INNOVATION-May-June-2020

Magnesium carbonate crust on tailings of the closed Clinton Creek chrysotile mine, western Yukon, taken in 2005. P hoto courtesy of UBC/G reg D ipple .

Brucite occurs in these same rocks, making it an excellent candidate for a carbon sequestration trial. “If you grind up the host rock at Baptiste so it has a much bigger surface area, it will indeed sequester some CO 2 out of the atmosphere,” said Bradshaw. “We don’t need carbon sequestration for this mine to work. It’s a pure bonus.”

so that mining projects can take advantage of this natural process to capture CO 2 from the atmosphere. To accomplish this, researchers sought and received support from Geoscience BC, the British Columbia Geological Survey (BCGS), the Geological Survey of Canada, De Beers Canada, FPX Nickel Corp., and Giga Metals Corp. and netted $2 million from the Government of Canada’s Clean Growth Program. Research collaborators come from the Universities of British Columbia and Alberta, Trent University, and the Institut national de la recherche scientifique. BC FIELD TRIALS The ability of serpentinized ultramafic rocks to sequester carbon has been convincingly demonstrated in laboratory settings. But this recent funding boost has meant that Dipple and his colleagues can set up field trials in Canada and South Africa in 2020. One of these trials will take place at the Baptiste Deposit, an advanced exploration project near Prince George in central BC, operated by FPX Minerals. According to FPX’s Dr. Peter Bradshaw, P.Eng., the company’s Baptiste Deposit (part of the Decar Nickel District) is unique, because it is the first deposit in the world where the primary ore mineral is awaruite—a rare nickel iron alloy found in serpentinized rocks.

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