In person and online on October 4th
Our speaker Veronica Di Cecco will give a talk on the minerals which will help us decrease our reliance on fossil fuels.
There is a global push to reach net zero and decrease our dependence on fossil fuels. Critical minerals are the building blocks for the green economy and are required to build things like batteries, alternative energy sources, and electric vehicles. With increasing global conflict, governments around the world are prioritizing building supply chains of these materials to avoid dependence on non-likeminded nations. Canada and Ontario have vast mineral wealth and many of these critical minerals. The federal budget of 2022 included $4 billion in funding and the Ontario budget of 2023 dedicated $1 billion for Critical Minerals strategies. But what are they? Veronica will go through some of the list, dip a toe into the economics and Canada’s history, as well as show some mineral specimens along the way.
Veronica Di Cecco is a Mineralogy Research Technician in the Department of Natural History. Here, she is responsible for the analysis and identification of minerals, meteorites, gems, and other inorganic material. Early in life (we’re talking 6 years old), Veronica was led astray from a career in biological sciences after she visited the ROM Earth Sciences galleries. That’s really when the trouble started. No longer did she ask for a pet pony, but soon her birthday lists were filled with things like rock tumblers, crystal growing kits, and streak plates. Ever since that fateful visit, she hasn’t been able to get enough of Earth’s Treasures, be they botryoidal, platy, or acicular. Lately, her geological pursuits have started to spread beyond the Earth and now include extraterrestrial materials (meteorites) as well. In 2011, Veronica graduated with a Hons. BSc with a specialist in Geology, and in 2013, she completed a MASc on the mineralogy and geochemistry of a vanadium-graphite property in Madagascar. After graduating, Veronica worked for Activation Laboratories Ltd. (Actlabs), where she was a member of the Business Development team. In 2015, Veronica joined the ROM in her current role, where her love of mineralogy now has a more productive outlet.