More than a thousand academic, government and industry scientists from around the world use the Canadian Light Source on the USask campus every year in their research, and one of the recent projects deals with improving how to best remove selenium contamination in the water from mines.
Researcher Heather Shrimpton from the University of Waterloo explains that selenium is a nutrient that humans and animals need in small quantities but exposure to higher concentrations can cause neurological problems in humans and death and infertility in wildlife and cattle.
Until now, there has been no way to determine whether selenium permanently dissipates because of remediation efforts or whether it is being absorbed in nearby creeks or riverbanks.
Shrimpton’s team analyzed selenium isotopes using the CLS and found that adding sulfur prevents the contaminant from mixing with liquids, which means the removal from water can be permanent.
Now that the technique has proven effective in the lab, the next step is to test it at mine sites and then move to other environmental mining pollutants including mercury.