SEELEY’S BAY — Farmers can get a free lime substitute that is mined right here in Eastern Ontario, and global tech companies are happy to foot the bill because of the product’s carbon-capture properties when spread on farmland. The mine operators in Seeley’s Bay are also offering up to a 50 % discount on trucking the bulk product known as wollastonite.
Canadian Wollastonite Inc. began supplying loads of the pulverized, crystalline mineral free to farms last September, according to the company’s project manager, Harris Ivens. Extraction costs are paid for by corporate giants like Microsoft and Stripe, who in turn are able to demonstrate that they have reduced their carbon footprint.
To date, over 20 Ontario farms have spread a combined 9,000 tonnes on 4,500 acres, Ivens said. In 2024, the company aims to supply farmers with 100,000 tonnes, enough for about 50,000 acres.
Ivens said that farms within about 400 km of the mine are a key market for the mineral, although the operation will ship anywhere in the province. “I think it would be largely advantageous to be within four hours of the mine, given the trucking rebate,” Ivens observed. Beyond that distance, regular lime may become price competitive again with the free wollastonite. However, the calculation also depends on the local lime market in a farmer’s particular vicinity. “There are areas in the province where it’s harder to source lime,” he pointed out, “and we can compete there a little more on cost as well.”
Like lime, wollastonite is a calcium-based mineral with agronomic and crop benefits when spread on fields. Unlike lime, which is calcium carbonate, a compound of calcium, carbon and oxygen, wollastonite is calcium silicate, a compound of calcium, silicon, magnesium and oxygen.
One of the farmers using the product on an alfalfa field last year reported a marked greening up of the crop five weeks after application, according to Ivens. “The farmer said, ‘I’ve never seen alfalfa that dark green before.”
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