Grant: Alliance Grants

This Alliance partnership between the University of Saskatchewan and Profile Products is designed to evaluate and test soil amendments for mine covers in cold regions. Mine covers are crucial to mine closure where constructed slopes store and release water to the environment and prevent water and oxygen ingress into waste rock and mine tailings. We will test a number of new soil amendments produced by Profile Products-the first such testing of soil amendments on mine covers in controlled, cold, laboratory conditions. Such evaluation and testing of soil amendments for mine covers is an economically and environmentally important topic to Canada. We estimate that for mine covers and their life-cycle represent about $25 million in "demand" and ~$500 million in "risks" exist in the next 10-20 years. This project will test a number of amendments designed to stimulate vegetation growth and improve hydrological functioning of created mine covers. Following the project's completion, Profile Products will invest to advance the results in Canada. The work will last for one year and result in the training of one Postdoctoral Fellow and two Research Technicians. Equity, diversity and inclusion are interwoven into the training plan and McDonnell has an unusually strong track record of diversity in his lab with 54% females (in a field of 28% female participation overall) and diverse international membership and ethnic diversity from Canada, Brazil, China, Australia, Mexico, USA, China and the UK. Diversity of ideas, genders, backgrounds and ethnicity is his goal for team building for research excellence-described in his 2016 paper in Science magazine titled "Orchestrating a Powerful Group". McDonnell has visited the Six Nations First Nation in Ontario and spoken with Mr. V. Natomagan, Executive Director at Kineepik Metis Local who heads the First Nations engagement for Cameco-all with an aim of filling one of the technician positions on this project with a First Nations worker.