Canada to lead the way in replacing energy and chemical-intense resource extraction and mining site remediation methods with first integrative platform for microbiome analysis.
[February 1, 2022] Vancouver, BC – Canada’s Digital Technology Supercluster is pleased to announce the launch of the Mining Microbiome Analysis Platform (MMAP) project, the largest investment in planned natural resource genomic sequencing in the history of the sector. With breakthrough biomining solutions, the MMAP project will be the catalyst for sustainable mining practices on a global scale by replacing energy and chemical-intense resource extraction methods and improving mining site cleanup techniques.
Led by Teck Resources Limited (“Teck”), and in partnership with the University of British Columbia (UBC), BGC Engineering, Koonkie Canada, Rio Tinto, Genome BC, Allonnia, Microsoft and the Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation (CEMI), this consortium is creating the first integrated online platform to extract the DNA from more than 15,000 mining site samples over the next two years to identify microbes that can be used to replace chemical and other legacy extraction methods for minerals and metals, and to perform safer, more effective remediation of legacy and operational mine sites. UBC’s Bradshaw Research Initiative for Minerals and Mining (BRIMM) in particular, has played a formative role in bringing together the private industry partners, non-profit genomics and mining sector organizations, and academic researchers crucial to this unique partnership.
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