The RIME’s research program focuses on several major themes related to mining and the environment. Our program currently includes several research chairs and a dozen major research projects. In addition to the financial support provided by our industrial partners, funding for research is provided by both provincial and federal funding agencies from Quebec and Canada.
Chairholder : Bruno Bussière
The long-term goal of this Research Chair is to develop reclamation strategies that limit the environmental impacts and risks of mining. This industrial chair has enabled the development of innovative new technologies, as well as the improvement of existing technologies, for the reclamation of tailings storage facilities and waste rock piles.
Chairholder : Carmen Mihaela Neculita
This Chair focuses on: (1) the optimization of passive treatment systems for the reclamation of closed and abandoned mine sites, and (2) active treatment systems for both classical contaminants and emerging contaminants. Results from this Chair will improve the design and efficiency of contaminated mine water treatment systems.
Chairholder : Isabelle Demers
This Chair aims to optimize mine waste management strategies and minimize negative impacts on the environment. This Chair includes two overall objectives: (1) to adapt mineral recovery processes to facilitate the reclamation of tailings storage facilities, and (2) to plan the management of mine wastes at the beginning of the mine life cycle based on geological data.
Chairholder : Lucie Coudert
The purpose of this Chair is to develop waste reprocessing techniques to reduce the impact of mine wastes and maximize the exploitation of mineral resources in Canada. The research will focus on the development both physical and chemical treatment processes.
Principal Investigator : Bruno Bussière
The completion of this project will help the mining industry and governments to better adapt to climate change by adjusting the design of reclamation methods and taking into account long-term evolution of vegetation at mine sites.
Principal Investigator : Isabelle Demers
The main objective of this project is to valorize desulfurized tailings as cover materials and to ensure the long-term effectiveness of covers made from desulfurized tailings.
Principal Investigator : Mamert Mbonimpa
This project aims to develop tools for the valorization of sludge for the control of dust raised by wind in tailings storage facilities, as well as for the reclamation of tailings storage facilities.
Principal Investigator : Isabelle Demers
This research project will provide new approaches for mine waste management, both for tailings and wastes rocks, that are applicable during mining operations and that will reduce long-term environmental risks.
Principal Investigator : Mamert Mbonimpa
Given that the susceptibility for hydraulic segregation of mine tailings is governed by their rheological properties for a given hydrodynamic flow, this project aims at controlling the rheological properties of mine tailings to minimize their segregation during their deposition.
Principal Investigator : Carmen Mihaela Neculita
This project seeks to improve characterizations of mine effluents and as well as the performance of treatment techniques for emerging contaminants.
Principal Investigator : Marie Guittonny
The main objective of this multidisciplinary project is to better calibrate numerical models of the water balance of covers used for mine site reclamation and determine the impacts of vegetation on their long-term performance.
