Towards Environmentally Responsible Resource Extraction Network (NSERC-TERRE-NET)

加拿大丰富的自然资源财富维持了悠久的经济发展历史。这些自然资源的开采和加工为加拿大提供了巨大的社会和经济效益，并将为21世纪的加拿大经济提供基础。不幸的是，与自然资源开采和加工有关的利益往往伴随着长期、广泛的环境退化以及相关的社会和财政成本。受资源开采影响的地下水、地表水和土壤的修复具有挑战性，成本高昂，但对环境的可持续性至关重要。为了减少与资源开采有关的环境影响，需要稳定矿山废物和防止今后污染的新战略。这些方法的实施将带来经济和社会效益，并减轻负责矿区修复的公司、省级和联邦政府的财政负担。矿渣库的长期稳定性及其对周边环境的影响受水文、地球化学、矿物学和生物等多种机制的控制。虽然取得了很大进展，但目前的知识仍然存在重大差距。差距的产生是因为与地雷废物管理有关的技术挑战要求专家把重点放在相对狭窄的目标上。拟议的NSERC战略伙伴关系资助网络“NSERC对环境负责的资源开采”（TERRE-NET）将促进广泛的合作和知识共享，以解决与负责任的资源开采相关的技术和社会挑战。TERRE-NET联合了加拿大各大学在地球化学、水文地质学、矿物学、生物地球化学、废水处理、岩土工程、纳米技术、环境微生物学、资源经济学、环境社会学和土著相互作用等领域的顶尖专家。我们的小组将采取彻底综合的办法，为管理矿山废料和减轻污染制订改进的、具有成本效益的、社会可接受的战略。

Canada's rich natural resource wealth has sustained a long history of economic development. Extraction and processing of these natural resources have provided Canada with great social and economic benefits, and will provide a foundation for Canada's economy in the 21st century. Unfortunately, the benefits associated with natural resource extraction and processing are often accompanied by long-term, widespread environmental degradation and the associated social and financial costs. The remediation of groundwater, surface water and soils impacted by resource extraction is challenging and costly, but essential for environmental sustainability. New strategies for stabilizing mine wastes and preventing future contamination are needed to reduce the environmental impacts associated with resource extraction. Implementation of these approaches will provide economic and societal benefits, and reduce the financial burden on corporations and provincial and federal governments responsible for remediation of mine sites. The long-term stability of mine-waste impoundments and impacts to the surrounding environment are controlled by hydrological, geochemical, mineralogical, and biological mechanisms. Although much progress has been made, significant gaps remain in current knowledge. Gaps develop because the technical challenges associated with mine-waste management require specialists to focus on relatively narrow objectives. The proposed NSERC Strategic Partnership Grants for Networks "NSERC Toward Environmentally Responsible Resource Extraction" (TERRE-NET) will promote the broad collaboration and knowledge sharing necessary to address the technical and social challenges associated with responsible resource extraction. TERRE-NET unites leading experts from universities across Canada working in the fields of geochemistry, hydrogeology, mineralogy, biogeochemistry, waste-water processing, geotechnical engineering, nanotechnology, environmental microbiology, resource economics, environmental sociology, and Indigenous interactions. In a thoroughly-integrated approach, our team will develop improved, cost-effective, socially acceptable strategies for managing mine wastes and mitigating contamination.