The Government of Canada’s C$40 million ($31.9 million) investment in a C$112.4 million project to accelerate the development and commercialisation of innovative technologies geared towards making the mining sector more productive and sustainable has been a long time coming.
It was way back in 2014 that the Ultra-deep Mining Network (UDMN), a pan-Canadian initiative led by the Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation (CEMI), was approved as part of the Business-led Network Centres of Excellence (BL-NCE) Program.
UDMN, which ran from 2014-2019, had rock stress risk reduction, energy reduction, material transport and productivity, and improved human health and effectiveness as its four strategic themes. Its commercial success is still being felt to this date.
While UDMN2 was not approved to go forward to the second stage, the idea behind the Mining Innovation Commercialization Accelerator (MICA) was already being germinated by CEMI more than five years ago as it filed the UDMN2 application.
Fast forward to 2021, and CEMI’s new MICA Network now has the funds to connect stakeholders from a wide range of fields to bring innovative technologies to the fore.
MICA’s mission is to accelerate the number and scale of home-grown Canadian mining Small-toMedium Enterprises (SMEs); commercialise new, late stage, high impact mining technologies; create regional networks and rapidly increase domestic and export sales; scale-up Canadian SMEs to participate in global mining supply chains; and build a national ecosystem as a network of collaborative regional networks.
It is underwritten by four technical themes: n Increase mine production capacity, at lower cost; n Reduce mining energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions; n Implement smart, autonomous mining systems; and n Reduce tailings environmental risk and longterm liabilities.
While MICA will be headquartered in Sudbury, Ontario – where CEMI is based – it will operate across Canada through main partners the Bradshaw Research Initiative for Minerals and Mining, InnoTech Alberta, Saskatchewan Polytechnic, MaRS, Le Groupe MISA and the College of the North Atlantic.
By accelerating the development and commercialisation of innovative autonomous and clean technologies in the mining sector, the initiative is expected to extend the operational lives of existing mines and reduce the time it takes to bring new mineral deposits into production.
MICA, having activities that will span the country, is expected to support the creation of 900 jobs and at least 12 new businesses; the commercialisation of at least 30 new products, services or processes; and the generation of “inter-industry spill-over benefits” by introducing innovative non-mining technologies to the mining sector and vice versa.
The network looks set to mobilise investments of at least C$100 million from the private sector and expand its membership to over 350 businesses and organisations across the country.
Following the July announcement of government funding and with an appreciation of the work CEMI carried out on the UDMN, IM put some questions to CEMI President and CEO, Doug Morrison (pictured).
IM: How do you intend to “bridge the innovationto-commercialisation gap” that currently exists in the mining space in Canada?
DM: The SMEs are the most innovative companies in every sector of the economy but they don’t all have the complete range of skill sets that allow them to bring new products or services to market. Every company is different and, once we have identified their particular limitations, we find other consultants that can help them bridge that particular gap. For most SMEs, it is very rarely a technical problem, more likely an IP, marketing or investment issue, but, regardless, we try to find them the resources they need to move forward.
IM: How will the program differ to those in other regions like NEXGEN SIMS in the EU or some of the initiatives run through METS Ignited in Australia?
DM: I think the fundamental difference is that CEMI is not trying to solve a technology problem, so finding new technologies or companies with equipment modifications is not our first goal.
Mining is first and foremost a business, and CEMI is trying to solve mining’s business problems with technology. So, we first look at the biggest business problem – for most mines, it is labour then energy cost, or the cost of delaying first production revenue. We apply the Theory of Constraints, then analyse that part of the mining process with discrete event “The fastest way to simulations to produce more metal, more cheaply is to support the prioritise the critical development and parts of the problem. implementation of the Only then do we technologies that make this happen,” Doug look for the kinds of Morrison says answers these analyses point to.
It must be a systems-led approach because there are no simple, silver-bullet answers – we need system solutions. So CEMI goes looking for point solutions that can be integrated into new system solutions that improve business outcomes – more ore value per day, lower cost per tonne, faster approvals, etc. We need to move more ore cheaper and faster and we need new mines to get into production sooner.
We have identified the types of solutions industry needs, but they are not a collection of incremental changes, or pet projects – better candles don’t lead to the light bulb in this case. Disruptive solutions are, often, too uncomfortable for many companies to consider but they are absolutely necessary.
IM: How does CEMI’s experience to date enable it to best leverage the C$40 million of government funding and at least C$100 million of private sector funding within the MICA network?
DM: The first SME Network program CEMI managed was the UDMN project (2014-19) and this was focused only on the kinds of technologies needed to meet the needs of the hot, humid and seismically-active conditions in many mines in Canada, which have to operate at a depth below 2.5 km.
We recognised there were several excellent projects we could not fund within the relatively narrow UDMN criteria, and we recognised the need for another network with a broader scope. This was the genesis of the MICA proposal.
From the UDMN experience, we learned important lessons about managing a collaborative network of SMEs in a ‘managed cluster’ with rules of engagement to ensure the participants were treated equitably. When we could see some projects were not going to meet their target, we
MICA network participants include:
• NuBinary Inc • A.U.G. Signals Ltd • ROSOR Corp • Jannatec Technologies • MineVest Ltd • Nokia Canada • Carlson Software Inc • HLS Hard-Line Solutions Inc • Tap Report • KPM-Accelerate • Amplytica Inc • FROSKR • Sudbury Integrated Nickel
Operations – a GLENCORE company • Ionic Technology Group • SafeSight Exploration Inc • Centric Mining Systems Inc • Western Heritage • Enviro Integrations Strategies • Unmanned Aerial Services Inc • Renix Inc • Spinetector Canada • Boart Longyear • RHT RailHaul Technologies Inc • Cascadia Scientific Inc • 2S Water Incorporated • Zero Energy Water • Muddy River Technologies Inc • Godelius • FKC-Lake Shore • Hyperspectral Intelligence Inc • Clickmox Solutions Inc • Notiform Inc • Geomative Inc • Econse Water Purification
Systems Inc • Paige Engineering Ltd • Cypher Environmental • ELEMISSION Inc • Tunik Inc • Enki GeoSolutions Inc • Bio-Mine Ltd • Creative eLearning Design • TesMan Incorporated • Naturallia Val D’Or • MineSense Technologies Ltd • Optimize Group Inc • CleanTech Geomechanics Inc • NTWIST • Rock-Tech • Mayhew Performance Ltd • URE Consulting • KA Imaging Inc • E2metrix Inc • FVT Research • Copperstone Technologies Ltd • contextere • Hybrid Power Solutions • Canada Silver Cobalt Works • Gowling WLG • Daniola Corporation • FORTAI Tech Ltd • iRing Inc • Greenland Engineering &
Technologies Group • Novamera Inc • intelline • ApoSys Technologies Inc • Nanoprecise • Maestro Digital Mine • Relamco • Echion Group • Sight Power Inc • Cementation • Panisolar Inc
had to manage a transition to stand-by projects to maximise the best use of the government funding.
IM: How have you already started to “identify innovative solutions and integrate them into the system-solutions that the mining industry needs” and what types of private companies are looking to invest in the accelerator model? Is there funding coming from mining companies themselves?
DM: We focus on helping SMEs commercialise solutions that will impact the mining business and we mostly rely on the SMEs to have identified their first adopter that will sponsor the project. One of the lessons from the UDMN project was that SMEs are absolutely reliable in their funding of innovation but this is less true for mining companies that are often constrained by their internal objectives and volatile budgets.
While the initial UDMN proposal had equal funding commitments from SMEs and mining companies, a year later when the work began, the SMEs had to cover 75% of the costs as the corporate funding contracted.
IM: How does the selection criteria work? What attributes must the technologies and companies have to qualify for MICA selection? Where has the ‘30 new products, services or processes’ number come from? Is this tied to the number of challenges you are looking to solve in the mining space?
DM: It will be just as it was with the UDMN, except that the MICA Network focuses on higher technology-readiness level projects that are closer to market. As a result, the potential for commercial success is an important requirement.
The four MICA themes were identified by the industry consultation group consisting of several senior mining executives who identified overall industry requirements.
We are in the process of identifying subject matter experts with several decades of experience in deep hard-rock mines and tailings management, as well as serial innovators to establish technical and commercial criteria for the projects and then rank the proposals. The MICA targets for products and services is an extension of the results achieved by the UDMN, accepting that the technical range of MICA is much broader.
IM: What will the selection panel look like in terms of mining industry experience? Where are you intending to source the panel representatives from? Will there be a streamlined process in terms of trialling prototypes/commercial units at mine sites?
DM: What is important is to find industry experience that recognises that significant change in the industry is essential – the most innovative companies are more likely to be mid-tier or smaller. It is difficult to recognise any strategic innovation being driven by the largest mining companies – even the new trend towards batteryelectric vehicles was initiated by relatively small mining companies. Mining companies do a good job of producing resources on a massive scale, but adopting innovation is a difficult proposition given their business objectives.
Fortunately, there are now alternatives to mine site trials and, in the case of tailings, there are many small legacy sites that can act as trial sites for new innovations.
IM: Ahead of the announcement of funding in July, how many technologies/companies did you have on board waiting to submit ideas and start the process? How many of these do you expect to advance in the first year of the program? How many of these come from outside of the mining sector?
DM: At the beginning of the submission process, we had around 80 mining SMEs that committed to over C$65 million of innovation investment and we will reserve the first tranche of funding for these companies. We expect at least as many proposals after our second request for proposals, but there is no way to predict what the ratio of mining to non-mining candidates will be.
Ultimately, successful projects are secondary to establishing a strategic network of innovators to improve the economic, environmental and social performance of the global mining industry.
IM: Why is now the right time to create such a network of innovators?
DM: MICA’s strategic purpose is to help mining meet the challenge of the day; supplying the minerals and metals the global economy needs, at the scale and at the price that will accelerate the Green Transition to a low-carbon economy.
The projections of greater metal demand and higher prices does not augur well. The latest IPCC Report makes it clear just how dire the climate change situation is, and we all know that the mining industry is key to making this transition happen within the next two decades. Higher metal prices cannot defeat carbon and new mines take decades to develop. The fastest way to produce more metal, more cheaply is to support the development and implementation of the technologies that make this happen. The economy-of-scale model is almost exhausted but high-performance methods through innovation can still save the planet.
MICA is only a very small step on this journey, but it is an important one that the Canadian Government recognises and those from within and outside of the industry need to get involved in. IM
Read the original publication at: https://issuu.com/forestindustry/docs/september21_rev_/s/13309558
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