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Environment |
The Department of Mining Engineering is committed to developing and integrating responsible mining methods that promote a healthy environment. |
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Through curriculum and research we are dedicated to exploring these issues and finding solutions that work.
Some of our activities in this field are:
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Dr. Ward Wilson in China
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- A Chair for Mining and the Environment was created in 2002 with
Professor Ward Wilson being appointed to this position. Professor Wilson has a world-wide reputation in mine waste management. Additional information about Dr. Wilson and his research group can be found on his website.
- Professor Marcello Veiga took an 18-month leave from UBC in 2003 to work with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (LNK, UNIDO) in Vienna to manage its Global Mercury Project. The Project encompasses six countries - Brazil, Indonesia, Laos, Sudan, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. Its goal is to introduce mineral processing techniques in order to reduce mercury emissions from artisanal gold mining activities.
- Professor John Meech, in his capacity as Director of CERM3, initiated the Millennium Plug Project at the Britannia Mine site on Howe Sound. The structure consists of soil, sand and clay materials designed to withstand high pressures, high dynamic loading and strong chemical attack. The goal of the research project is to develop design criteria for a plug to last 1000 years
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- The Sustainability Working Group (SWG) is a committed, dynamic group of graduate students, professors, and professionals working together as a team to solve environmental and social issues around the world.
- Jennifer Hinton, a PhD student supervised by Professor Veiga, is moving to Uganda in January to work with the World Bank and Ugandan Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development to undertake research in conjunction with the "Sustainable Management of Mineral Resources Project" (LNK).
The primary objective of the SMMRP is to accelerate sustainable development and reduce poverty by strengthening governance, transparency and management, with particular emphasis on community development in mining areas. Her research is on the gender-differentiated social determinants of health in artisanal mining communities.
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Jennifer Hinton in Peru
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Ginger Gibson
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- Ginger Gibson’s (LNK) PhD research weaves together social science and engineering in a truly interdisciplinary fashion in one of Canada’s most exciting mining hotspots: the Northwest Territories.
Her research gets at the heart of aboriginal engagement with the mining industry, as she works in the diamond mines to provide an in-depth study of corporate strategies to engage aboriginal communities. In the surrounding Tlicho communities Ginger’s work will illustrate the resilient strategies of families and communities.
The Tlicho are the first in the north to negotiate land claims and self government agreements with the Canadian government. This research threads through many themes: capacity building, educational needs, mine training, Impact and Benefit Agreements, social impact assessment and community based monitoring. It is complex research, representing a new climate of mining engineering; one that seeks to understand and empower the web of relationships needed to operate sustainable mines.
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