INNOVATION-May-June-2020

F E A T U R E

UBC student and teaching assistant Katrin Steinthorsdottir examines ultramafic serpentinite rock of the Baptiste Deposit in July 2019. P hoto courtesy of UBC/G reg D ipple .

In mid-2020, researchers expect to set up a tailings pad near Baptiste, made of drill core and surface rocks, to measure how much and how quickly the rocks absorb CO 2 . Using greenhouse gas flux measurement systems that are built for agriculture and soil samples, they will monitor the CO 2 in the air over the tailings pile. Small, dome-shaped chambers will isolate sections of tailings, Dipple explains. The rate at which the CO 2 is pulled out of the air trapped in the chamber and into the tailings below will be measured and compared with the characteristics of the tailings, such as the amount of brucite in the crushed rock. MAPPING BC’S CARBON MINERALIZATION POTENTIAL Fortunately, the fresh, unaltered ultramafic rocks, the serpentinized rocks, and the carbonate-altered rocks each have distinct physical characteristics. Using geophysical techniques, researchers can measure physical rock properties, such as density, magnetic properties or electrical conductivity, to help find rocks that have the highest carbon-sequestering potential. Geoscience BC, an organization that promotes and funds public geoscience research in BC, is sponsoring

a specific portion of this project, investing $260,000 over two years to create a world-first Carbon Mineralization Potential Index (CMPI) of BC. “We know that ultramafic serpentinized rocks occur throughout BC,” said Brady Clift, P.Geo., Manager, Minerals, at Geoscience BC. “The CMPI will use geophysical data and information about the chemistry and physical properties of these rocks to map their distribution across the province.” Dianne Mitchinson, P.Geo., research associate at the Mineral Deposit Research Unit (MDRU), is assisting with this portion of the project. Mitchinson has experience interpreting geophysical data and integrating it with rock property data from mineral deposits. For this project, she is looking at geophysical data collected over the Baptiste site to determine the “geophysical fingerprint” of the brucite-bearing serpentinized rocks. “If we can identify that fingerprint at specific sites,” said Mitchinson, “then we may be able to go and look at the geophysical data over a larger area and find the best rocks for carbon sequestration.” Mitchinson and her colleagues, Dominique Fournier, scientific programmer at Mira Geoscience, and Jamie

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