Instructor hopes to find new ways of detecting mineral deposits
1/28/2009 9:54:43 AM
Last week, College of the North Atlantic’s Office of Applied Research received nearly $100,000 in funding from the Industrial Research and Innovation Fund program.
The project, Innovative Surficial Geochemical Methods for Detecting Buried Mineral Deposits in Newfoundland and Labrador, is the brainchild of Dr. Gary Thompson, an instructor of Comprehensive Arts and Science: Transfer at Burin campus.
The $97,400 in funding comes from the provincial government’s Department of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development.
The project aims at exploring innovative approaches to find new deposits buried under meters of glacial till, or well below the surface of exposed bedrock.
According to Dr. Thompson, it has three components.
“The project will look at new ways of examining the geochemistry of soils to help find mineral deposits. The first part we’ll be looking at is soil chemistry for oil and gas. The second is the chemistry of trees and plants for buried mineral deposits under them. And the third is for indicator minerals for base mineral deposits such as nickel and copper.”
He says the majority of the grant money will be used to purchase the tools necessary for field sampling.
“Hopefully in the spring I will undertake a field program in Western Newfoundland to collect some field samples. Then they’ll be analyzed over autumn and winter at the INCO innovation centre located in St. John’s at Memorial University.”
Once the samples are collected, Dr. Thompson will be joined in the by Professor Derek Wilton of Memorial University in analyzing the data.
“I’m pretty excited about the project. It’s really good to get the funding and this way I can move forward on some of my research ideas and initiatives.”
Dr. Thompson believes that as an added bonus this project will help build relationships between the college and the exploration industry.
“Due to the nature of the work I’ll have to work with some of the exploration companies in the province. But in addition it will help raise the profile of the college as a research institution as well as a teaching institution.”
Michael Graham, campus administrator for Burin, says this grant is a well-deserved recognition.
“We are very proud of Gary. His dedication and innovation is an example of how CNA can have a significant effect on the economic, cultural and technological future of the province beyond the education and training for which it is well-known,” says Graham.
“Applied Research is a relatively new activity for the institution, but we have a very large reservoir - largely untapped - of knowledge and expertise. Having campuses in all regions of the province, our experts live and work with, and are closely connected to, the people and industries they serve.”
Graham says Burin campus is very proud to have experts like Dr. Thompson on staff.
“The awarding of this research grant is not only a well-deserved recognition of Gary''s scientific expertise and valuable creativity, it is also a vote of confidence that Burin campus specifically, and the college generally, can and will have a direct positive effect on science and technology developments in our province.”
“CNA is proud of its talent, which not only shines in the teaching and learning domain, but also stands out in its innovative thinking and creativity,” adds Dr. Mohammad Iqbal, chair of Applied Research at the college.
“When Dr. Gary Thompson walked into my office two years ago and spoke about his innovative ideas in geochemical mining, I realized his ideas were genuine and worth pursuing. From there we at the Office of Applied Research built upon his thoughts, supporting him every step of the way until the final funding was announced. I must also thank IRIF for supporting college research. It is indeed a resource that can help revitalize an untapped human capital in this province.”
For more information about projects from CNA’s Office of Applied Research log on to www.cna.nl.ca/OAR.
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For more information please contact:
Glenda McCarthy
Public Relations Assistant
College of the North Atlantic
Stephenville, NL
(709) 643-6408
glenda.mccarthy@cna.nl.ca