March Consulting Associates Inc. (March) has been awarded project funding from International Minerals Innovation Institute (IMII) to conduct a study to evaluate the applicability of using Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) to provide clean heat and power to Saskatchewan mines.

Collaborating closely with industry and government partners, the project, titled ‘The Applications of Small Modular Reactors for the Saskatchewan Minerals Industry’, aims to explore the use of SMR technologies as alternative forms of clean process heat and electricity to lower greenhouse gas emissions generated by various mining operations. Saskatchewan mines require large amounts of electricity and heat for normal operations, and currently rely on fossil fuels as the main source for heat and power.

This project will assess the specific energy requirements of mines and their sub-processes, and identify the SMR technologies to address these needs. The project will also address how SMR generated heat can be effectively used by mine operators, and the potential synergies for SMR adoption across the mining sector in the province. Finally, the project will provide a high-level economic review of adoption and recommended next steps toward deployment of these technologies.

This project builds on a 2021 IMII-funded study conducted by March titled ‘Applications of Clean Power Generation Technologies to Saskatchewan Minerals Industry’, which investigated clean energy generation technologies in a mining application, with the target of reducing environmental impacts while considering economic factors. The results of that study concluded SMRs as the leading opportunity for clean electricity.

The results of ‘The Applications of Small Modular Reactors for the Saskatchewan Minerals Industry’ project will be released publicly in Fall 2024.