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SNOLAB receives $100 million in additional funding

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A federal announcement Friday morning in Sudbury was aimed at improving research infrastructure in Canada.

The federal government is spending $628 million to improve or maintain research facilities of national importance.

François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, said this investment, will support our world-class research facilities that drive innovation and the researchers who are making important discoveries.

“We’re making sure that Canada is equipped to support the next generation of researchers who will tackle the world’s most pressing issues and who will advance our society for all to thrive,” said Champagne.

“Locally, the opportunities for long term economic development and job creation are incredible,” Lapointe said in a press release.

Champagne along with Sudbury MP Viviane Lapointe visited key local industry innovators on Thursday and Friday.

On Aug. 18, they visited NORCAT and Vale’s Integrated remote operations center (iROC)-co-located at the North Atlantic Operations Center and met with various industry stakeholders from the area including Frontier Lithium, MIRARCO, TesMan, Symboticware and Glencore Sudbury.

Champagne recognizes the key role of research infrastructure. The announced $628 million in funding, from the Government of Canada and through the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s (CFI) Major Science Initiative (MSI) Fund, will support 19 research infrastructure projects at 14 institutions across the country.

One of the infrastructure projects receiving over $100 million in CFI funding is SNOLAB, the internationally renowned ultra-clean facility focused on the study of neutrinos and the search for galactic dark matter. Research at the facility, which is located two kilometres underground and the deepest of its kind, also includes genomics, ultra-sensitive environmental monitoring and testing of quantum computing equipment.

SNOLAB is Canada’s deep underground research laboratory, located in Vale’s Creighton mine near Greater Sudbury.

“We are pleased to see SNOLAB benefit from the support of the Canada Foundation for Innovation,” Alfredo Santana, director of North Atlantic Operations with Vale Canada, said.

“Like Vale, CFI sees the value that this world-class research institution offers the mining innovation space and beyond. We congratulate SNOLAB on this grant and look forward to continued collaboration.”

SNOLAB currently has space for one more next generation experiment and multiple international collaborations are competing for it.

“The opportunities for Canada to be a leader in clean technology, critical mineral innovation and mining, combined with the Government of Canada’s investments in our world class science programs and facilities like SNOLAB here in Sudbury, have set us on a trajectory of incredible potential,” Lapointe said.

SNOLAB’s science program focuses on astroparticle physics; it provides an ideal environment for the study of extremely rare physical interactions. Its unique location is also well-suited to biology and geology experiments. SNOLAB is an expansion of the facilities constructed for the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) solar neutrino experiment.

SNOLAB is celebrating 10 years of leading astroparticle physics research in 2022.

A staff of over 100 support the science, providing business processes, engineering design, construction, installation, technical support, and operations. SNOLAB research scientists provide expert and local support to the experiments and undertake research in their own right as part of experimental collaborations. The facility trains highly qualified personnel; the next generation of scientists.

“Sustained investments such as this have allowed SNOLAB to develop world-class infrastructure and highly skilled staff,” Dr. Jodi Cooley, SNOLAB’s executive director, said.

SNOLAB has been home to researchers from 164 institutions spanning 24 countries.

“So, more and more the innovation is becoming a key economic factor for Sudbury, our mining innovation clusters and SNOLAB is really important, so it creates really good jobs and it also helps keep our youth here in the community. So, it’s very important,” added Lapointe.

“Locally, the opportunities for long-term economic development and job creation are incredible.”

Story updated with reporting done by CTV News Northern Ontario's Molly Frommer.

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