Thank you very much.
Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee.
In June, the assistant deputy minister of Natural Resources Canada's minerals and metals division spoke to the committee about the Canadian minerals and metals sector, specifically, about some of the challenges and the innovation imperative. Today, I would like to focus on CanmetMINING's role in mining innovation.
CanmetMINING is a branch of Natural Resources Canada's minerals and metals sector. It's over 100 years old and has a history of being valued for its technical expertise. This expertise is broad and multidisciplinary, covering all aspects of the mining cycle, from mining extraction to mineral processing to environmental management.
CanmetMINING's mandate is to develop and implement green mining technologies to improve the environmental performance and the economic competitiveness of the mining industry, and to improve the health, safety, and productivity of miners and mine operations.
We de-risk green mining technologies to accelerate their deployment and commercialization in the mining sector. De-risking refers to lowering the risk to mining companies to implement new and innovative technologies in their operations.
Science and technology innovation in the mining sector enables Canada to expand its mineral resource potential. This happens through unlocking the benefits from the discovery and extraction of new deposits, extending the life of existing mines, and turning previously uneconomical sites into viable opportunities.
Government plays a key role in enabling innovation and supporting industry needs. CanmetMINING focuses on developing technologies and solutions to address key mining industry issues. We develop these technologies and solutions with two intertwined objectives: to reduce the environmental impacts of mining and to improve Canada's competitiveness. Strong environmental performance is closely linked to the long-term economic growth of Canada's mining industry and is essential for maintaining public trust in Canada's development of its mineral resources.
The green mining initiative is the brand that CanmetMINING uses to communicate the objectives and results of its work. The green mining initiative is a pan-Canadian initiative led by Natural Resources Canada that was launched in 2009 and endorsed by federal, provincial, and territorial ministers responsible for mines.
Building on efforts such as the national orphaned and abandoned mines initiative, the green mining initiative was designed to develop collaborative approaches and share relevant scientific knowledge in key research areas across the mining sector.
The long-term vision of the green mining initiative is for mining to leave behind only clean water, rehabilitated landscapes, and healthy ecosystems.
We are headquartered in Ottawa, with regional facilities located in Sudbury and Val-d'Or, which allows us to connect closely with mining stakeholders.
To give you a better sense of the results of our work, I would like to present to you three examples of recent CanmetMINING achievements.
We have developed a technology that uses mine waste as an alternative to Portland cement. In addition to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and decreasing the quantity of mine waste, the implementation of this technology would provide economic benefits to the mining industry. It's estimated that mines using the technology would save 50% on backfill binder costs. It has a potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at particular mine sites by 90%.
We've also demonstrated and verified an automated ventilation system for underground mines. Ventilation accounts for 40% of the energy expended in the mining extraction process, and costs about $10 million for the average-sized underground mine. The research at CanmetMINING has shown that automated ventilation could help reduce this energy consumption by anywhere from 20% to 50%.
We've also conducted research to improve the understanding of the transfer of selenium from water into the food chain. This allows us to inform regulations that are practical, achievable, and based on scientific evidence.
We had a study conducted in 2015 by a third party to examine the socioeconomic and environmental impacts of our work. The study examined a sample of our technologies and services, and found excellent returns on our investment and the contribution of our stakeholders.
An example of the technology included in the study of both the environmental and economic impact is the CanmetMINING enhanced leaching process that we developed to reduce the amount of environmentally harmful cyanide required in gold and silver extraction. This proprietary technology has shown tremendous cost-saving promise for silver extraction in a laboratory setting. At one mine site, the annual estimated saving consisted of $16 million and it was submitted that there will be an additional capital-expenditure saving.
Another example is our green mines, green energy project which use organic wastes, such as municipal composts and forestry biosolids to reclaim mining lands and grow energy crops. Some estimates suggest that oilseed production on mine tailings would generate approximately 3,600 litres per hectare, and CanmetMINING research estimated a profit of approximately $900 per hectare per year could be achieved
Stakeholder collaboration is fundamental to the way we work at CanmetMINING. Through the engagement and involvement of stakeholders in our projects, we accelerate the uptake of the green mining technologies that we develop, leveraging expertise and reducing duplication within the innovation ecosystem.
Our green mining initiative intergovernmental working group is currently co-chaired by the Province of Ontario and consists of federal, provincial, and territorial members. In recent years, this committee has carried out a number of studies on innovation and barriers to green mining, and provided recommendations to federal, provincial, and territorial ministers responsible for mining to advance innovation and address barriers.
Our green initiative advisory committee is co-chaired by the Mining Association of Canada and includes membership from mining companies, associations, suppliers, academia, government organizations, research centres, and not-for-profit organizations. It is the main mechanism by which we ensure that our research and development is well-aligned with the mining industry and other stakeholders.
] At the Green Mining Initiative Advisory Committee workshop in late 2014, we proposed a new innovation adoption model to determine if we could accelerate the uptake of green mining technologies by bringing together key stakeholders along the innovation value chain and removing common barriers to innovation such as project funding and intellectual property issues. Workshop participants identified energy savings and water management as two key issues. CanmetMINING committed to providing funding for the project, sharing any intellectual property arriving from the project, and leveraging expertise and resources from others.
The water project was co-led by the Mining Association of Canada and focused on an evaluation of advanced water treatment technologies to reduce the potential impacts of mine effluents on the receiving environment, including acid mine drainage. The energy project was co-led by the Canada Mining Innovation Council. Its object was to accelerate the uptake of a modelling tool that identified recoverable waste energy in the grinding circuit by bringing together key stakeholders such as mining companies, academia, manufacturers, and grinding mills.
CanmetMINING's research plan for the next five years builds on the success of these two pilot projects with the goal of eliminating barriers to innovation and accelerating the development and implementation of solutions. The research plan identifies four priorities based on our engagement and consultation with stakeholders. The four priorities are energy efficiency, enhanced productivity, waste management, and water management; and work in these areas includes involvement of stakeholders.
Under our energy efficiency priority, our goal is to develop technologies to reduce energy consumption in mining and milling to improve energy efficiency in mining and mitigate climate change, and to replace diesel in underground mines with alternative energy sources. Under our enhanced productivity priority, we are developing novel and innovative new mining technologies to increase productivity and decrease the risk of adoption of technologies.
Under our rare earth element and chromite research and development program announced in budget 2015, we are working with stakeholders to address the complex technological challenges that are related to the production, separation, and processing of critical metals needed to develop and grow new businesses and highly qualified personnel in Canada.
Under our waste management priority, we are developing best practices for waste management seeking to reduce liability and cost with respect to tailings and generate new revenue streams for mining companies.
Under our water management priority, we are developing technologies with the aim of reducing the demand for freshwater resources, reducing discharge to the environment, and informing policies, guidelines, and regulations regarding any potential impacts on aquatic environments.
Our collaborators are too numerous to include, but we work with a variety of organizations and companies to address barriers to innovation and to the adoption of new technologies in the mining industry.
CanmetMINING will continue to engage and collaborate with stakeholders along the innovation ecosystem in support of mining, to ensure they meet the highest environmental standards, adopt new innovative and clean technologies, and realize important economic benefits through cost savings, and efficiency and productivity gains.