Together, Creating Sustainable Value

Mine closure and reclamation are key components in the life cycle of a mine. To us, how we leave our mine sites and how we start them are equally important. Until recently, Chris Cormier was our VP of Reclamation and Closure, but this year he made the jump from mine closure, to opening a new mine at our Coffee Mine Project in the Yukon as the Mine General Manager. Before his transition to Coffee, we asked him how 2017 helped shape Reclamation and Closure at Goldcorp.

Since 2017, Goldcorp has been working with IBM to determine how the IBM Watson cognitive computing platform could improve the company’s mineral exploration program. RLGM is now pioneering the world’s first Exploration with Watson platform. The Watson initiative recently earned Goldcorp a prestigious Ingenious Award in the large private sector category from the Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC).

Land management practices in the mining process can take an environmental toll on the soil around a mine site. Tillage, stripping and removal of native vegetation can alter the living and nutrient conditions of soil organisms, and result in a degradation of their microenvironments, particularly with a reduction of soil biotics, both in biomass and diversity.

Yet proven successful remediation techniques utilized by experienced erosion control specialists can restore the land back to the original state before mining operations commenced. Such was the case at Goldcorp’s El Sauzal mine, located in the municipality of Urique Chihuahua, Mexico.

At Goldcorp, we recognize that our stewardship of the environment is integral to our company’s long-term viability, and we are working on innovative ways for environmental management, always considering the present and future of water, energy and biodiversity.

In October 2018, Red Lake Gold Mines partnered with Earth Rangers, a conservation organization dedicated to educating children and their families about biodiversity, to bring the organization directly to local schools.

Goldcorp’s Towards Zero Water (H2Zero) Strategy targets dramatic reductions in our use of fresh water and increased water recycling rates at every one of our operations. An immediate goal is to reduce all forms of “high-calorie water” extraction which we define as the extraction of water not necessary due to dewatering or the inadvertent capture or precipitation by our existing facilities. Ultimately, we will attempt to eliminate the use of “high-calorie water” entirely at our operations.

Goldcorp’s safety culture underpins everything we do as a company. Mining safely is a challenge we face every day, and there is no better example of this challenge than safety surrounding cyanide.

Cyanide is a highly toxic chemical most commonly used in the leaching process for gold extraction, which means we need to take every precaution to ensure it is handled safely at all our sites. One of the ways we do this is with the addition of red dye to the mix, which helps with leak detection of an otherwise clear liquid.

At Goldcorp, we recognize that our approach to water management is a significant concern shared by our company and our stakeholders. The world’s population growth will result in increased competition for resources, and to that end, the mining industry needs to continuously improve our stewardship of all the natural resources that support our operations.

Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources, the Honourable Amarjeet Sohi, together with Parliamentary Secretary Paul Lefebvre, announced this week that the Government of Canada plans to invest $5 million to help position Goldcorp’s Borden Project as a mine of the future — mining ore in a more environmentally sustainable way.

Goldcorp is pleased to present #DisruptMining 2019, co-hosted by KPMG. The mining industry’s innovation accelerator challenge and live finale event will return on March 3, 2019, during the annual Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) conference in Toronto.

Now in its third year, #DisruptMining aims to encourage new ideas, spawn new technologies, and tackle some of the mining industry’s biggest challenges – and opportunities!

There is no natural gas pipeline that extends anywhere near Chapleau or the Borden site, so the team had to find a solution for heating fuel to warm the air underground during colder months.

Propane was the expensive go-to consideration. Biomass such as refuse from the forestry industry was briefly considered but would require significant traffic on site and it was not sure if it could economically compete with propane. Liquified Natural Gas was another option looked at quite extensively, though that required both a significant site footprint and government funding to become a reality. The team felt strongly about finding solution that was going to be even better for the environment and be cost efficient as well.