Canada funds mining climate change adaptation project

20th May 2019 By: Creamer Media Reporter

The Canadian government has announced a C$325 000 investment in the Mining Association of Canada’s (MAC’s) climate change adaptation project, which seeks to make mining operations resilient to a changing climate and extreme weather events.

The project – Climate Change Risk and Adaptation Best Practices for the Mining Sector – will give mine operators the tools and knowledge needed to better plan for climate change in decision-making at all stages of mine life.

The project has a total value of C$650 000 and received additional support from MAC, Golder Associates and Lorax Environmental Services.

MAC president and CEO Pierre Gratton said in a statement on Friday that it was important that solutions for climate change adaptation be tailored for the environments in which mines operated, and for the infrastructure on which they depended.

"Adaptation to a changing climate is needed across all sectors of society, from municipal infrastructure, to transportation, to agriculture and forestry. Mining is no different.  . . The outcome of this project will be the first of its kind – best practice guidance for our industry to both assess potential future climate changes at mine sites and assess potential impacts of those changes on mine operations and infrastructure," he said.

Parliamentary Secretary to the Natural Resources Minister, Paul Lefebvre, commented that by investing in sustainable mining projects, government was helping ensure that natural resources, including minerals and metals, played an important role in supplying the building blocks for clean technologies across the world.

“By helping our mining sector to adapt to a changing climate, we are proving once more that the environment and the economy go hand in hand,” he said.