Local farmers will be excited to learn about a recently announced business partnership that will be a win-win both for themselves and the planet. Canadian Wollastonite (CW), a mining company based a short distance north of Kingston, has teamed up with UK-based UNDO Carbon to subsidize a lime alternative for spreading on Ontario fields that will help to combat climate change.
The two companies have partnered in a three- year carbon removal demonstration project which is the largest initiative of its kind in North America. Their goal will be to show that Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW) is a shovel ready, low cost, geoengineering tool that is a win for both farmers and the planet. ERW captures carbon dioxide by spreading crushed rock on the soil that starts a chemical reaction. The process begins when carbon dioxide is captured by rain and forms carbonic acid. When the acidic rain reacts with wollastonite it releases calcium, magnesium, and silicon into the soil, while storing carbon in the ground water for thousands of years. The successes achieved by the Canadian demonstration project will be used to model, calibrate and scale similar ERW programs around the world. For participating farmers, the CW-UNDO initiative will create attractive opportunities to save money and realize important benefits for their crops.
UNDO Carbon, established in 2022, is a global pioneer in the field of carbon removal which is on a mission to permanently remove one billion tons of atmospheric carbon dioxide. This will be accomplished through ERW projects both in Canada and various other countries. ERW is designed to accelerate the naturally occurring process of rock weathering by crushing chemically reactive rock into fine silicate powder, thereby exposing more reactive surface area to the elements. ERW is UNDO’s permanent, rapid, and scalable carbon dioxide removal technology that has the potential to lock away up to four billion tons of carbon dioxide per year. This equates to 40% of global carbon dioxide removal targets.
Canadian Wollastonite, located in Seeley’s Bay, was established to develop one of the world’s largest deposits of wollastonite, an environmentally friendly white mineral that has impressive soil enhancing and carbon dioxide sequestering properties. The new joint initiative with UNDO will provide Canadian farmers with crushed wollastonite that can improve crop yields. In addition to its utility as a natural fertilizer, the wollastonite which is spread on farmers’ fields will make valuable environmental contributions by removing significant amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
The process jointly developed by CW and UNDO Carbon makes it possible for substantial amounts of carbon to be captured quickly, with carbon dioxide molecules being flushed down through soils and waterways leading to their permanent storage for thousands of years. UNDO Carbon provides the technical expertise that is required to accurately measure and document the amount of carbon dioxide that is being captured.
Wollastonite would customarily be sold to the horticultural market for $50 per ton. However, the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through ERW creates high quality carbon removal credits which are sold on the voluntary carbon market. The revenues that flow from these sales make it possible to subsidize 100% of the cost of the wollastonite itself. To make the deal even more attractive, CW is now offering a limited time spring promotion wherein the company will pay the spreading costs for participating farmers. The only cost to farmers is the trucking from the mine site in Seeley’s Bay.
As a result of the way that the CW – UNDO operating model is structured, it offers a compelling economic argument for using wollastonite as a highly effective substitute for lime. The concept has already been enthusiastically embraced by several Ontario farmers, who confirm that the value proposition involved is a powerful one that’s hard to resist.
Exhaustive and rigorous testing of wollastonite has demonstrated that it is a mineral that is ideally suited to agricultural applications. The methodology that has been developed by the two companies has already been shown to demonstrate over 90% carbon efficiency. The plan is to rapidly scale up the rollout of the CW-UNDO partnership, increasing the amount of wollastonite that will be spread on Ontario farms from 10,000 tonnes in 2023 to 100,000 tonnes by the end of 2024. If all goes according to plan, it will result in the removal of one million tonnes of carbon dioxide from Ontario fields over the next seven years.
Wollastonite also has other important advantages that will directly benefit farmers. The mineral contains valuable plant nutrients such as calcium, magnesium, sulfur, and silicon, which has been proven to be particularly effective in terms of improving stress tolerance, enhancing crop quality, and fortifying plants against pests and diseases. As wollastonite breaks down, it releases vital nutrients into soil that are made available to plants and crops. Independent lab-based studies have shown that application of wollastonite to crops can increase dry mass by 177%, plant height by 59%, and dry biomass weight by 90%.
By substituting wollastonite for traditional lime and expensive lime applications, farmers can save both money and eliminate the significant amounts of carbon dioxide that are released when lime is applied. The arrangement between CW and UNDO Carbon has been structured to make it simple and easy for farmers to take advantage of what the two companies can offer.
Farmers interested in exploring this opportunity are encouraged to contact Canadian Wollastonite to discuss how they can participate. For more information, please visit the company’s website: www.canadianwollastonite.com/carboncapture, or contact Harris Ivens, Project Manager, at (613) 387 – 2734 ext. .100 or by e-mail at Backoffice@CanadianWollastonite.com.
