Testing effects of soil amendments on nutrient poor mine covers soils at the MOST Facility

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This Alliance partnership between the University of Saskatchewan MOST Facility, Sunterra (Canada) Inc., and Okane Consultants Inc. (Okane) is designed to evaluate and test soil amendments for mine covers in cold regions. Mine covers are crucial to mine closure where constructed slopes store and release water to the environment and prevent water and oxygen ingress into waste rock and mine tailings. We will test a suite of new soil amendments as a follow-on to our previous research collaboration with Profile Products, Sunterra (Canada) Inc.'s parent company. This new follow-on work will focus on the effect the amendments have on soil nutrient content and water availability on poor mine cover soil. The evaluation and testing of soil amendments for mine covers is both an economically and environmentally important research topic to Canada. We estimate that in Canada, about $25 million in "demand" and ~$500 million in "risk" exists for mine covers and their life-cycle over the next 10-20 years. This project will test a suite of soil amendments designed to stimulate vegetation growth, limit hillslope erosion risk, and improve hydrological functioning of created mine covers. Following the project's completion, Sunterra will invest in advancing these results in the Canadian mining and reclamation sectors. This research will cover a two-year period and result in the training of a research Technician, a post-doctoral fellow and two Masters of Water Security (MWS) students. Equity, diversity, and inclusion are interwoven into the training plan. McDonnell has a uniquely strong track record of diversity in his lab with 50% female membership (in a field of 28% female participation overall) with high international and ethnic diversity. Current members in the McDonnell lab group hail from Canada, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and China and one of the 3 members who graduated this year was First Nations. Diversity of ideas, backgrounds, genders, and ethnicity is his goal for team building for research excellence-described in his 2016 paper in Science magazine titled "Orchestrating a Powerful Group". Our diversity will aid this partnership and help us answer the pressing questions for our business partners.