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Mining Supply and Services Sector

How Swedish Mining Automation Group is sparking digital disruption in the Canadian mining sector – by Laura Mullan (Gigabit Magazine – December 04, 2018)

https://www.gigabitmagazine.com/

Business Sweden Canada with partners from the Swedish mining industry has created SMAG to help the mining sector evolve into a more sustainable and innovative industry

Mining is often cited as one of the last remaining industries to be disrupted by technology, but that is changing quickly.

From driverless trucks to robotic drills, digitisation is quickly bringing a new measure of safety to mines. It’s also boosting the efficiency of how we obtain the precious minerals needed to make everything from modern cars to devices. In the coming years, mining automation is primed for explosive growth, and it seems that one Nordic country is set to be at the epicentre of it all.

Sweden may be a small mining nation but when it comes to mining technology, it’s considered to be in a league of its own. Looking to collaborate and foster innovation in the mining sector, six Swedish mining technology firms have joined forces with Business Sweden to create the Swedish Mining Automation Group (SMAG).

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Chilean delegates pay a visit to Sudbury’s mining sector – by Karen McKinley (Northern Ontario Business – December 3, 2018)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Sudbury got a chance to show off the latest mining innovations being incubated to new and longtime business partners from Chile.

A group of 18 delegates from several mining companies sponsored by Pro Chile, an export promotion association, were in the city the week of Nov. 19 to visit Sudbury-based mining supply companies, take a tour of the NORCAT test mine in Onaping, and check out the Centre for Mining Excellence facilities at Laurentian University.

Scott Rennie, project manager of Northern Ontario Exports for the City of Greater Sudbury, said tours like this are not unusual, but they are becoming more frequent. “There are a lot of well-established ties with Chile in Sudbury, and a lot of our mining supply companies already do work there and want to do a lot more work.”

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Electric Vehicle Revolution Goes Underground With Mine Truck – by Niclas Rolander (Bloomberg News – November 14, 2018)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Electric vehicles are reaching global markets far and wide — and deep. Swedish mining equipment maker Epiroc AB now aims to electrify all its underground machines within five years.

The manufacturer on Wednesday launched a new range, including what it says is the largest battery-powered vehicle for mining below the Earth’s surface: a 42 ton-capacity truck that can haul blasted rock through narrow tunnels. It’s part of the company’s latest series of mobile excavators, including drill rigs and loaders, designed to cut emissions and lower energy costs for miners.

Reducing the use of diesel fuel could have significant cost benefits for the industry: as much as 40 percent of an underground mine’s energy outlay is spent on powering gigantic ventilation systems to remove pollutants from tunnels. The push for electrified mining got a further boost last month from an industry lobby, the International Council on Mining and Metals, which plans to minimize the impact of underground diesel exhaust by 2025.

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Which mining supercycle? – by David Robinson (Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal – August 20, 2018)

http://www.sudburyminingsolutions.com/

Growing talk of a new supercycle for mining is encouraging, but a totally different kind of supercycle may be more important for mining supply firms.

The supercycle of the first years of our new millennium was a sustained period of rising commodity prices, supported by population growth and infrastructure expansion in emerging markets. The broader economic boom collapsed with the global financial crisis of 2007–2008.

The mining sector saw an orgy of investment and acquisitions that left major players over-extended and created excess capacity that held prices down for years. The past decade was nothing like a slump. Global output of metals continued to rise, only prices dropped. It is an oddity of GNP accounting that increased production can appear as lower GNP when prices drop.

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Mining suppliers say tariffs not dampening Canada-U.S. trade – by Karen McKinley (Northern Ontario Business – June 28, 2018)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Business as usual, but cross-border trade difficulties offer opportunities for Canadian companies to diversify international dealings

Trade tensions between Canada and the United States are not stopping Canadian mining companies from looking south for business opportunities, but they are also looking at markets abroad.

The third annual Northern Ontario Exports Forum in Sudbury on June 27 saw around 200 delegates gather to discuss markets abroad, including Africa, Latin America, Mexico and Europe.

Even though heavy tariffs are being imposed on Canada by the U.S., particularly on steel and aluminium imports, many delegates and speakers said they were concerned, but business is going ahead.

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Future looks bright for Sudbury mining – by Brian Bigger (Sudbury Star – April 1, 2018)

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

Brian Bigger is the Mayor of the City of Greater Sudbury.

I would like to provide an update to the community on my very productive and successful trip to Toronto for the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada conference at the beginning of last month.

PDAC, as always, is an opportunity for companies working in all aspects of mining to come together, showcase what they have been working on to government representatives, stakeholders and investors. This year in particular showed great signs of enthusiasm in the industry and once again Greater Sudbury’s presence was very prominent in the mining world.

In fact, more than 80 companies and organizations from Greater Sudbury were on display and approximately 750 Sudburians were in attendance. Representatives from around the world were amongst the 25,000 attendees.

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Sudbury mining cluster grows its global position – by Dick DeStefano (Canadian Mining Journal – February 2018)

http://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

Michael Denham, the new CEO of the Business Development Bank of Canada, recently acknowledged the fact that small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) represent 99.8% of all Canadian companies, produce 66% of jobs in the country and represent more than 50% of Canada’s GDP.

Denham noted that, in an era of globalization and increasing numbers of “free trade agreements,” we need more SMEs generating more growth to sustain our economy.

While this applies across multiple sectors, it is especially valid in the most sophisticated underground technology centres in Canada. In northern Ontario, the 500-plus mining supply and service companies based there employ 23,000 people – double the number of direct mining occupations in northern Ontario – and are an important component of wealth creation and innovation.

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Mining Super Cluster Denied But Doesn’t Deter Regional Expansion – by Dick DeStefano (March 2, 2018)

https://samssa.ca/

Dick DeStefano is the Executive Director of the Sudbury Area Mining Supply and Service Association (SAMSSA).

I am disappointed by the Canadian Federal Government’s recent decision to ignore a request by CEMI and CMIC and multiple partners to grow our mining and related sector in Canada. It was not chosen as a priority in their Super Cluster competition and remains on the fringe of the government agenda.

But the results will not deter the existing cluster to move its agenda forward in the next years and expand its presence in the global market. A significant effort has been invested in establishing a viable infrastructure and cooperative effort by multiple partners within Northern Ontario and that effort will continue as we move forward.

It’s not a lack of information because our review indicates that over 20 profiles have been published in the past two years and the case study recently released by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities illustrates the shift from an extractive mining sector to a world class mining intelligence sector.

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Mining equipment company develops global reach: RDH Mining Equipment acquired by German-based SMT Scharf Corp. – by Karen McKinley (Northern Ontario Business – February 21, 2018)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

RDH Mining Equipment has joined a larger family, which its management says will mean more opportunities to grow as a company and more markets to expand into. The mining equipment producer announced in a news release Feb. 7 it was acquired by German-based company SMT Scharf for $8 million.

“We were approached by Scharf and they said they were interested in making a deal,” said Neil Edward, chief financial officer for RDH Mining Equipment. “We had visited them in Germany to continue discussions back in October to discuss our two businesses.”

The company is located in Alban, about an hour southeast of Sudbury and supplies mines with mobile equipment. SMT Scharf produces rail transport systems for the mining industry.

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Making mine inspection safer: North Bay drone company inspecting underground cavities – by Lindsay Kelly (Northern Ontario Business – December 12, 2017)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Mining companies have been adopting drone technology to survey and map mineral resources above ground, but sending the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) below surface is still an emerging concept.

It’s an area in which SafeSight Exploration believes there’s lots of room for competition, and in which the North Bay company is quickly making a name for itself. The company was the overall winner during a North Bay Pitch event, hosted by the Northern Ontario Angels, in November.

“The idea and the concept and the work towards applying drone technology to an underground setting have been around for a couple of years, but it’s still very much an open space where there is no dominant player,” said SafeSight’s president and founder, Mike Campigotto.

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[Norm Tollinsky] Journalist honoured for mining industry coverage – by Karen McKinley (Northern Ontario Business – December 5, 2017)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal writer and founding editor Norm Tollinsky inducted into Mining Hall of Fame

It was a night of firsts at the Sudbury Area Mining Supply and Service Association (SAMSSA) annual general meeting. The first time a woman will be president and the first time a journalist has been inducted into the Mining Hall of Fame.

Norm Tollinsky, editor of Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal, was presented with the honour on Dec. 4 at Dynamic Earth. He and the journal were lauded for 12 years of covering stories specific to the mining industry and bringing stories of the hard work and innovation coming from it.

Taking the podium, he thanked everyone for the honour, adding there was no greater feeling for a writer than being appreciated by the readers.

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Batteries improve air quality in underground mines (Nickel Institute – May 22, 2017)

https://www.nickelinstitute.org/

Ventilation currently represents around 50% of underground metal mines’ overall energy costs. Producers are looking to go deeper and still remain economic, while also eliminating fine diesel particulate matter from the underground work environment.

Couple these aims with the need to achieve clean-energy targets and it’s clear that there are a myriad of drivers for the introduction of battery-powered vehicles that are engineered for life underground.

“Interest is coming from two sources,” says Jani Vilenius, director of research and technology development, PA Rock Drills and Technologies, at Sandvik Mining and Rock Technology, one of the first OEMs to introduce a battery-propelled drill rig. “Battery technology is being applied more widely in other industries and, for that reason, its applicability in mining is also being questioned, creating a technology push.

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[Minalytix] From computers to mountain summits – by Karen McKinley (Northern Ontario Business – November 17, 2017)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Mining software guru shares inspirational tales from globe-spanning career

One wouldn’t think a computer science degree and a career in technical support would lead to climbing mountains and flying planes over Africa or shooting rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) in Mongolia. For Robert Patterson, it did.

And he was happy to talk about how obtaining a degree from Laurentian University led to all that and the founding of his current business, Minalytix, a mining software company, during a Nov. 16 talk hosted by the Sudbury chapter of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum.

While his lighthearted talk spanned his entire life, peppered with many self-deprecating stories, the message was clear: do a job well, never stop learning and have some fun with your life.

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Mine ventilation goes digital – by Karen McKinley (Northern Ontario Business – November 7, 2017)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Maestro Digital Mine creates a digital solution to assist in deep mining

What to do when technology no longer fits the needs of an ever-changing industry? Reinvent it and bring it to the 21st century, of course.

It sounds like a no-brainer, but in the case of ultra-deep mining, technology once used on surface plants is being taken further underground and mining companies are discovering the negative effects, making them less reliable.

Ultra-deep mining presents many logistical and technical problems the current technology is not designed for. While mines are able to go deeper than ever before, there are many issues like worker heat stress, increasing temperature, barometric pressure and humidity which require higher cost ventilation monitoring and control systems.

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Battery tech is the new gold for Kirkland Lake – Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – November 2, 2017)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

California’s Artisan Vehicle Systems chooses northeast town for Canadian assembly, R & D hub

A leading edge California manufacturer of battery-powered underground mining vehicles is putting down roots in Kirkland Lake.

Artisan Vehicle Systems announced Oct. 31 that it’s building a 60,000-square-foot Canadian headquarters featuring a service centre, vehicle assembly shop, and product research facility in the northeastern Ontario gold mining town to be closest to its biggest customer, Kirkland Lake Gold.

The company is talking about creating 60 jobs over the next two years as they put shovels in the ground within a year-and-a-half to build a state-of-the-art “Centre of Excellence” in the Archer Drive business park.

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