Land reclamation work undertaken in Sudbury is being recognized with provincial accolades.
The Canadian Land Reclamation Association Ontario has awarded its Tom Peters Memorial Mine Reclamation Awards to two Sudbury proponents: Glencore Canada and YiZhi Yuan.
Established in 2007, the awards — one for industry and one for a student — are given out annually to recognize and promote outstanding achievement in the practice of mine reclamation in Ontario.
The award is named for Tom Peters, a founding member of the Canadian Land Reclamation Association and an INCO agriculturalist who pioneered the use of agricultural practices in regreening mine tailings, including the basic recipes for the addition of limestone, fertilizer, seed and the planting of fall rye as a cover crop.
Samantha McGarry, a site rehabilitation specialist with Glencore Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations, accepted the industry award.
McGarry manages the company’s tailings reclamation research and is responsible for the its site closure plans. She’s additionally Glencore’s representative on Greater Sudbury’s VETAC (Vegetation Enhancement Technical Advisory Committee), which is responsible for Sudbury’s regreening program.
YiZhi Yuan, a PhD candidate in hydrogeochemistry and emerging contaminants at University of Waterloo, received the student award.
He was recognized for his work monitoring emerging contaminants at Glencore’s Sudbury operations.
This year’s awards were presented during the 15th annual Mine Reclamation Symposium, which took place June 24-25 at the University of Guelph.
