Janice Zinck

Bad news: the costs to remediate Canada’s abandoned mine waste is ~ $50B. Good news: the residual metals and other useable components within are worth more than $50B! Janice conceived a novel program to address these challenges and transform them into opportunities to generate local value, reversing legacy environmental impacts. Formally approved by all levels of government in August 2018, the ‘Mining Value from Waste’ program is developing technologies, processes, and approaches to reprocess and repurpose mining waste. Six projects are underway, taking a circular economy approach that between value generation and risk mitigation demonstrates a significant economic opportunity estimated at $100B. More important are the associated social and environmental benefits.
Janice also played a key role in launching the Global Mineral Professionals Alliance organization’s ‘Global Action on Tailings’ initiative.