Closing the Loop
Circular, sustainable, local
The United Nations Development Program estimated in 2025 that a global transition from a linear to a circular economy – one in which resources are widely reused, repaired and regenerated, rather than discarded – could deliver US$4.5 trillion in economic benefits by as soon as 2030. At the 2025 World Circular Economy Forum, André Corrêa do Lago, president of 2025’s COP30 UN Climate Change conference, called for urgent action, asserting the critical role of circularity to tackle climate change: “We have a few years – very few years – to do the right thing. We need the circular economy,” he affirmed.
Across various aspects of Canada’s economy, several programs have targeted circularity, including in the mining industry. In mining, circularity entails implementing steps like reprocessing, recycling and reclamation of mine waste, or creating circular supply chains in which mined materials contribute to their own re-production, offering potential economic and environmental benefits. It is something Québec and Atlantic Canada’s provincial governments are already pursuing. In the province’s updated critical mineral development plan due for publication in October 2025, Québec’s Minister Blanchette Vézina assured: “Circularity will be a central pillar supporting both sustainability and resource efficiency.”
So what, one might ask, does mining circularity look like in practice? Mining’s use of heavy and technologically advanced equipment makes use of many of the very same resources the industry extracts: copper for electronics, zinc for galvanization, or iron for steelmaking, for instance. Indeed, it is something that, for Robitaille Équipement, a distributor of equipment from a number of suppliers local to its Québec and New Brunswick operations, virtually happens naturally: "Much of the steel we sell comes from Canadian manufacturers. In cases where we sell equipment to mines that produce iron ore, we are supplying them with steel produced locally from Canadian ore. It reinforces the circular nature of the economy," explained Robitaille’s business development manager, Bruno Montesano.
"In cases where we sell equipment to mines that produce iron ore, we are supplying them with steel produced locally from Canadian ore. It reinforces the circular nature of the economy." Bruno Montesano, Business Development Manager, Robitaille Équipement
Mineral processing equipment manufacturer Magotteaux offers another example. At its Magog, Québec plant, the company recycles locally-sourced scrap metal into the grinding balls used in its mills. Thanks to its 100% hydroelectric-powered manufacturing process in Québec, the company’s products can offer significant efficiency and sustainability gains to clients. According to its North America sales director Lionel van Obbergh: “We recently implemented a full circularity solution. Used grinding balls gradually reduce in size during processing until they become too small. These are then returned to us, and we recycle the metal to produce new ones, making the process highly sustainable."
Another key aspect of circularity is ensuring equipment is built to last, and reusable. This model is effectively foundational to the modular and collapsible buildings produced and erected by CANAM. Its foldable Econox buildings can be customized for employment as maintenance garages, labs, admin offices, gyms, storage facilities or other uses, then dismantled and relocated when operations move elsewhere. “You can install an Econox building temporarily, then fold it up and relocate it to the same or another site, and even add sections to enlarge it. That relocatability makes it cost-effective and sustainable. This also contributes to a high degree of circularity,” said George Poumbouras, the company’s VP for business development.
"We are seeing interest in sustainable mineral processing methods, such as bio-mining using bacteria, and in regenerating reagents like acids to reduce costs and align with circular economy principles." David Anonychuk, Global VP Metallurgy and Consulting, SGS
The circular economy also has a role to play in cutting-edge mining technology, further pushing the envelope on its environmental sustainability. In 2024, a consortium of Québec-based institutions and businesses completed a multi-year project to design, assemble and test a 100% electric battery-driven 40-tonne mining truck – the first of its kind in the province. The vehicle is estimated to offer life-cycle savings up to 400,000 liters of diesel, and a greenhouse gas emission reduction of 66% compared to a conventional vehicle.
Jean-Francois Couillard, president of Adria Power Systems, which contributed its charging technology and infrastructure to the project, commented: “Collaborations like this, involving local resources, local manufacturing and local technology, showcase the potential for a circular economy where resources mined in Québec are used in Québec-made vehicles supported by Québec-made infrastructure.”
While the projected global economic gains of US$4.5 trillion by 2030 may be aspirational, even a fraction of that figure would represent a transformative shift. Yet the pace of progress remains a critical concern. According to Circle Economy and Deloitte’s Circularity Gap Report 2025, the proportion of recycled or repurposed materials in global use is still declining, exposing the gap between ambition and action. In this context, the initiatives emerging from Québec and Atlantic Canada across government, industry, and technology offer a compelling counterpoint. Together, they mark a deliberate move away from the linear ‘take-make-dispose’ paradigm, demonstrating that regional leadership can serve as both a proving ground and a catalyst for broader systemic change.
Article header image by Tim Foster at Unsplash