Assessing the Risks of Critical Metals in the Environment

“评估环境中关键矿物的风险”项目旨在了解加拿大环境中稀土和铂族金属的潜在风险。 稀土和铂族金属被列入加拿大2021年关键矿物清单，这些矿物被认为是我国经济成功和安全的关键，也是实现低碳经济目标所必需的。 虽然对我们的经济越来越重要，但关于稀土和铂族金属的潜在环境影响的信息很少。我们研究的目标是开发数据，以促进土壤和水质指南和环境保护标准的发展。 我们将使用基于现场和实验室的方法相结合，以了解水和土壤化学如何影响这些金属的生物利用度和生物积累，以及这如何随后导致毒性效应和敏感生物群的损害。 该研究小组包括学术和联邦研究人员，他们在土壤和水生环境中的化学、生物利用度和金属影响方面具有互补的专业知识。 在这些研究中，金属组合的影响将是一个重要的考虑因素，因为环境污染通常以混合物的形式出现。 该团队得到了行业和政府合作伙伴，加拿大环境和气候变化，猎豹资源公司的支持。关于Stantec 每个合作伙伴都发挥着关键作用，以确保我们对环境条件如何影响这些鲜为人知的金属的影响的理解得到发展和应用。 猎豹资源公司最近开设了加拿大第一个稀土矿，并提供进入其西北地区矿场的机会，以及为学生提供培训机会。 Stantec还将在确保实验方法反映加拿大真实的条件方面发挥重要作用。 加拿大环境和气候变化部在确保研究旨在满足加拿大人的需求方面发挥着关键作用，并确保研究成果用于加强加拿大化学品管理计划下的环境保护。

The project "Assessing the Risks of Critical Minerals in the Environment" (ARCMITE) is directed towards understanding the potential risks of rare earth and platinum group metals in the Canadian environment. The rare earth and platinum group metals are included in Canada's 2021 Critical Minerals List, the minerals identified as essential for our country's economic success and security and also required to meet our goals for a low carbon economy. While increasingly important to our economy, there is very little information on the potential environmental effects of rare earth and platinum group metals. The goal of our research is to develop data that will facilitate the development of soil and water quality guidelines and criteria for environmental protection. We will use a combination of field and lab based approaches to learn how water and soil chemistry influences the bioavailability and bioaccumulation of these metals and how this can subsequently lead to toxic effects and impairment of sensitive biota. The research team includes both academic and federal researchers with complementary expertise on the chemistry, bioavailability and impacts of metals in both soil and aquatic environments. The effects of combinations of metals will be an important consideration in these studies because contamination of the environment generally occurs as mixtures. The team is supported by industry and government partners, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Cheetah Resources Inc. and Stantec. The partners each have key roles to ensuring that our understanding of how environmental conditions influence the impacts of these poorly understood metals is developed and applied. Cheetah Resources has recently opened Canada's first rare earth element mine and is providing access to their mine site in the Northwest Territories as well as training opportunities for students. Stantec will also play an important role in ensuring experimental approaches reflect real Canadian conditions. Environment and Climate Change Canada has a key role in ensuring the research is designed to meet the needs of Canadians, and that the outcomes are applied to enhance environmental protection under Canada's Chemical Management Plan.