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Sudbury Laurentian University – Mining Faculties and Research

MIRARCO linking the world to Canadian mining – Vic Pakalnis (Canadian Mining Journal – February 2018)

http://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

On Dec. 7th, 2017, a high level delegation from Northeastern University (NEU) in China came to Laurentian University in Sudbury, to sign an international agreement to establish the China Canada Centre for Deep Mining Innovation (CCCDMI).

Madam Xiaomei Xiong (Secretary of the Party Committee, Northeastern University), along with four colleagues from the Northeastern University of China, signed the agreement in the presence of Laurentian’s Serge Demers, acting president and provost, Dr. Rui Wang, vice-president research and myself, president and CEO MIRARCO Mining Innovation.

Two weeks later, Canadian delegates Ross Sherlock of Metal Earth, Caleb Leduc of CROSH, Dr. Ming Cai of Laurentian University/MIRARCO and myself, met with officials at Northeastern University located in Shenyang, China.

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Laurentian University researchers put Cobalt camp under the microscope – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – January 25, 2018)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

First Cobalt Mining conducting in-depth study of historic silver district

First Cobalt Mining, the biggest exploration player in the Cobalt camp, is bringing a Laurentian University researcher into the fold to better understand the geology of its properties in northeastern Ontario.

The Toronto company announced it’s embarking on a dedicated research partnership program with the university’s Mineral Exploration Research Centre (MERC) by sponsoring a post-doctoral position to carry out the first detailed study of major structural features in the 110-year-old history of the camp.

“We’re looking at it from a new set of eyes as researchers,” said Ross Sherlock, who oversees MERC’s Metal Earth project. “It’s an unusual geological assemblage.” MERC is the geoscience arm attached to Laurentian’s Harquail School of Earth Sciences, under the umbrella of the Goodman School of Mines.

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Sudbury’s Laurentian University looking at a bright future – by Staff (Sudbury Star – January 18, 2018)

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

Laurentian University is broadening its horizons and looking toward a bright future.

The university launched its 2018-2023 strategic plan Wednesday, which focuses on its five shared values: the north inspires us, student success is our success, teaching and learning define us, curiosity drives our research, and relationships are our priority.

“Laurentian’s 2018-2023 strategic plan encapsulates our university’s core values,” Pierre Zundel, interim president and vice-chancellor, said Wednesday. “We have embraced our identity as well as our collective strengths to identify 25 desired outcomes.

This strategic plan is a reflection of our students, faculty and staff, their work, and the positive impact Laurentian will continue to make in the world. Together, we will shape the future.”

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Ontario funds health and safety research in Sudbury – by Staff (Sudbury Star – January 18, 2018)

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

Laurentian University’s Centre for Research in Occupational Safety and Health will receive more than $300,000 in new research funding from the Ontario government. Sudbury MPP Glenn Thibeault, who is also Ontario’s minister of Energy, made the announcement at the CROSH lab Tuesday.

“Addressing high hazards associated with the operation of mobile equipment was a priority identified in the 2015 Mining Health Safety and Prevention review,” Thibeault said in a release. “Furthermore, addressing indigenous workplace issues will begin a conversation about what is needed to improve occupational health and safety of Indigenous peoples in the workplace.”

In all, Ontario is awarding $310,000 to support innovative research projects and top talent. The funding will assist CROSH researchers as they carry out three projects aimed at addressing mobile equipment hazards, advancing Indigenous occupational health and safety in Northern Ontario, and improving safety for people who work around heavy equipment.

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Mining as a nation-builder: CEMI among six groups forming supercluster to bring clean Canadian mining expertise to the international market – by Karen McKinley (Northern Ontario Business – December 1, 2017)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

For six mining groups in Canada that have joined together, including one in Sudbury, mining is a nation-building exercise they want to take to the world. The hope is by joining together, they can qualify for government funding to help them support the mining industry on a holistic level.

Sudbury-based Centre for Mining Innovation (CEMI) is among the group that are pursuing a $200 million funding initiative to move their supercluster forward. Titled Clean, Low-energy, Effective, Engaged and Remediated (CLEER), to compete for funding though the federal government’s Innovation Superclusters Initiative.

The are many reasons for bringing this supercluster together, explained Charles Nyabeze, director, government affairs for CEMI, all of them go back to making mining in Canada more competitive, cleaner, diverse and showing the public the importance of mining to the nation’s economic stability.

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A global work in process: Sudbury’s Laurentian-based MERC releases progress report into far-reaching Metal Earth project – by Karen McKinley (Northern Ontario Business – December 1, 2017)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Multiple disciplines, many researchers, scientists, industry players and $104 million have come together to create one of the most comprehensive studies into the metal riches of the Earth. And once it’s completed, the organization overseeing it says it will revolutionize how mining companies seek out metal deposits, and all the data will be free and public.

Harold Gibson, director of the Mineral Exploration Research Centre (MERC), gave a presentation on Nov. 29 to the Sudbury Geological Discussion Group of the latest findings of the Metal Earth project.

It’s an international project to help researchers, scientists and industry understand the processes of how and where metals appear in the planet’s crust and to make mineral exploration more accurate.

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Seismic testing to uncover mineral potential in resource-rich regions – by Angela Gemmill (CBC News Sudbury – October 24, 2017)

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

Laurentian University conducting 7-year, $104-million study into structures in earth’s crust

The large trucks seen recently along major roadways in Sudbury are conducting seismic testing. It’s all part of a major research project by Laurentian University.

That seismic testing is not to detect natural or man-induced mining seismic activity, rather the testing is similar to sonar or ultrasound, says Harold Gibson, director of the Metal Earth Project.

The vibration trucks send out seismic waves, which reflect off features in the earth’s crust and then back to receivers or geophones that have been spread out 20 to 30 metres apart. The data is compiled into a seismograph showing 40 kilometres below the surface of the earth.

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Sudbury cluster plays key role in health and safety – by David Robinson (Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal – September 2017)

http://www.sudburyminingsolutions.com/

Mining is still one of the most dangerous industries in the world. According to the International Labour Organization, while mining employs around one per cent of the global labour force, it generates eight per cent of fatal accidents. As bad as it seems, there has been an enormous improvement. Safety in mining is now an obsession.

Safety has become a key target for the mining industry in developed countries, and standards are rising around the world. Some countries have a long way to go. China, for example, accounts for 40 per cent of global coal output, but 80 per cent of the world’s mining deaths. The artisanal and small mining sector, which may have as many as 50 million people working in it, is largely unregulated and undocumented. The number of deaths and injuries in the sector are unknown.

What is known at the global level is that health and safety progress in the mining sector has been astonishing. The deadliest year in U.S. coal mining history, for example, was 1907, when an estimated 3,242 deaths occurred. The number fell to 19 in 2002. China is claiming an 80 per cent reduction in deaths in its coal industry.

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Laurentian University’s Goodman School of Mines is a Jewel – by Jenny Lamothe (SAMSSA.CA – August 30, 2017)

http://samssa.ca/

Special Legacy Series: by Jenny Lamothe on behalf of SAMSSA.CA

Having an employee, CEO or exploration specialist who has the knowledge and expertise to move through the entirety of the mining cycle is an attractive prospect. One that, thanks to Laurentian University’s Goodman School of Mines (GSM), is becoming a reality.

Dr. Bruce Jago, P.Geo, and Founding Executive Director of the school, describes GSM as an administrative unit at Laurentian: “We operate in parallel and in collaboration with the six disciplines that comprise the mining cycle,” he says. These six disciplines: Earth Sciences, Engineering, Indigenous Relations and Studies, Occupational Health and Safety, Environment and Ecology, and Management, make up the key facets of the industry, and in essence, “they’ll get you from one end of the mining cycle – which is discovery – all the way through to closure.”

Their support of these disciplines includes, amongst other funding, financial support for the purchase of new computers and design software for Engineering; access to a new mining equipment simulator at NORCAT for researchers at the Centre for Research in Occupational Safety and Health (CROSH); “For Earth Science, GSM bought a number of new microscopes for their microscopy lab.

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Corporate Canada giants vie for Ottawa supercluster funds – by Sean Silcoff (Globe and Mail – August 11, 2017)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

A clean mining cluster proposal led by the Canadian Mining Innovation Council
and the Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation (CEMI) is backed by giants
Glencore, Teck, Vale, Goldcorp and Agnico-Eagle. “There wasn’t a lot of time”
to assemble the application, said CEMI CEO Douglas Morrison. “We knuckled
down and did what we had to.”

Ottawa’s flagship innovation initiative – a pledge to fund up to five so-called “superclusters” – has drawn a strong response, with dozens of hastily gathered consortia led by some of Canada’s largest companies vying for $950-million in federal funds.

Royal Bank of Canada, Magna International Inc., Telus Corp., Teck Resources Ltd., Loblaw Cos. Ltd. Shoppers Drug Mart unit and Open Text Corp. are among the more than 200 companies that have joined with 20 post-secondary institutions – some of which are supporting more than one bid – to create “superclusters” in such wide-ranging fields as agriculture, advanced manufacturing, cryptocurrency, big data, medical technology and artificial intelligence.

They have been joined by some of Canada’s most prominent startups and “scaleups,” including Stemcell Technologies Inc., Thalmic Labs Inc, Miovision Technologies and Don Tapscott’s Blockchain Research Institute.

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[Mining/Clean Resources Supercluster] Sudbury, mining must be part of debate – by Dick DeStefano (Sudbury Star – August 5, 2017)

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

Dick DeStefano is the executive director of the Sudbury Area Mining Supply and Service Association.

If you were asked to identify five major sectors that will create sustainable jobs and wealth in the next 150 years in Canada, would mining and related industries be on the list?

If I offered you a major chunk of $950 million over five years and you built a consortium that was willing to match the request dollar for dollar, would you be interested in helping to create a Canadian national mining cluster that will reflect the innovation and commercialization of applications that will improve safety and increase sustainability in this sector?

There is a new promise from Canada’s federal government that is calling on Industry leaders from select sectors to propose “superclusters” of technological innovation that promise to create jobs and spur economic growth. Innovation, Science and Economic Development Minister Navdeep Bains said in May 2017: “We are in a global innovation race. This is about creating a high value economy.”

Where do mining companies, supply chain companies, mining research institutions and Northern Ontario fit into this plan?

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Mining microbes could unlock wealth, clean tailings – by Mary Katherine Keown (Sudbury Star – August 3, 2017)

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

With luck, ingenuity and some scientific know-how, Sudbury’s tailings ponds could become a new source nickel, copper and zinc. Researchers from Laurentian University, the University of Toronto and the University of British Columbia met at the Vale Living with Lakes Centre on Wednesday at a symposium to discuss biomining research.

“The topic of discussion is developing technologies that aim to remediate waste and effluent waters from mining operations in Sudbury and British Columbia,” Vlad Papangelakis, a professor at the University of Toronto and the project lead of the biomining research, said Wednesday. “We hope to recover some value from locked metals in these residues that will offset the processing costs.”

The value of residual nickel in Sudbury tailings amounts to $7 billion, according to recent world nickel prices. “There is significant economic interest, therefore, to use the eco-friendly processes being developed by (biomining) for remediation and base metal extraction,” symposium organizers said in a release.

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Sudbury’s mine tailings worth billions – by Staff (Sudbury Star – August 1, 2017)

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

There is money to be made – and saved – by finding new, environmentally friendly ways to deal with mine tailings in Sudbury and across Ontario. With this in mind, the Vale Living with the Lakes Centre in Sudbury on Wednesday will welcome its academic and industry partners for a two-day Elements of Biomining (EBM) research symposium.

The national network has received $4 million in funding from the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation to develop biotechnologies for mine waste stabilization, and the recovery of valuable metals like nickel, copper and zinc.

To achieve this goal, Elements of Biomining will harness the capabilities of naturally occurring microbial communities. Researchers form the University of Toronto, University of British Columbia and Laurentian University make up Elements of Biomining.

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Mining sectors put heads together – by Karen McKinley (Northern Ontario Business – July 20, 2017)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Pan-Northern Regional Mining Research Alliance in the works to bring different sectors in the field for stronger collaborations

Northern colleges, universities and funding partners with a focus on the mining industry are teaming up to pool their talents and collaborate on more projects that will benefit themselves and the region.

On July 10, Laurentian University hosted the first meeting of the Pan-Northern Regional Mining Research Alliance to bring interested parties together to discuss the format of the group and decide on its priorities.

The meeting included 21 participants from five universities and four colleges – all of whom are in northern Ontario – four funding agencies, several northern government agencies and science partners.

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Cambrian College receives $2.1M research grant: A collaboration with mine business partners for the next five years – by Karen McKinley (Northern Ontario Business – June 26, 2017)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

The future is looking more secure for several innovation projects at Cambrian College in Sudbury with a large grant coming their way.

Cambrian Innovates, the applied research division at the college, and three mining industry partners will benefit from a $2.1-million grant aimed at supporting a five-year Mine Environmental Stewardship Initiative.

The grant is coming from the federal government’s National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) College and Community Innovation (CCI) program. The funds were secured through an Innovation Enhancement grant that will support a five-year Mine Environmental Stewardship Initiative.

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