The Montreal-based mining tech group said it will use the funding to deliver an industrial-scale plant to an unidentified metals processing facility that will completed during the September quarter and put online late this year or early in 2019 after commissioning.

“This program is the next logical step to fully commercialise the arsenic technology,” SDTC’s Brian Howlett said, noting that the programme’s goal is to prove the vitrification in an industrial setting.

“[We are] currently working on development projects in the arsenopyrite and cobalt space that will benefit from this development work.”

The funding announcement was made by the Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of International Development and La Francophone and Member of Parliament for Compton–Stanstead, on behalf of the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED).

ISED, who confirmed in a statement the technology would see development in Namibia and will have application both domestically and globally, noted it could even be used to clean up abandoned mines containing high levels of arsenic waste.

“Investments such as the one we're celebrating today at Dundee Sustainable Technologies are essential for ensuring Canada's transition to a greener economy,” Bibeau said. “Innovations related to waste from mining operations are especially important for our region because they help us find more energy-efficient solutions that are better for the environment.”