We Can Have Our Minerals and Nature Too

On the outskirts of a small town in the US, a team of Regeneration experts is supervising the drilling of rock piles carefully behind a fence clad with signs warning of the dangers that lie nearby.
This site has sat dormant for decades – a large pile of crushed rock tailings an eyesore for neighboring communities, a legacy of a once bustling mine and a time when ‘what happens next’ wasn’t a priority.
Now Regeneration’s experts are looking at restoring old mines like this one – by re-mining waste to fund a new future for sites.

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A monumental problem or a valuable resource

Old and abandoned mines pose a huge challenge globally. The US Government estimates there are over 161,000¹ abandoned hard rock mines in the western states and Alaska. And it’s estimated there are around 50,000 abandoned mines in Australia² and 10,000 in Canada² . Abandoned mine features can range from single mine shafts to large, open cut and underground operations. At too many sites, the waste left behind poses health, safety and environmental risks.
Old mines also exist in the portfolios of mining companies around the world. These are managed for safety, but they’re rarely viewed as new opportunities.

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Times have changed and the industry has made significant progress in managing the impacts of mining, but mine waste and closure remain major challenges. The International Council on Mining and Metals estimates that more than 9 billion tonnes of tailings³ were produced worldwide in 2018 alone across the 6 traditional commodities of alumina, gold, coal, iron ore, nickel, and copper.
And as we face the challenges posed by climate change, we’re going to need more of these materials to build renewable technologies. More minerals and metals mean more mine waste. So, how can we produce the materials needed for the energy transition without inadvertently causing problems in other areas – like biodiversity and water quality?
It's a complex issue says Regeneration President and CEO Stephen D’Esposito, but it’s not insurmountable.
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“We believe a solution can be found in the very places considered to be a problem: old, retired
mines,” Stephen said.

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Waste from past mining contains metals like cobalt, lithium, copper, platinum and tellurium, which are essential for renewable energy technologies. Regeneration targets re-mining at old and abandoned mines where there is still metal left in the mine waste, and where there is also an opportunity to restore habitats. We re-mine tailings, waste rock and water, take the metals out which are part of the pollution problem, and then turn it into a responsibly made product. “Untreated mine waste can be a risk, but with our approach waste at old mine sites can be part of the
answer,” Stephen says.

“It makes sense that to get minerals we need – and quickly – we should start at old sites where the
land has already been disturbed by mining.”

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Not your typical re-mining company

‍There are other companies out there re-mining, but what makes Regeneration different is that we blend re-mining with restoration – the re-mining supports restoration.

“In the broadest sense, our goal is to take old, degraded ‘brownfield’ mine sites and turn them ‘green’,” Stephen says.

“We flip the traditional mining model on its head: our main objective is to finance mine restoration, and to do this we use the revenue from minerals and, where possible, renewable and nature-based credit products.

“So it’s quite a different approach from the purely commercial re-mining and reprocessing sector.”

The model also delivers other benefits – including nature-positive minerals and metals sought after by sustainable brands, as well as helping nurture new technologies and testing restoration techniques.

“Everything we do is through partnerships – we partner with governments, mining companies, technology developers and neighboring communities. By working this way, we can all achieve far more than if we were working on our own,” Stephen says.

“We connect miners with manufacturers and brands. Technology companies with test sites. And we can also help smaller enterprises to increase their sustainability impact, allowing them to shape their supply chain in ways they may not have been able to before.”

Regeneration is currently looking at 70 sites globally, using our successful Salmon Gold project as the blueprint. The project re-mines gold from old placer mining sites, providing responsibly sourced gold for our partners like Apple and Mejuri who use it in their supply chains. Since 2018, we’ve funded projects in 5 locations, restoring 1,825 linear meters of stream and 20 acres of upland habitat using funding from Salmon Gold sales. 

"When we identify a restoration opportunity, we then work with the community to build a closure vision. With this approach, re-mining is a means to better community, conservation, and climate outcomes,” says Stephen. 

Because Regeneration is a public benefit company (also known as a B-Corp) we can pursue projects with social and environmental benefits where the numbers may not stack up based on a purely commercial mining model.

“We still need to secure the necessary funding so that the project is financially viable, but by combining re-mining waste with restoration, we can produce responsible minerals, create ecological assets, and bring a second chance to communities.” 

“It’s win, win, win.”

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