Farmers in Prince Edward County and elsewhere in Eastern Ontario will soon be able to take part in a subsidized, three-year carbon removal demonstration project that will both enhance and enrich soil quality and combat climate change.

Canadian Wollastonite (CW), a mining company in Seeley’s Bay, has teamed up with UK-based UNDO Carbon to subsidize a lime alternative for field application. The project is the largest initiative of its kind in North America. The goal is to show Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW) is a shovel ready, low cost, geo-engineering tool that will help both farmers and the planet.

Enhanced Rock Weathering captures carbon dioxide by spreading crushed rock on the soil to set off a chemical reaction. Carbon dioxide captured by rain forms carbonic acid. When the acidic rain reacts with wollastonite, it releases calcium, magnesium, and silicon into the soil as fertilizers and effectively stores carbon for thousands of years.

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 Canadian Wollastonite-UNDO initiative offers an opportunity to save money and realize important benefits for crop growing.

CW’s studies show that valuable plant nutrients, such as calcium, magnesium, sulfur, and silicon contained in wollastonite and released during the carbon storing process enhance plant stress tolerance and crop quality, and fortify crops against pests and diseases. Independent lab-based studies have shown that application of wollastonite to crops almost triples their dry mass while increasing plant height by 59 per cent, and dry biomass weight by 90 per cent.

Mined Wollastonite sells to the horticultural market at a cost of $50 per ton. That price will be offset by carbon credits. 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 revenue that flows from these sales will subsidize 100 per cent of the cost of the wollastonite.

To make the deal even more attractive, CW is offering a limited time spring promotion. The company will pay the spreading costs for participating farmers. The only cost left is the trucking of the rock from the mine site in Seeley’s Bay.

CW claims exhaustive and rigorous testing of wollastonite demonstrate it is a mineral ideally suited to both agricultural applications and long-term carbon sequestering. A Trent University study started in 2023 will build on these findings. Trent School of Environment professor and Canada Research Chair Dr. Ian Power is exploring wollastonite’s untapped potential in helping to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

“Wollastonite’s fast weathering rates make it an ideal mineral for enhanced rock weathering, a CO2 removal approach that is being widely researched by academics and private companies,” said Prof. Power. “As rocks weather and interact with CO2, the resulting carbonic acid forms bicarbonate or carbonate, which can be stored in the soil or eventually drain to the ocean, providing long-term storage.”

Trent’s study on the agricultural benefits continues this summer.

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 [email protected]