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FEATURE UNBC researchers look to build better, quieter wood building 1
Teck piloting all-electric haul truck All-electric haul truck will run between Highland Valley copper mine and Ashcroft. (Teck Resources Ltd. handout photo) Nelson Bennett/Glacier Media
Teck Resources Ltd. will begin piloting an all-electric haul truck at its Highland Valley copper mine this year. Teck today announced it is partnering with MEDATech on a pilot project that will see an all-electric haul truck used to haul copper concentrate from its Highland Valley copper mine to a rail loading facility in Ashcroft -- a roundtrip of 95 kilometres. The announcement follows
a previous announcement in January, when Teck said it plans to phase out diesel haul trucks in its B.C. operations and replace them with up to 30 electric haul trucks. That plan includes a pilot project at its Elk Valley metallurgical coal mine operations, where a trolleyassist system will be used to recharge the vehicles. The demonstration projects are part of Teck’s target of reducing the carbon intensity of its operations by 33 per cent by 2030 and becoming carbonneutral by 2050.
The Highland Valley pilot project will use a MEDATech ALTDRIVE-powered fifth-wheel Western Star truck. A roundtrip to Ashcroft and back is about 95 kilometres, and the truck will make four to five trips per day. “Since the truck batteries will charge on the downhill haul through regenerative braking, the rig will require only a short battery recharge at the Ashcroft, B.C. rail terminal so the haul cycle time is expected to be the same as a conventional truck,” MEDATech president Robert
Rennie said in a press release. “Testing and implementing new electric vehicle technologies is one way we are taking concrete steps towards achieving our goal of being carbon neutral across our operations,” said Teck CEO Don Lindsay. The pilot project is expected to begin this summer. Teck estimates it can eliminate 418 tonnes of CO2 annually – equivalent to 90 passenger cars. Teck also expects the move to all-electric will reduce both fuel and maintenance costs.
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Features Piloting all-electric haul truck 2 Rio Tinto giving back to northern B.C.
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Commodities analyst predicts copper super-cycle
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Russian invasion stressing Canadian supply chain
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Tahltan First Nation shows its mining mettle
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PG pellet plant closure prompts call to competition bureau 14 Peak Renewables announces Pulp Mill acquisition
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Canfor Pulp announces new CEO 17 UNBC researchers look to build better, quieter wood building 18
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Rio Tinto giving back to northern B.C. Rio Tinto provided funding for summer interns from the Freshwater Fisheries Society of B.C. to conduct programs to help re-establish the Nechako white sturgeon population in 2021. (Rio Tinto handout photo)
Citizen Staff
Rio Tinto invested $2.2 million in community initiative across B.C. last year, up by $200,000 from 2020. In a statement issued in February, the international resource company said it helped support 38 B.C. organizations in areas including culture, heritage,
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community, education, health, reducing inequality and the environment. Rio Tinto owns and operates the BC Works aluminum smelter in Kitimat, which runs on hydroelectric power provided by the Nechako River watershed. The majority of the organizations supported are
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in the Kitimat and Terrace areas, and along the Nechako River watershed, including Prince George. “In 2021, we increased our support to enhance the physical and mental well-being of our people, as well as the health of the environment,” Claudine Gagnon, Rio Tinto Aluminium’s general manager of communities and communication, said in a statement issued in February. “We continued to collaborate with First Nations to advance meaningful reconciliation in northern British Columbia. We also provided assistance to local organisations that help build more sustainable and livable communities in Kitimat, Terrace and the Nechako Watershed.” Among the projects supported was the Freshwater Fisheries Society of B.C.’s summer program to support the
re-establishment of the Nechacko white sturgeon; UNBC research into the impacts of atmospheric rivers and pineapple express weather patterns on the Nechako watershed, and the launch of the UNBC Centre for Technology Adoption for Aging in the North. The Prince George Community Foundation and Spruce City Wildlife Association also received funding to support their activities. The contributions were made from the Rio Tinto Aluminium Canada Fund, the Nechako Environmental Enhancement Fund, BC Works’ own budget as well as in kind donations. “I want to thank our partners for everything they do to create a better, more resilient future for our communities,” Gagnon said.
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Commodities analyst predicts copper super-cycle Nelson Bennett/Glacier Media
During a Q&A at the Association of Mineral Exploration (AME) Roundup in January, Douglas Porter, chief economist for BMO Financial Group, was asked what commodity he thought would be a top performer, gold or copper? Porter answered: “I’d go with natural gas as number one.” In a room filled with goldbugs, it may not have gotten as big a laugh as it should have. He went on to say that,
if he had to choose between gold and copper, he said he thought copper has “the best medium-term potential.” But when it comes to base metals in general, Porter said he was “not in the supercycle camp.” Porter was among the speakers at a session on financial and commodities markets. Also speaking at the session was Patricia Mohr, a former Scotiabank commodities guru, who is in the supercycle camp.
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“I do expect a super-cycle for copper,” said Mohr, who is now editor for a Capitalight Research newsletter, Critical Metals report. In fact, she predicts strong demand and prices for several critical metals needed for the energy transition – copper, nickel, lithium and rare earths – all of which is good for Canada. In 2020, Mohr made some bullish predictions for copper, and since then copper has broken records, hitting US$4.88 per pound in May 2021. Scotiabank is now predicting copper prices to be in the US$4.25 per pound range into 2023, before hitting US$5 per pound by 2025. Mohr said the drive towards electric vehicle adoption alone promises to drive the demand for copper to new heights. Add in renewable energy, and the demand for copper may well outstrip supply at some point. The International Energy Agency (IEA) has expressed concern that there will not be enough critical metals to meet the demand of the energy transition. “I would tell you, looking at the outlook in some detail, I would agree that the world should be concerned, that in fact there will not be enough metals available,” Mohr said. As part of her research for the new Critical Metals report, Mohr has focused on copper, nickel, lithium and three rare earths or battery and magnet metals –
“
I think you’re going to have a very strong performance from copper mediumterm. That’s very important, of course, for British Columbia.
neodymium, praseodymium and dysprosium. Since 2020, 44 national governments have committed to net zero emissions by 2050, Mohr noted, which necessarily will mean a massive switch to electric vehicles, if targets are to be met. “These countries represent 70 per cent of global GDP,” Mohr pointed out. She said China had set a target of having 20 per cent of commercial and passenger vehicles being electric by 2025. “I think they could actually meet that target this year,” Mohr said. Renewable energy uses twice the amount of copper as traditional power, Mohr said. Both India and China are planning massive installations of renewable energy, which will result in a huge demand for copper. New copper mines coming online, including the Teck Resources Quebrada Blanca Phase 2, will help meet some of the increasing demand for copper in the short term. “However, beginning around 2025, I think copper is going to jump up to another level – about $5, maybe INDUSTRY & TRADE | SPRING/SUMMER 2022
even higher,” Mohr said. “What you’re going to see is a big decline in actual world production from around 2026 onwards, in the midst of a very strong demand growth around the world. “So I think you’re going to have a very strong performance from copper medium-term. That’s very important, of course, for British Columbia.” B.C. is Canada’s largest producer of copper. The prospects are also very good for nickel, driven by increased demand in stainless steel and batteries. Mohr said there are “critically low” inventories in China. New production coming online may mute prices in 2023, but longer term expects the demand for nickel to be very strong.
‘I do expect a super-cycle for copper’ -- Patricia Mohr. (Nelson Bennett photo)
“The global decarbonization will lead to a huge opportunity for Canada’s
nickel industry,” Mohr said. She said she is aware of five proposed nickel mine projects in Canada – two of them in B.C. In the area of rare earths, there is now one light rare earth mine in Canada, in the Northwest Territories. One rare earth deposit has identified in B.C. for possible development – the Wicheeda property. As for lithium – a critical component of EV batteries -- Mohr sees an increasing demand for that as well, and thinks the best opportunities for lithium production is in Alberta, where lithium can be extracted from the brines of old oil and gas wells. “I think Alberta actually could emerge as one of the world’s biggest lithium producers from the old aquifers,” Mohr said.
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Russian invasion stressing Canadian supply chain
Russia’s recent invasion of Ukraine could have long-term effects on Canada’s supply chain, ranging from agriculture to precious metals, according to experts. (WIN Initiative/Neleman/ Getty Images file photo) Chuck Chiang/Glacier Media
The expected prolonged supply chain disruptions in Ukraine, Russia and Belarus will likely add more pressure in the coming months – and maybe years – to Canada’s internal transport infrastructure.
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That’s because the goods whose production is being disrupted in the warzone in Europe – precious metals, wheat, fertilizer, and oil and gas – include many of the top commodities that Canada exports. With the main alternative suppliers in Eastern Europe not being able to produce, the demand on Canada’s production will likely place new pressure on Canada to deliver more onto the global stage, researchers say. And these pressures will come if the Ukraine crisis stretches on – even if they are not obvious now. Opher Baron, distinguished
professor of operations management at the Rotman School of Management at University of Toronto, said that the most obvious economic impact from the Russian invasion has been spiking oil prices. However, other commodities with different production cycles – such as agricultural goods like wheat, which are seasonal – the lag means the boost in global demand will not appear until months into the conflict. “Basically, the time you start seeding your fields is coming soon,” Baron said. “And if you don’t do it, there will be some shortage [of crops] generally.” The same goes for other items such as ores and metals that go into complex manufacturing processes, where the true impact of the shortage may not be seen until months down the line. Baron compared the situation to that of certain components of electric vehicles for example: The material in these cars being sold now were likely INDUSTRY & TRADE | SPRING/SUMMER 2022
mined out of the earth up to a year ago or more, meaning delays may not materialize right away if there is a shortage of a certain material. “These are two [Russia and Ukraine] relatively large economies, especially in the context of some of the more rare resources,” Baron noted. “So it will have a lasting impact.” Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University in Halifax, recently released a report on “shelflation” – or the wasting of food products on Canadian shelves as supply chain strains in the last year lengthened the delivery time of such goods from farm to market. Charlebois, who commenced the research in 2021 after noticing more instances of dairy products expiring on store shelves, said Canadians may have had to discard as
much as $550 million in food products because they can’t get to market quick enough. Although the situation in the report – compiled in fall 2021 – was caused by the pandemic and weather issues across Canada, Charlebois noted any disruption to the Canadian distribution system would contribute to the problem moving forward. The war in Ukraine – and the potential higher global demand for Canadian agricultural products – will likely not help the situation, he said. “Absolutely,” Charlebois said when asked about the possibility of Ukraine adding further stresses to Canada’s agricultural supply chains. “I think consumers will need to be a little bit careful moving forward. ... People will have to be vigilant while industry
adapts.” For Charlebois, there is something that Canadian consumers here can do about the situation. He noted that – in other instances such as “shrink-flation,” or the reduction of a product’s packaged quantity while retaining the same price – there is often little consumers can do to counter its effects. With “shelflation,” however, the strain is time-related. That means that a consumer can adapt to the new supply chain timelines by buying smaller batches of goods more frequently – matching the longer timelines of a product’s delivery from production to market. “If you know the supply chain is not working as effectively, it may not be the best idea to go to a grocery store and buy two weeks’ worth of fruit,” Charlebois said. “You may
want to go two, three days apart if you can. Otherwise, you may just end up buying too much and throwing away too much.” Baron added that the key issue remains the duration of the Ukraine conflict, although he warned that for commodities like agricultural goods and rare metals where the lag time is more pronounced, it will take an equally longer period of time for those supply chains to smooth out once the war is resolved. “In terms of oil and gas, the response will be quite quick – just like what we’ve seen with the quick response when the conflict started,” he said. “With respect to food, there may be a [longer -term] issue. If you miss a season of agriculture, you miss that season.”
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Tahltan First Nation shows its mining mettle Nelson Bennett/Glacier Media
Gold, jade, copper, nickel, obsidian, silver – the northwest corner of B.C., dubbed the Golden Triangle, is rich in precious and base metals. Roughly 70 per cent of this mineral-rich region is claimed by the Tahltan First Nation as traditional territory – an area roughly the size of Portugal. The Tahltan claimed sovereignty over their territory in a formal declaration in 1910. Though at the time its leaders expressed an interest in treaty negotiations, the Tahltan First Nation is among the few in B.C. that never entered the B.C. treaty process. That might have become a problem for mining companies
wanting to exploit the region’s mineral riches, but the Tahltan First Nation supports and is very much involved in the mining industry.
and exploration in the region has attracted an estimated $1.8 billion just in the last three years alone, according to the B.C. government.
There is archaeological evidence that the Tahltan mined and traded obsidian (used for making blades, arrowheads and spearheads) as far back as 10,000 years ago, and also traded with gold miners during the gold rush of the 1800s. There are currently two operating mines in Tahltan territory – the Red Chris coppergold mine and the Brucejack gold mine – that provide 950 direct jobs and another 1,000 in the supply and services industry, and other projects are under development. Mining
With a workforce of skilled underground miners and numerous business interests in companies that serve the mining industry, the Tahltan are to mining what Mohawk First Nations are to ironworking. While the Tahltan government has said no to coal bed methane extraction, and has lately been serving eviction notices to placer and jade miners over concerns about impacts to the environment and cultural sites, it otherwise generally supports and works with the mining and mineral exploration sectors. It has also worked with the provincial government on agreements to provide some certainty over land use. Thanks to its support for and involvement in mining, the First Nation has comparatively high employment levels. “The unemployment rate for Tahltan in the area is incredibly low,” said Paul Gruner, the new CEO of the Tahltan Nation Development Corp. (TNDC). “We’re one of the largest private businesses in northwest B.C. I think that’s pretty cool, as an Indigenous business, to be a major employer and contributor to the local economy.”
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Gruner is new to the TNDC. He previously was CEO of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation’s Det’on Cho Corp. He said he is impressed by the Tahltan’s business acumen and political organization. “The Tahltan themselves are well-organized,” he said. “They’ve got political sophistication and will and desire.” Formed in 1985 by the Tahltan
Central Government, the TNDC is like a Crown corporation that operates at arm’s length and is responsible for business and economic development. It has developed numerous business ventures, including in heavy construction, earthworks, camp services, air chartering, forestry, transportation and fibre optics. Some are owned outright by the Tahltan, while others are partnerships or joint ventures. One of the most significant of these partnerships is with Procon Mining & Tunnelling. Procon manages the underground operations at the Brucejack mine, which employs roughly 20 Tahltan miners. Dale Day is one of them. An underground remote scoop operator, he has been a miner since 1979. Originally from Telegraph Creek, he now lives in Terrace. Since his first job at the Erickson gold mine near Cassiar, where he got an electrical trade apprenticeship, he has worked in seven underground mines over his career. With the exception of a stint at the Cantung tungsten mine in the Yukon, all of the mines he has worked in over his career have been in northwestern B.C. “It was actually the first time I left the Golden Triangle, when I went up to the Cantung mine,” Day said. “Other than that, all the work was pretty much in our Golden Triangle. “The money is good,” he said. “I would love to see more Tahltans in mining. I have a big family and I always encourage them to try mining out. As far as the Tahltans and the mining go, they’ve got to coexist. Everybody depends on it up there. It’s their No. 1 industry.” While operating mines employ some Tahltan miners, many INDUSTRY & TRADE | SPRING/SUMMER 2022
more Tahltan are employed in service industries that are either owned by the Tahltan or operate as joint ventures. TNDC owns a fleet of heavy equipment – bulldozers, excavators, graders, loaders, dump trucks, rock trucks, packers and service and utility vehicles that have allowed the Tahltan to win a number of contracts for major projects. In 2008, for example, TNDC secured more than $180 million in contracts with NovaGold Resources on the Galore Creek mine project. As for joint ventures and partnerships, one recent example is a new agreement with Sandvik AB – a Swedish multinational engineering company – making the TNCD an official reseller of mining equipment, machinery, tools and software in B.C and the Yukon. Tahltech Drilling Services Ltd. is a partnership between TNDC and Geotech Drilling Services Ltd. that provides exploration, geotechnical, environmental, construction and other specialized drilling services.
In partnership with Northern Spirit Transportation, Tahltan NST Busing Ltd. provides a bus service that shuttles miners to and from mine camps, and through its partnership with Central Mountain Air it operates an air charter service. The TNDC also has the management contract for Dease Lake Airport. “I think we’ve got to be the only Indigenous-controlled airport in the province right now,” Gruner said. Tahltan businesses were also involved in the construction of the Forrest Kerr, McLymont Creek and Volcano run-of-river hydroelectric projects, and the TNDC owns five per cent of Coast Mountain Hydro, the company that owns and operates them. Through its various business entities and partnerships, the TNDC generated $61 million in income for the 2020-21 fiscal year, held $57 million in assets and employed 360 people. The TNCD pays dividends annually to the Tahltan Central Government, and the Tahltan and Iskut band councils.
Roughly 20 Tahltan underground miners work at the Brucejack mine. (Tahltan Nation Development Corporation handout photo)
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Prince George wood pellet plant closure prompts call to competition bureau
A Pinnacle Renewable Energy wood pellet export terminal in Prince Rupert -- now owned by Drax. (Submitted photo) Nelson Bennett/Glacier Media
Two forest sector unions, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) and Conservation North are calling on the Competition Bureau of Canada to
investigate what they say may constitute a monopoly of the wood pellet industry in B.C. by Drax Group PLC. The control of two-thirds of B.C.’s wood pellet production by the British utility – which
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operates a thermal power plant in the UK that has phased out coal with biomass -- is now costing jobs in B.C., say the CCPA, Unifor and Public and Private Workers of Canada (PPWC). In mid-December, Pacific BioEnergy Corp. announced it would permanently close its wood pellet mill in Prince George. When the plant ceased operations at the end of March, 55 plant workers lost their jobs. The decision to shutter the plant coincided with the announcement that Pinnacle Renewable Energy – which was acquired by Drax last year – would acquire Pacific BioEnergy’s pellet sales contract book, which amounts to 2.8 million tonnes of pellet sales in Japan and Europe. “The combination of Drax’s purchase and Pacific Bioenergy’s virtually simultaneous decision to close the operations of the Prince George-based company, signifies that Drax’s entree into Canada is reducing competition for wood pellets while concentrating purchasing power in the hands of one company,” the groups say in their letter to the competition bureau.
“
We urge you to investigate whether such a level of concentration serves the interests of Canadians, and if it does not whether Drax should be ordered to divest itself of certain assets.
B.C.’s wood pellet industry has grown over the last two decades, thanks to a growing demand for biomass as a renewable energy alternative to coal in thermal power plants. INDUSTRY & TRADE | SPRING/SUMMER 2022
But of the 13 pellet plants in B.C., Drax will own or partially control seven of them, according to the application to the competition bureau. The groups estimate that Drax will own or control 62 per cent of the wood pellet production in B.C. They are asking the competition bureau to rule on whether or not that constitutes a monopoly. “Our estimate is that Drax has an even greater control of pellet production in Alberta at 82 per cent of the provincial total,” the letter to the competition bureau states. “And that in Canada as a whole, Drax controls 44 per cent of the nation’s current estimated pellet mill output. “We urge you to investigate whether such a level of concentration serves the interests of Canadians, and if it does not whether Drax should be ordered to divest itself of certain assets.” Just recently, in November, the competition bureau made a ruling that ended with Paper Excellence agreeing to sell one of its recently acquired pulp mills in B.C., after the bureau found that Paper Excellence’s $3 billion acquisition of Domtar would result in a “monopsony” – a type of monopoly in which one company can keep prices of a product it buys – in this case fibre – “below competitive levels.” The competition bureau found that Paper Excellence’s acquisition of Domtar would result in the merged companies owning 70 per cent of the ThompsonOkanagan wood fibre supply. “The bureau determined that the proposed transaction is anti-competitive because it would provide Paper Excellence with monopsony power in a large part of southern British Columbia,” the competition bureau SPRING SUMMER 2022 | INDUSTRY & TRADE
found. “This would enable Paper Excellence to pay lower than competitive prices to sawmills and other suppliers of wood fibre in a region of British Columbia where Paper Excellence already has a high concentration of pulp mills.” As a result of the bureau’s findings, Paper Excellence agreed to sell a Domtar pulp mill Kamloops to a third party. Like pulp mills, wood pellet mills also use sawmill waste and pulp logs. When the wood pellet industry first started in B.C., it used mainly wood waste from sawmills. But a wave of sawmill closures across B.C. in recent years has resulted in a decline in sawmill waste, so wood pellet manufacturers have been increasingly using low-value trees -- pulp logs, as they are known in the industry. “Sawmill closures in the region have reduced the volume of available raw materials and increased their cost significantly,” Pacific BioEnergy CEO John Stirling said in a news release on December 14, 2021, when announcing the planned closure of the Prince George pellet mill.
a low-value industry like wood pellet production. “You don’t build a garbage dump first,” PPWC president Gary Fiege told BIV News. “And that’s what these pellet plants were designed for – to use the waste that other plants couldn’t use. And they’ve somehow morphed into, now, this new reality that they’re actually taking whole logs and turning them into pellets, which is probably one of the lowest job creators out there.” In Fort Nelson, Peak Renewables acquired tenure from Canfor Corp. for the development of a new wood pellet plant there. That forestry tenure used to support a sawmill and oriented strand board (OSB) plant, so the timber in that region clearly had some value for manufacturing.
this allegedly junk wood into solid wood products,” said Ben Parfitt, CCPA resource policy analyst. There is strong support in Fort Nelson, including from the Fort Nelson First Nation, for the Peak Renewables plant, because it would provide logging and manufacturing jobs in an area that has seen its forest industry practically vanish. Parfitt thinks the new pellet plant in Fort Nelson could end up with Drax as its main buyer, increasing its control of wood pellet production in B.C. “I don’t think it’s a stretch to think that, if that plant materializes, that Drax would be more than interested in acquiring whatever the output was from that plant,” Parfitt said.
“It is possible to turn a lot of
“Forest fires, landslides, and floods have severely impacted our ability to transport our product by rail to the export terminal in North Vancouver. The impact has been a significant increase in operating costs. Our sales contracts have been sold to Pinnacle to mitigate the impact on our customers.” Both conservation groups and forest sector unions, like PPWC and Unifor, have raised concerns about harvesting whole, live trees to feed wood pellet plants. They say trees that may have higher value added uses – lumber or plywood manufacturing, for example – should not be used to supply
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In March, Peak Renewables Ltd. announced it has purchased the Chetwynd Pulp Mill, which has not operated since 2015. (Getty Images file photo by Taiyou Nomachi)
Peak Renewables announces Chetwynd Pulp Mill acquisition 16
Bob Brown/Glacier Media
In March, Peak Renewables Ltd. announced they have acquired the Chetwynd Pulp Mill previously owned and operated by Paper Excellence. The Chetwynd Pulp Mill has not operated since 2015. Peak Renewables will remediate the mill site and repurpose the land and buildings to other industrial uses. “We are extremely pleased to acquire the Chetwynd Pulp Mill site,” said Scott Bax, CEO of Peak Renewables. “This is a large industrial site, with excellent services, located in a very strategic area. We
believe there are multiple potential future uses for the site. We will pursue those opportunities in full partnership with local First Nations.” “We welcome Peak Renewables and their plans to repurpose the site,” said Chief Justin Napoleon of Sealteau First Nations. “We are working with Peak on the site clean up, and we very much look forward to helping Peak develop new opportunities for sustainable economic development at the site.”
INDUSTRY & TRADE | SPRING/SUMMER 2022
Canfor Pulp announces new CEO supply,” Canfor Pulp chairman John Baird said in a statement issued by the company.
Citizen Staff
On March 15, Canfor Pulp Products Inc. announced Kevin Edgson will take the helm as president and CEO of the company.
One of Edgson’s first priorities will be to lead the company through “a comprehensive business review,” the statement said.
Edgson begins his term in the company’s top job on April 11. He served as the former president and CEO of EACOM Timber Corp. for more than decade, and previously worked for Millar Western Forest Products Ltd in a series of roles, including chief financial officer.
Canfor Pulp Products Inc. announced that Kevin Edgson will be the company’s new president and CEO, starting April 11. (LinkedIn photo)
CAREERS
“I’m excited to welcome Kevin to lead the Canfor Pulp team. Kevin is a highly successful leader with strong knowledge of the forestry and pulp industries and I am confident he will lead the organization to a profitable and sustainable future,” Canfor president Don Kayne said in a statement.
“Kevin’s proven ability to build and lead highly effective teams, in combination with his extensive experience in the forest sector, make him the ideal choice to lead Canfor Pulp as the company works to improve operational reliability and optimize the use of our fibre
Canfor Pulp vice presidents Kevin Anderson and Brian Yuen will be part of Edgson’s leadership team and part of the business review.
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UNBC researchers look to build better, quieter wood building
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UNBC researcher Jianhui Zhou speaks about his research to reduce the amount to vibration and noise transferred through mass timber buildings on March 30. (Citizen photo by Arthur Williams) Arthur Williams
I
f a $2,000 rubber ball falls from one metre onto a wood panel floor, will their downstairs neighbours hear a sound? The heavy rubber ball, designed in Japan to simulate a typical human footstep, is just one of the tools that UNBC researcher Jianhui Zhou and his colleagues at UNBC’s Wood Innovation and Design Centre and Wood Innovation Research Lab downtown Prince George are using to study the acoustic and vibration characteristics of mass timber building materials. Zhou hopes the research he and his colleagues are doing today will help developers build quieter, more comfortable wood buildings in the future. “Wood does not have a good reputation for sound insulation,” Zhou said. “Mass timber buildings use pre-fabricated wood panels. They are still considered lightweight building materials. They are a little bit better (for sound insulation) than stick framing, but not a lot more.”
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Zhou, who has been an engineering assistant professor at UNBC since 2018, thinks he can change that. And thanks to a nearly $250,000 grant from the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s (CFI) John R. Evans Leaders announced in March, Zhou and his team will have more than fancy rubber balls to prove it. The grant has allowed UNBC to purchase a state-ofthe-art sound and vibration data acquisition and analysis systems, vibration and acoustic sensors, a vibration shaker and laser vibrometer. The team’s research is also supported by a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery Grant and a B.C. Forestry Innovation Investment Wood First grant. The current system Zhou and his colleagues are using can only capture six channels of data at once. The new system will be able to record 24 different data streams at the same time, and can be expanded to capture more than 100, he said. That
means the team will be able to get more information out of each experiment and do things – like track vibration and sound simultaneously – that they couldn’t before. Zhou and his colleagues don’t just study the physics and material science of the building materials, they also have volunteers rate their subjective perceptions of floor vibration and noise – turning hard data into useful guidelines for what people living and working in mass timber buildings will experience. Concrete, used extensively in large modern buildings, is not much better than wood when it comes to vibration and sound, “it just performs differently,” Zhou said. A normal human footstep isn’t enough to get dense, heavy concrete to vibrate, he said. But when it comes to higherfrequency sounds, caused by things like a woman walking in stiletto heels, concrete actually transmits more sound and
Using wood (instead of concrete) helps us lower our carbon emissions.
vibration than wood. Wood frame or wood panel floors, however, transfer the lowfrequency vibrations and sound of people walking fairly easily, he said. “Some people are more sensitive to that vibration,” Zhou said. “If we want to look at building medical buildings or laboratories out of mass timber… some of the equipment is very sensitive to vibrations. If you want to use wood to build a science lab, it is INDUSTRY & TRADE | SPRING/SUMMER 2022
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UNBC researcher Jianhuis Zhou and his colleagues are studying mass timber construction building materials and methods at the university’s Wood Innovation Research Lab in downtown Prince George. (Citizen photo by Arthur Williams)
important to make a section of the floor which has almost no vibration.” In their laboratories in the UNBC’s Wood Innovation and Design Centre and Wood Innovation Research Lab, Zhou and his colleagues are testing the performance of different types of wood panels and beams. They have also built a test room, with a dowel-laminated wood panel roof and framed-in walls to test ways to reduce noise transmission through walls and from one level to another. Some of the practical solutions Zhou is studying include using insulated subfloors or concrete overlays to allow the finished wood to show on the ceilings, while still reducing sound transmission. “We like to see wood, it creates this warm environment,” he said. “Using wood (instead of SPRING SUMMER 2022 | INDUSTRY & TRADE
concrete) helps us lower our carbon emissions.” It could also create economic opportunities for companies in northern B.C to produce wood panels for mass timber construction and build apartments, office buildings and other large buildings from locally-made products. While Zhou gave the Citizen a tour of the WIDC labs, one of his students was conducting material tests for a wood panel maker in Golden, B.C. “We’ve never gotten any (commercial) projects from northern B.C.,” Zhou said. “We haven’t had any interest from them.” UNBC researchers would be eager to work with local forestry companies looking to develop new mass timber products. “We can do all kinds of work here, or testing.”
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