Sustainable Mineral Development- A Theoretical Paradigm for Compliance of Strategic and Short-term Mine Plans

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According to Canada's Economic Action Plan the energy and mining sector provides approximately $25 billion a year in revenue to governments — money that supports critical social programs such as health care, education, and public pensions. Over the next decade, more than 600 major resource projects, worth over $680 billion, are planned to move ahead. Canada has a global responsibility to develop and utilize its mineral resources sustainably and optimally. The proposed research is aligned with the Sustainable Mineral Development Initiative, under the collaborative leadership of Natural Resources Canada, to create a competitive advantage in mineral resource development and planning for Canada. The suggested research program aims to develop an integrated mine systems planning, whereby a mineral is extracted and prepared within a desired market specification, with the minimum repercussions on the environment, maximum economic return, and within acceptable social, legal, and regulatory constraints. This proposal is an extension to our past research and findings on long-term, short-term and operational mine planning. The goal is to develop an integrated mine planning framework that can produce feasible, reliable, and achievable mine plans to avoid project disruptions and improve operational efficiencies in order to generate maximum economic returns within acceptable social and environmental constraints. It is anticipated that the outcome of this research will contribute to responsible resource development by transferring knowledge to practitioners and end-users through prototype open-source software applications in the industry. It is foreseen that three PhD and three Master's students will be trained through this program.