November 21, 2013 — Markham, Ontario
The development of cost-effective technical solutions to economically mine remote and lower grade ore is critical to increase existing mineral reserves and ensure the competitiveness of Canada's mining sector. The National Research Council of Canada (NRC) is tackling this challenge through a new High Efficiency Mining program designed to help companies introduce innovative technologies into every stage of the mining process.
"We take a systems engineering approach that considers both the technology needs of mining companies and the innovation capacity of their supply chains," said Andy Reynolds, General Manager of Energy, Mining and Environment at the National Research Council of Canada. Speaking at the annual meeting of the Conference Board of Canada's Centre for the Commercialization of Mining Technologies and Services, Mr. Reynolds added that "This better enables risks to be shared, facilitating the deployment of step-change innovation to increase production at lower cost."
The program established new co-investment opportunities for stakeholders from across Canada's mining supply chains to participate in multi-partner research and development projects and consortia, such as the Mining Materials Wear and Corrosion Consortium, as well as individual business arrangements.
Targeted projects will help optimize mining processes, improve equipment durability, and reduce the risk of technology adoption and integration across mining operations through techno-economic assessment and systems analysis. These collaborative activities will result in practical technology solutions to save companies hundreds of millions of dollars in operating and maintenance costs, while generating sustainable economic benefits to Canada through an increase in reserves (economically recoverable resources).
Clients and collaborators benefit from NRC's unique multidisciplinary capabilities and state-of-the art facilities across Canada, drawing on core energy and mining expertise as well as decades of experience in adjacent aerospace, automotive, construction and defence markets.
- 30 -
