Lithium mining plays a key role in enabling the green energy transition, particularly in electric vehicle (EV) production, but traditional methods are often harmful to the environment. Conventional lithium extraction through hard rock mining and evaporation ponds can be carbon-intensive and disrupt local ecosystems, with hard rock mining alone generating 15 tonnes of CO2 for every tonne of lithium produced.
Enter innovative companies like Summit Nanotech, led by CEO Amanda Hall, who is revolutionizing lithium extraction methods. Hall, concerned about the environmental impact of traditional mining, founded Summit Nanotech in 2018 to develop a more sustainable technology. The company’s patented “sorbent” technology allows lithium to be extracted from brine with higher efficiency and without the need for harmful chemicals. This new method involves running brine through a column filled with sorbent materials, which attract only the lithium, leaving everything else to pass through. The lithium-depleted brine can then be reinjected back underground, making the process cleaner and more sustainable.
While Summit Nanotech focuses on South America, where the world’s second-largest lithium deposits are found, Canada is also emerging as a global leader in mining innovation, particularly in sustainable practices. The country’s NORCAT Underground Mine Centre in Sudbury, Ontario, serves as an innovation hub where tech companies can develop, test, and showcase cutting-edge mining solutions in a real-world, operational mine setting. As Don Duval, CEO of NORCAT, explains, the center allows startups to demonstrate their technology to large mining companies and secure their first customers, while large firms get to see the latest innovations firsthand.
Among the exciting new technologies being tested in Canada are drones for remote inspections, autonomous machines, and electric industrial vehicles. These innovations aim to make mining safer, more efficient, and more sustainable. According to Duval, the investment in mining tech in Canada is immense and pivotal to the ongoing transformation of the mining sector.
Chamirai Nyabeze, vice-president of business development at the Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation (CEMI), also based in Sudbury, believes Canada is ideally positioned to lead the charge in sustainable mining. With abundant natural resources and a strong tradition of technological innovation, Canada is poised to produce the green technologies needed for industries like EV manufacturing—technologies that rely on sustainably sourced minerals.
As Nyabeze points out, creating clean technologies using materials extracted through environmentally harmful methods is a contradiction. Canada’s leadership in sustainable mining technologies is crucial not only for reducing the environmental impact of the mining industry but also for ensuring that the materials needed for clean energy transitions, like electric vehicles, are sourced responsibly.
With global demand for minerals like lithium soaring, Canada’s advancements in sustainable mining practices are helping shape the future of a greener, more responsible mining industry.
