About
Climate Smart Mining
Aclara is fully aligned with The World Bank’s Climate Smart Mining initiative, which aims to help resource-rich developing countries benefit from the increasing demand for minerals and metals, while ensuring the mining sector is managed in a way that minimizes the environmental and climate footprint. As described on the World Bank’s website; “Without Climate-Smart Mining practices, negative impacts from mining activities will increase, affecting already-vulnerable communities in developing countries, as well as the environment in which they operate. The Climate-Smart Mining approach has been developed in concert with the broader UN Sustainable Development Goals to ensure the decarbonization of the mining and energy sectors also benefits resource-rich countries that host these strategic minerals and the communities directly impacted by their extraction.”
Climate-Smart Mining Building Blocks:
These are some of the ways in which Aclara aligns to these pillars:
Climate Mitigation
1) Integration of renewable energy: Aclara aims to supply the world with Rare Earth Elements that are critical for green technologies such as wind energy and electric vehicles
2) Innovation: Our unique process, called Circular Mineral Harvesting, extracts rare earths without harming the environment, and protecting endangered species
3) Energy Efficiency: Our process will use a low amount of energy because it will not require any crushing or milling
Climate Adaptation
1) Forest Smart Mining: Preserving native conservation forests, reforesting 100% of impacted areas, and working by zone rotation so only one zone is impacted at a time.
2) Resource Efficiency: In Penco, 100% of the water used will come from a recycled source, and in both projects 95% will be recycled during our process. 99% of our main reagent (a fertilizer) will also be recycled.
3) Innovative Waste Solutions: Our process will have no liquid residues, hence there is no need for a tailings dam. The processed clays will be restored back to the site.