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Elements08 Strategic Metals Excellence Centre: A productive year for 2019-2020
Over the past year, the Elements08 Strategic Metals Excellence Centre has laid the groundwork for an innovative research program aimed at the responsible and sustainable exploitation of critical and strategic minerals (CSM).
Established thanks to the support of the Quebec Ministry of Economy and Innovation (MEI) with funding of $7.5 million over five years, Elements08 is the result of a collaboration between the Institut de recherche en mines et en environnement (IRME) of the Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT), the Cégep de l’Abitibi-Témiscamingue (CAT), and the Centre technologique des residus industriels (CTRI). The Centre of Excellence benefits from the combined expertise of researchers attached to each of the three partners. Together, they form a multidisciplinary and experienced team able to support companies or partners working in the field of CSM in identifying their needs, including technological challenges, and advising/assisting it in the definition of its expectations and mandates. It is also able to develop a
In order to provide sustainable environmental solutions to concrete issues related to critical and strategic minerals, Elements08 has launched several promising projects since its creation in March 2018. / Afin d’apporter des solutions environnementales durables à des préoccupations concrètes liées aux minéraux critiques et stratégiques, Éléments08 a lancé, depuis sa création en mars 2018, plusieurs projets prometteurs.
scientific approach to meet the needs identified, as well as to finance part of the work through various contributions and to seek additional funding leverage from government granting agencies. Promising projects
In order to provide sustainable environmental solutions to concrete issues related to critical and strategic minerals, Elements08 has launched several promising projects since its creation in March 2018. These fall within one of the three research axes of the Centre of Excellence, covering the whole process of mineral development.
The overall impact of these projects is currently estimated at $1,731,267, with a funding ratio of nearly 10:1. Soon halfway through the agreement, the centre has practically already achieved the expected objectives in terms of contribution by institutional partners. a mutualized technological platform
Based in Rouyn-Noranda, Elements08 benefits from state-of-the-art infrastructures and highly specialized equipment, including a multi-function geometallurgical and environmental characterization laboratory, as well as pilot scale and semi-industrial mineral processing plants.
Thanks to a new grinding prototype based on high pulsed power (HPP), which it acquired this year, the centre offers companies an alternative to conventional grinding, thereby improving the energy efficiency of the comminution phase, all the while increasing the recovery rates of valuable metals.
In 2019-2020, the centre was also endowed with new cuttingedge tools in chemical and mineralogical characterization, as well as in extractive metallurgy through grants from the John R. Evans Leaders Fund of the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI).
a future niche for a mining region
Abitibi-Témiscamingue, the province’s main mining region, is one of the only regions in Quebec that offers integrated training
on all professional, college, and university levels, directly oriented
to the needs of Quebec’s mineral industry and society. Thanks to
the expertise of its researchers, many of whom are internationally
renowned, the region is a key player in the development of the
mining sector.
A pioneer in Quebec in the field of critical and strategic
minerals, the Elements08 project has distinguished itself on the
provincial scale and beyond. To learn more about the centre,
please visit the elements08.com/en website. u
