Mining giant Rio Tinto is spending 1.75 million dollars to support two research chairs at the University of Northern B-C over five years.
Environmental Science professor Stephen Dery has been named as the Rio Tinto Research Chair in Climate Change and Water Security, while Eduardo Martins is appointed as the chair in Climate Change and Freshwater Fish Ecology.
The pair will look how the extremes of drought and atmospheric rivers impact the Nechako watershed, which is used to power Rio Tinto’s aluminum smelter on the northern coast.
Its Kitimat smelter uses hydropower to produce aluminum with what the company says is one of the lowest carbon footprints worldwide.
This report was first filed by The Canadian Press on January 15th, 2025