Sustainable Mine Energy Systems Roadmap for UBC BRIMM
Bradshaw Research Initiative of Minerals and Mining Research (BRIMM), founded in 2017 to connect scientists and engineers across the University of British Columbia (UBC), aims to create multidisciplinary teams of leading researchers to work with industry to find solutions to the biggest challenges facing the mining industry and trains the next generation of multidisciplinary professionals.
Working closely with the Director and the Theme Leader, we led the roadmap development process that started with a comprehensive discovery process for cross-disciplinary researchers to understand mining challenges and opportunities and to exchange knowledge about world-leading research at UBC. We facilitated workshops and collectively determined three theme areas:
Decarbonizing mine operations: How to select and integrate different energy technology options in supply, use and storage to maximize the removal of carbon-emitting processes on mine sites.
Carbon removal and the circular economy: Waste from mining has the potential for capturing carbon dioxide. This can be done directly by cementing carbon in mine tailings or by remediating disused mines to turn them into biodiverse carbon sinks.
ESG, shared value and energy justice: As miners reduce their carbon footprint, they will need to be transparent with customers and stakeholders to build trust. Blockchain technology can enable the tracking of carbon footprints for different mined products. Miners can also benefit local communities by designing energy infrastructure to be shared with local communities and handed over to them at the end of the mine life.
The Sustainable Mine Energy Systems theme was launched in a seminar attracting 450 attendees and the white paper was published.
We continue to support BRIMM as an industry advisor and pursue collaborative projects.
Project Tags: Carbon Credits, Collaboration, Decarbonization, Energy Management, ESG, Innovation, Mining, Renewables, Research, Strategy, White Paper