Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness and Member of Parliament for Louis-Hébert Joël Lightbound, who spoke on behalf of Minister of Natural Resources Seamus O'Regan Jr., said the $730,096 in funding is in addition to the government of Quebec's $10,000 of support monies to the Université Laval.

With total funding of more than $1 million now in place, the development work of Université Laval on a pilot-scale clean tech that eliminates the need for cyanide in the gold extraction process can gain momentum.

The technology, which has the ability to reduce gold mining environmental impacts, can once deployed commercially help to also create jobs for engineers, technicians and skilled operators within its gold refineries.

Canadian officials said the funding has been provided through Natural Resources Canada's Clean Growth Program, a $155 million investment fund that supports clean technology research, development and demonstration projects within mining, energy and forestry in Canada.

The Clean Growth Program also has provided financial backing to Université Laval for the capacity to collaborate with NRCan's CanmetMINING on engineering support and testing of the pilot-scale technology. That investment was made through the programme's Science and Technology Assistance for Cleantech initiative.

 

Added Vice-Dean of Research, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Université Laval Line Lapointe: "Université Laval is proud to take part in the development of clean technologies for the gold mining industry."