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Mining Research

Australian miners at the forefront of the robotics revolution – by Smruthi Nadig (Mining Technology – June 7, 2024)

https://www.mining-technology.com/

As robotic technology advances, Australian mining companies such as Rio Tinto and BHP are among the leaders in deploying automated systems to enhance operational efficiency and safety.

Australia has a strong robotics industry that focuses on automation in both the manufacturing and agricultural sectors, which sets it apart from other robotics markets. GlobalData research indicates that 29% of robotics companies in Australia cater to the mining sector. Besides the robotics industry itself, the main industries served by robotics suppliers are metal and machinery, with 47% of suppliers serving these industries.

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Canada’s superclusters await fate in budget as funding dwindles – by Sean Silcoff and Josh O’Kane (Globe and Mail – April 5, 2022)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

It was the centrepiece of the federal Liberal government’s first innovation strategy: a $950-million “supercluster” program aimed at bringing together academia and business to collaborate in unprecedented ways, spinning out companies and creating jobs, economic growth and intellectual property.

Critics questioned it from the start as a potential superboondoggle with vague objectives and inadequate focus on keeping valuable intellectual property (IP) in Canada.

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PRESS RELEASE: Mining Innovation Commercialization Accelerator (MICA) Network Launches: Creating a National Network of Innovation for Mining.

November 17th, 2021 – Toronto, ON – With funding provided by the Government of Canada’s Strategic Innovation Fund, today in downtown Toronto, partners from across Canada gathered to launch the Mining Innovation Commercialization Accelerator (MICA) Network.

MICA is a national innovation ecosystem initiative designed to modernize mining and improve its productivity and environmental performance, strengthen the Canadian mineral supply chain, and increase the domestic and export sales of Canadian innovators.

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The Drift: Could the mining industry consider the nuclear option to power remote mines? – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – July 23, 2021)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Laurentian University research institute studies how small-scale reactors could replace diesel generation in the Far North

Is there a viable marriage between mining and nuclear power? Laurentian University researcher François Caron aims to find out. There are 10 off-grid operating mines in remote areas of Canada, most of them reliant on diesel generation.

That’ll be a no-go in the years to come as the mining industry faces mounting pressure from society, government climate change legislation, even environmentally conscious investors, to cut its greenhouse-gas emissions and carbon footprint.

To be able to power potential mining camps in greenfield areas where grid power doesn’t reach, the nuclear energy option is being increasingly examined.

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Interview – CEMI CEO Doug Morrison: “The delay in getting approval for mining projects is almost all related to environmental impact” (Global Business Report/Mining.com – April 28, 2021)

https://www.mining.com/

The industry response to the Brumadinho dam disaster, including the Global Tailings Standard, will hopefully prevent such tragic events in the future. However, it is important to examine how a catastrophe of this scale, at a facility owned by one of the five biggest mining companies in the world, could reoccur after a similar failure — Samarco, in 2015.

Doug Morrison, CEO of the Centre of Excellence for Mining Innovation (CEMI), said the industry must recognize that the increasing delay in getting approval for mining projects is almost all related to environmental impact.

Moreover, the failings at Brumadinho and Samarco were the result of a flawed approach to tailings management, Morrision said in an interview with the Global Business Reports:

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Mining innovation centre wins ‘long-fought battle’ to secure funds – by Colleen Romaniuk (Sudbury Star – July 15, 2021)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

The pan-Canadian network, headquartered in Sudbury, will fast-track mining innovations for a more productive and sustainable future

After three years of hard work, Sudbury’s mining innovation centre has secured $40 million from the federal government to launch a pan-Canadian mining innovation accelerator.

The investment will help the Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation (CEMI) implement a $112.4-million project called the Mining Innovation Commercialization Accelerator (MICA) Network.

The initiative aims to unite stakeholders across Canada’s innovation ecosystem to accelerate the development and commercialization of new technologies to make the mining sector more productive and sustainable.

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Sudbury to headquarter new mining network – by Staff (Sudbury Star – July 14, 2021)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Details of $112-million project unveiled on Tuesday

Sudbury will be the centre of a new network aiming to make Canada a leader in sustainable, efficient and safe mining, especially when it comes to so-called critical minerals.

François-Philippe Champagne, the federal minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, announced Tuesday the federal government will kick in $40 million towards a $112.4-million project put together by Sudbury-based CEMI, the Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation Inc.

The money will support the creation of the Mining Innovation Commercialization Accelerator (MICA) Network. MICA is a Canadian initiative bringing together people and companies from a wide range of fields to quicken the development and commercialization of innovative technologies to make the mining sector more productive and sustainable.

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