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A NEW RESEARCH CHAIR
Awarded to Professor Lucie Coudert, the Canada Research Chair on the retreatment of mine waste aims to integrate the retreatment of mine waste into mining operations. Its goal is to reduce the environmental impacts associated with the long-term storage of mine waste while maximizing the recovery of mineral products that are still present.
MANY NEW RESEARCH PROJECTS
- For the project entitled Influence of vegetation on the hydraulic budget of cover materials used in mine restoration, professor Marie Guittonny was awarded a CRD grant of $321 000 from NSERC. In addition to this sum, cash contributions of $170 000 and in-kind contributions of $159 000 from IRME’s industrial partners make for a total of $ 650 000 over 4 years.
- Researcher Carmen M. Neculita and her collaborators obtained $760 000 for a project entitled Caracterization and treatment of emerging contaminants in mine effluents. This comprises a $377 000 CRD grant from NSERC as well as $240 000 in cash and $143 000 of in-kind contributions from IRME’s industrial partners.
- For the project entitled Restoration of tailings impoundments and climate change: Development and application of tools to aid adaptation, researchers at IRME obtained $418 000, $185 000 coming from IRME’s industrial partners and $233 000 from the Adaptation to climate change program from Natural Resources Canada. IRME professors Bruno Bussière, Isabelle Demers, Marie Guittonny, Li Li and Thomas Pabst will collaborate with Philippe Roy of Ouranos and Ward Wilson of the University of Alberta.
- For her project entitled Reducing the generation of acid mine drainage and contaminated neutral drainage from mine waste, professor Isabelle Demers and her collaborators received a grant of $280 000 from NSERC and $240 000 from IRME’s industrial partners.
- Professor Mamert Mbonimpa and his collaborators obtained a grant of $349 000 from NSERC and $224 000 from IRME’s industrial partners to realize the project Optimisation of rheological properties to minimize hydraulic segregation of concentrator wastes in hard-rock mines.
- For his project Management and restoration of tailings sites filtered with inclusions of overburden, professor Thomas Pabst and his collaborators were awarded a grant of $130 000 from NSERC as well as financial support of $165 000 from IRME’s industrial partners.
RENEWAL OF THE CANADA RESEARCH CHAIR ON INTEGRATING ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS INTO THE LIFE CYCLE OF MINES
Professor Isabelle Demers was awarded this Chair in 2014. Its goals are to optimize strategies for mine waste management and to minimize the negative impacts of mine wastes on the environment. The renewal will allow the research of the Chair to continue until 2024.
MEMBERS OF IRME HONORED BY UNIVERSITÉ DU QUÉBEC AND THE CANADIAN GEOTECHNICAL SOCIETY
2018
- Professor Isabelle Demers received from the Réseau de l’Université du Québec the award ‘’ excellence de la relève’’ in the field of Natural Sciences, Engineering and Health Sciences.
- Denis Bois received the award ‘’Excellence en gestion, volet Carrière’’. Mr. Bois was director of the Unité de recherche et de service en technologie minérale (URSTM), a position he held from 1989 until his recent retirement in 2017. He was also Administrative Director of IRME from 2013 to 2017. During his three decades the implication of Denis Bois increased significantly the volume of research and specialized services performed at UQAT in the field of mining and environmental research.
2019
- In recognition of her exceptional contribution to her field of expertise, professor Carmen Mihaela Neculita was named to the Cercle d’excellence de l’Université du Québec.
- The Canadian Geotechnical Society awarded the R.M. Quigley prize to the team at IRME for the exceptional contribution of the article entitled ‘’In situ evaluation or performance of reclamation measures implemented on an abandoned reactive tailings disposal site’’. The authors of this article were Marie-Pier Éthier, Bruno Bussière, Michel Aubertin, Abdelkabir Maqsoud, Isabelle Demers and Stefan Broda.
- Doctoral student Vincent Boulanger-Martel received the award for Best Article by a Graduate Student at the Canadian Geotechnical Conference, Geo StJohn’s.