Universities seek boost for mineral exploration

Supporters believe the project, called Explorenet, will reverse the decline in known mineral reserves that today threatens the future of the mining industry.

Despite having vast potential mineral reserves, Canada is slipping behind in ore deposit exploration and development, even though it has been a world leader, said Alastair Sinclair, head of the Department of Geological Sciences at UBC and one of the principal advocates of Explorenet.

“Our problem isn’t that we lack resources to be discovered in this country, it’s that deposits are becoming more difficult to find. We need new and innovative technologies to improve our rate of discovery,” he said.

To rectify this, Sinclair and other researchers at major Canadian universities are asking the federal government for more than $18.7- million over four years to fund Explorenet, also known as the Canadian Network of Centres for Advanced Mineral Exploration Technologies and Ore Deposits Research.

If federal funding is granted, it would be supplemented by support from industry and provincial governments. All parties would become active participants in the program. Sinclair said the B.C. government and mining industry leaders have already indicated support for the plan.

Funds for the project would be roughly split among the three major centres, at UBC, the University of Toronto and the Mineral Exploration Research Institute in Montreal. Six other universities and federal and provincial geological survey branches would also be involved.

Research would span basic and applied topics in areas encompassing geology, geochemistry and geophysics, all keyed to creating new technologies in mineral exploration and in establishing a highly trained core of young, professional earth scientists.

The Explorenet proposal is currently under review by the natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

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