B.C. funds project to extract minerals, metals while reducing environmental impacts

VANCOUVER — The British Columbia government is funding a pilot project that it says offers the mining industry a path to significantly reduce the environmental impacts of extracting critical minerals.

A statement from the province says Vancouver-based PH7 Technologies Inc. has developed a “closed-loop” process using chemistry to extract and refine critical minerals and help the industry transition to renewable energy.

It says the process also enables the extraction of metals from low-grade resources in a cost-effective way, including platinum-group metals such as copper and tin.

Energy and Mines Minister Josie Osborne says the company is demonstrating the kind of innovative thinking that could transform mining around the world. 

The company is receiving $850,000 from the provincial Innovative Clean Energy Fund to conduct a pilot project to process 5,000 kilograms of raw materials each day into about 2,500 kilograms of extracted platinum group metals per year. 

The release says the process results in significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions, and lower electricity and water usage compared with mining or other recycling methods. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 20, 2024. 

The Canadian Press