab, environmental and soil mechanics lab, prototype development and machine shop, integrated software lab, a hydraulics and fluid mechanics lab, and a lecture theatre, with space to eventually add a full civil engineering program.

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Mining-polluted water a potential source of antibiotics – by Lindsay Kelly (Northern Ontario Business – July 16, 2018)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

University research reveals links between algae and health benefits

Research from Laurentian University in Sudbury is showing that waterbodies located within five kilometres of abandoned Northern Ontario mine sites could be a potential new source of antibiotics.

Led by Dr. J.A. Scott, a professor of bioengineering at the Bharti School of Engineering, the research was published in a recent issue of Phycologia, a journal that features work related to the scientific study of algae, or phycology.

Through his earlier work, Scott had studied microalgae to determine if they could be used to produce biofuel. But because of their beneficial attributes, he speculated the algae could also be used to produce health products, particularly antibiotics.

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Sudbury Accent: Sudbury as the ‘Harvard’ of hardrock mining [Part 4 of 5] – by Stan Sudol (Sudbury Star – June 6, 2018)

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

The Sudbury Basin is Ontario’s metallic equivalent to the Alberta oils sands without the massive open pits as most of the mines historically have been underground. For 135 years, the region’s unique polymetallic ore-bodies have produced nickel, copper and significant quantities of cobalt, gold, silver and platinum group metals (PGMs).

It is the third largest source of PGMs after South Africa and Russia. Many multi-generational families earn good middle-class salaries in the many mines, two mills, two smelters and one refinery. Roughly 30 per cent of provincial mining activity takes place in Sudbury, according to the Ontario Mining Association.

Glencore’s recent C$900 million investment in the development of its Onaping Depth project and Vale’s C$760 million phase one development of its Copper Cliff Deep mine are indications of growing confidence in the future of the region.

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ONTARIO MINERS ZERO IN ON INNOVATION (Ontario Mining Association – May 17, 2018)

https://oma.on.ca/en/index.asp

On May 17, 2018, Ontario Mining Association (OMA) members gathered at the Art Gallery of Ontario for a day devoted to thinking creatively about the industry – exploring fresh ideas and talking about technologies that will allow Ontario to lead the world in creating the mine of the future.

Following an Annual General Meeting, the OMA Board of Directors joined the broader membership and partners from government and academia at a series of panel discussions devoted to furthering the association’s Target Zero+ innovation agenda, which aims to drive enhanced performance in health and safety (mining with zero harm); environmental protection and energy efficiency (mining with zero carbon and zero waste); and productivity (building global competitiveness).

In his opening remarks, OMA Chair and President & CEO of Wesome Gold Mines, Duncan Middlemiss, pointed out that Ontario is “a mining jurisdiction that balances economic efficiency with decreasing the environmental footprint of mining,” and that achieving further progress “will require a partnership with industry, Indigenous communities, research organizations and government.” He added that, “all of us will reap the benefits with Ontario as a global leader and exemplary mining jurisdiction.”

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‘Still got lots to do’ in Sudbury’s regreening program, ecologist says (CBC News Sudbury – May 7, 2018)

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

A program that started in Sudbury in 1978 is still being recognized on the international level. Forty years ago, the City of Greater Sudbury launched the regreening program, which has transformed the city from desolate black rocks to green trees.

In 2018, CBC Sudbury is celebrating its 40th anniversary of going on air. We’ll be looking back at some of our top stories from the last four decades. Peter Beckett, a restoration ecologist and chair of the regreening advisory panel, was no stranger to industrial areas when he first arrived in Sudbury in 1974. He came from England to visit the city.

“I actually thought I’d gone back to some of the barren areas of South Wales,” he said. “There were no trees. There was a rocky hillside with large pebbles.” He relocated to Sudbury and remembers the year the program was put into place.

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A progress report on year one of Metal Earth – by Colleen Kleven (Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal – February 21, 2018)

http://www.sudburyminingsolutions.com/

A large seismic reflection survey, part of Metal Earth’s year one research, is now complete, and already this massive, geoscience initiative has started to shake things up.

Led by Laurentian University’s Mineral Exploration Research Centre (MERC), an internationally recognized industry-funded hub for exploration science and education within the Harquail School of Earth Sciences (HSES), Metal Earth is a $104 million, seven-year applied R&D program supported by a $49.2 million grant from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund – the largest geoscience grant in Canada’s history.

This collaborative research initiative has 25 Canadian and international partners from academia, government and industry focused on revolutionizing global understanding of the geological processes responsible for base and precious metal endowment.

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[Nadia Mykytczuk – Laurentian University] Research chair on first name basis with microbes – by Ella Myers (Sudbury Mining Solutions – August 22, 2016)

http://www.sudburyminingsolutions.com/

Taking biomining and bioremediation to the next level

Biomining and bioremediation are one step closer to wider use in the mining industry with the creation of a new position at Laurentian University geared towards commercializing the technologies.

As of July 1, Nadia Mykytczuk is Laurentian University’s first industrial research chair in mining, bioremediation and science communications. Ontario is investing more than $630,000 through the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation to create the five-year research chair position.

“It’s less of a teaching load and more research,” said Mykytczuk. “The impetus was to create a vibrant research program and initiate new projects with industry. The research chair matters because we have a very long legacy of mine waste impacts in Canada and the world, and we now have the opportunity to use biotechnology to help decrease those impacts.”

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