Nickel mining giant Vale will be pulling something new out of the ground in Sudbury — fish. Vale has already been growing tree seedlings in a green house deep in the warm underground for decades, but now the company wants to raise rainbow trout right next to them.
The trees are planted in Sudbury to re-green the landscape scarred by mining. And the fish will be put into lakes “that may have been stressed by mining activities in the past,” said Glen Watson, Vale’s senior environmental specialist.
"Northern Ontarians love their fish. Sudburians, in particular, love their fish. We have a lot of lakes to put them in." Underground heat helps fish grow
Vale has spent the past five months raising Rainbow trout in an above-ground facility. On Thursday it released 4,000 fish in the Onaping River. Now that the system is tested, the project will begin underground at Vale’s Creighton mine.
"Growing fish in northern Ontario is extremely difficult because you have to heat the water,” Watson said. “And it costs you money to heat the water.”
But deep below the earth’s surface, that heat is naturally occurring and plentiful.
Watson said there’s another upside: the waste from the fish will be used as fertilizer for the tree seedlings, replacing the usual chemicals.
To assist with the project, Vale enlisted Manitoulin Island aquaculture expert Mike Meeker, who said conditions underground are perfect for fish farming. He added that the greenhouse lights used for the trees will work just fine for the fish.
Watson said, as far as he knows, the project is a first.
“We are miners by trade,” he said. “We are certainly not used to growing fish.”
For the rest of this article and a six minute audio report, please go to the CBC Sudbury News website:http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/story/2012/04/20/sby-vale-grows-fish.html
This entry was posted on Friday, April 20th, 2012 at 3:32 pm and is filed under Corporate Social Responsibility, Green Mining, Vale. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You canleave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Mining company to raise fish underground
The tree nursery at Vale's Sudbury Creighton Mine will become home to a fish hatchery
CBC News
Posted: Apr 20, 2012 10:12 AM ET
薩德波裡(Sudbury)是加拿大有名的鎳都。當地礦業巨頭最近開始了一項養耕共生的計劃：利用地下礦井內的熱量來養魚。幾十年來，處於寒冷地帶的當地人一直在溫暖的地下礦井內設立溫室培育樹苗並獲得成功，為當地綠化工作提供了大量樹苗。
據悉，即將遁地養植的是彩虹鱒魚。目前已經有4000多尾鱒魚在地面暖房中孵化後，放入當地河流生長。今後，這些地面裝置將被轉移到地下運轉，以便充分利用礦井內的熱量，從而減少加熱水需要的成本，同時魚類排洩物將用來替代傳統的化肥，可謂一舉多得。
ickel mining giant Vale will be pulling something new out of the ground in Sudbury — fish.
Vale has already been growing tree seedlings in a green house deep in the warm underground for decades, but now the company wants to raise rainbow trout right next to them.
The trees are planted in Sudbury to re-green the landscape scarred by mining. And the fish will be put into lakes “that may have been stressed by mining activities in the past,” said Glen Watson, Vale's senior environmental specialist.
“Northern Ontarians love their fish. Sudburians, in particular, love their fish. We have a lot of lakes to put them in.”Glen Watson, Vale's senior environmental specialist, nets some fish to be released into a Sudbury area lake. (Megan Thomas/CBC)Underground heat helps fish grow
Vale has spent the past five months raising Rainbow trout in an above-ground facility. On Thursday it released 4,000 fish in the Onaping River. Now that the system is tested, the project will begin underground at Vale’s Creighton mine.
“Growing fish in northern Ontario is extremely difficult because you have to heat the water,” Watson said. “And it costs you money to heat the water.”
But deep below the earth’s surface, that heat is naturally occurring and plentiful.
Watson said there's another upside: the waste from the fish will be used as fertilizer for the tree seedlings, replacing the usual chemicals.Fish — raised by nickel mining giant Vale and destined to be released into a Sudbury area lake — can be seen through a viewing panel on a holding tank. (Megan Thomas/CBC)To assist with the project, Vale enlisted Manitoulin Island aquaculture expert Mike Meeker, who said conditions underground are perfect for fish farming. He added that the greenhouse lights used for the trees will work just fine for the fish.
Watson said, as far as he knows, the project is a first.
“We are miners by trade,” he said. “We are certainly not used to growing fish.”
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