Industry, governments extend funding for MEND research

Representatives of the mining industry and five governments have signed a memorandum of understanding which will add another four years and $5.5 million to an environmental research program.

The agreement will extend the Mine Environmental Neutral Drainage (MEND) program from 1993 to 1997 and will increase its funding from $12.5 million to $18 million.

The program began in 1985 with the participation of the mining industry, through the Mining Association of Canada, the federal government (through CANMET, the Canada Centre for Mineral and Energy Technology, a branch of Energy, Mines and Resources Canada), and the provincial governments of British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick. It was established to address the environmental problem of acid mine drainage from tailings sites and has yielded useful information about the problem as well as promising solution prospects.

The agreement was signed during the recent annual meeting of the Canadian Mines Ministers in Whitehorse.