John Steen
Associate Professor
Director of the Bradshaw Research Initiative in Minerals and Mining (BRIMM)
john.steen@ubc.ca
Home department: Mining Engineering
Website: BRIMM Mining Education
Research Interests
- Innovation and Sustainable Development in the Resources Sector
- Biotech in Mining
- Digital Technology
- Mine Waste Valorization and Transformation
Research Projects
- Biomining: developing next-gen biomining tools that use microbes to recover copper sustainably—cutting waste, energy, and emissions while unlocking resources from low-grade ores and mine waste.
- Post Waste: reimagining mine waste — not as a burden, but as a potential copper resource that could be unlocked through sustainable innovation.
- CuBrine: testing the viability of this low-impact approach to copper production in real-world geological environments. This project explores whether copper and other critical metals can be extracted directly from deep, naturally occurring brine reservoirs beneath volcanic and magmatic systems. These ultra-salty fluids, circulating kilometres beneath the Earth’s surface, are rich in metals — and may hold the key to a radically different extraction method.