Cambrian College in Sudbury, Ont. is expected to play a key role in a stewardship program dedicated to research into environmental remediation in mining.

The college received $2.1 million from the federal government to go towards applied research into identifying and testing solutions to environmental issues facing the mining industry, Cambrian officials announced in a written release on Thursday.

"This significant investment [the] College and Community Innovation program will enhance research capacity, innovation, and productivity in our region and in Greater Sudbury," Cambrian President Bill Best was quoted as saying in Thursday's release.

Officials with Cambrian's applied research division said that the school will receive the money to be used towards the research, adding that the school will partner with companies like Vale, Glencore, ECONSE, Electrale and others.

Industry is also expected to put up money towards these efforts, Mike Commito, a developer at Cambrian Innovates, told CBC News.

Each project is expected to make use of school and student researchers, industry and experts from other facilities, such as Laurentian University.

Advanced research into tailings remediation among the projects

One of the projects that is expected to benefit from Thursday's announcement is research being done by Nadia Mykytczuk, a chair at Laurentian's Vale Living with Lakes Centre.

That work is studying how microbes can be used to break down waste in tailing ponds. Commito said that Cambrian faculty and students will be helping with the project.

"Some of her work deals with how using these microbes can help break down tailing ponds faster or to help recoup some of the value of some of ... the refuse," Commito said.

The research is expected to focus on how to deploy these microbes, Commito added. "How do we ensure that they're being deployed equally throughout the year, whether it's minus 40 degree weather or it's plus 30 in the summertime," he said.

"What are some of the logistical, electrical, all those types of constraints that would limit this from being a project over a course of a year."