INNOVATION May-June 2017

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Kylie Williams MINING GENOMICS FOR SOLUTIONS BC Projects Harness Gene-Mapping Technologies to Overcome Mining Challenges

When the human genome was sequenced 17 years ago, few people in the mining and exploration industry could have suspected that, less than two decades later, the same technologies would be used to improve existing processes and develop new ways to clean up mine-affected

waters, extract metals from low grade ore, guide rehabilitation programs, and help find new orebodies. Genomics, the branch of molecular biology concerned with the structure, function, evolution, and mapping of genomes, combines biology, genetics,

and computer science to solve problems. That is the unanimous message coming from workers at mine sites participating in pilot projects and from the researchers guiding them. Living things are part of every aspect of exploration and mining. They comprise

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