Lessons from Izok Lake
An innovative and integrated approach
Izok Lake, in northern Canada on the border of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories, and High Lake are two exceptionally high-grade mineral deposits in a beautiful, remote, natural environment. The mining company MMG Limited is the latest custodian of those resources. They approached the Complex Orebodies Program leader to assemble a team and undertake a broad-based study of the area to seek innovative, sustainable and economically viable approaches to production.
The Izok Lake Corridor project is technically and logistically complex, so the team brought the collaboration and expertise to match.
It gathered more than 30 Sustainable Minerals Institute (SMI) researchers, a team from mining partner MMG and collaborators from the University of British Columbia.
Project leader Associate Professor Steven Micklethwaite, a principal research fellow in geology at SMI, said the original scope of the project was large, but he was confident he had a very good team of people who could deliver.
“The SMI team and MMG wanted to understand the challenges standing before the Izok Lake Corridor Project, then investigate innovative options to address those challenges and move the project toward a more sustainable and economically viable future.”
Complex orebodies bring potential benefits despite challenges
The challenges for the orebodies can include energy supply; remote location; climate change; inadequate infrastructure; difficulty accessing the deposit; a complicated mix of different ores; the potential impacts on the local community; and the need to protect the waterways, groundwater and wildlife.
“This is a classic ‘complex’ orebody that has been known about for a long time,” Associate Professor Micklethwaite said.
“There are potential, significant benefits for the local communities, but there is also a lot of complexity with the environmental, social, governance and technical challenges.
“Mining projects around the world and in Australia struggle, not for one reason, but for a whole range of reasons. A lot of those reasons are non-technical,” Associate Professor Micklethwaite said.
“To de-risk a project, you can’t really just address one factor. As one researcher summed it up during the project: ‘You have to be generally awesome, not just specifically awesome’.”
Integrating themes made for a genuinely holistic project
Associate Professor Micklethwaite said he was excited by the holistic nature of the project.
“It touched on every area of the mining process, from beginning to end – the people, the environment, obviously the technical dimensions, and how to integrate them.”
“It was also exciting that MMG came to us. This was a client-driven project, and they were motivated to be holistic in how they tackled the processing, environmental and community challenges faced by mining projects.
“We knew that we could deliver solutions that deliberately integrated those themes.”
“Our bigger vision was that, if we can get this right, then it could set a standard for the whole of the industry.”
MMG’s Head of Projects Mario Car explained that MMG approached the Complex Orebodies Program because an alternative approach was considered necessary to reassess the project.
“SMI’s Complex Orebodies Program approach, and the access to the depth of industry experts, was seen as an ideal group to provide an innovative future-thinking and integrated sustainability approach for the Izok Lake Corridor,” Mr Car said.
“The study outcomes exceeded expectations, and provided potential viable development configurations and valuable information to support us progressing the project.
“It was a pleasure working with the SMI team given their can-do approach in responding to challenges.”
Image credit: Adobe Stock / Wirestock
Lessons from the complex orebodies approach
There is a lot to be learned from this kind of integration.
“The complex orebodies approach is really the next step – helping projects become more sustainable from the moment of discovery until well after the mine has closed,” Associate Professor Micklethwaite said.
“Many companies recognise a range of problems with projects, and they want to get them right.
“If we do get it right, we will have good, sustainable, well-regulated mining that is able to find the resources required to make the solar panels, wind turbines and electric car batteries we so desperately need to decarbonise.
“The complex orebodies approach is one way to do it right. I see projects like this and think, if we make the right decisions as a society and are able to implement them, the future is actually very bright.”
Contact details
Associate Professor Steven Micklethwaite
Principal Research Fellow – Geology
WH Bryan Mining and Geology Research Centre
Sustainable Minerals Institute, The University of Queensland
Email: s.micklethwaite@uq.edu.au
Profile: smi.uq.edu.au/profile/7438/steven-micklethwaite
More stories from the Complex Orebodies Program
Addressing the challenge of water scarcity in Chile
Mapping the risks
Increasing energy efficiencies in mineral processing operations
From waste to wonder
Built with Shorthand