"The investment being announced today at Laurentian University will further enhance our country's reputation as a destination of choice for outstanding researchers," said Eliot Phillipson, president and CEO of the CFI, in a press release.

"It will make our universities even more competitive when it comes to attracting the best and brightest researchers from around the world."

The CFI funding will be used to acquire an ultra violet laser ablation system for Laurentian's Trace Element Mapping Facility for Geological Samples.

Trace element mapping produces two-dimensional maps of the distribution of low-concentration elements in any material, in this case minerals and fossils. Such maps give unprecedented insight into the conditions of formation of the minerals and fossils. As the precision and accuracy of trace element analysis keep improving, so does our ability to reconstruct and understand the evolution of life on earth.

Laurentian's Trace Element Mapping Facility is the first facility in North America to conduct this type of analysis with significant benefits for Ontario's mineral exploration and metal beneficiation industries.

Laurentian president Dominic Giroux welcomed the CFI's investment.

"Laurentian University is home to over 20 research centres, and we were recently ranked 6th in research growth among all Canadian universities by Research Infosource. This has a tremendous impact on the knowledge base in northern Ontario and beyond. The CFI investment announced today will ensure continued support to one of our university's rapidly expanding cutting-edge research projects."

The Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) is an independent corporation created by the Government of Canada to fund research infrastructure.