Selenium in Mining: Separating Risk, Reality, and Misinformation

Selenium has become one of the most prominent and misunderstood issues in mining and environmental compliance. Drawing on nearly two decades of hands-on experience in selenium risk assessment, mitigation, and water treatment, Dr. Monique Simair will provide a clear, evidence-based look at what selenium is, why it occurs in mining environments, and when it becomes a concern. The session will examine how mining activities can influence selenium release, how risk is assessed, and how selenium is regulated in Canada. Dr. Simair will also discuss which mitigation and treatment strategies are working in practice, where their limitations lie, and what the industry has learned from their implementation. The presentation will address the difficult realities of legacy sites, long-term water management, and what responsible and achievable cleanup expectations look like. Attendees will leave better equipped to distinguish genuine risk from misconception, evaluate management options, and participate in more informed conversations about selenium. Bio Dr. Monique Simair is an internationally recognized scientist, entrepreneur, and innovator whose work has helped shape the way the mining industry understands and manages water. Over nearly two decades, she has developed and commercialized treatment strategies for some of mining’s most complex water quality challenges, with selenium remaining a particular focus throughout her career. A microbiologist and biogeochemist by training, Dr. Simair combines scientific research with extensive laboratory, pilot-scale, and practical project experience. She has built and sold two environmental companies, published widely on industrial and mine water treatment, and worked with mining projects across Canada and internationally. Her selenium experience includes environmental risk and bioaccumulation, passive and semi-passive treatment systems, constructed wetlands, saturated rock fills, and gravel bed bioreactors. Known for making complex science understandable and for challenging assumptions on all sides of an issue, Dr. Simair brings a practical, evidence-based perspective to the realities of selenium risk, regulation, treatment, and long-term mine water management. Sponsor This month's event is sponsored by Integrated Sustainability. Integrated Sustainability is a performance infrastructure group providing advisory, design-build-supply, and operational expertise in water and wastewater treatment, water and waste management, and energy systems.