Grant: Engage Grants Program

Toxic mining waste from historical mines established prior to environmental legislation is a major issue, bothin Nova Scotia and across Canada, The mining waste (tailings) can contain high concentrations of mercury(Hg), arsenic (As) and other metals, contaminating economically and environmentally-valuable land fordecades. Therefore, new in-situ remediation technologies for contaminated land are urgently needed. This isespecially true for large metal-contaminated areas where removal of the material is just not feasible due to: (a)high risk of releasing toxic contaminants over a larger area; and (b) the economically high costs of removal,treatment and disposal of the contaminated soil and waste material off-site. This project will be the firstlaboratory trial to assess a low-dose selenium (Se) additive as an in-situ remediation treatment for soils and itseffect on the speciation, mobility, bioaccumulation and toxicity of Hg and As. If the Se technique is effective inreducing Hg and As exposure risks it would mean that large contaminated land areas can be revitalised andrisks associated with millions of tonnes of As and Hg contaminated soils/tailings in Canada and world-widecan be better managed. This project will be in partnership with the international environmental engineeringfirm, Amec Foster Wheeler Infrastructure & Environment. Amec Foster Wheeler Infrastructure & Environmentis frequently challenged by clients to find new innovative and cost-effective means of remediatingcontaminated land. Participating in this project with access to University expertise, equipment and resourceswill bring significant benefits to the company and its clients.