CANADIAN TECHNOLOGY
NORCAT calls itself a global leader in the
development and provision of skilled labour
training and innovation services
Tapping the tech
A sound geological database, deep mining heritage and
supportive government are just some of the reasons why
technology and innovation continues to come out of Canada.
Dan Gleeson takes a look at the latest developments
anada has been mining a rich vein of
homegrown technologies for decades,
with hubs in Sudbury, Vancouver, Toronto,
Montreal and elsewhere supplying the mining
industry with innovation equipment and
processes able to solve dozens of sector-wide
challenges.
Backed by local and federal government,
start-ups in these locations have been able to
challenge on a global stage, with many
international miners having offices close by to
tap into this growing crowd.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in
Sudbury, home to the Northern Centre for
Advanced Technology, otherwise known as
NORCAT.
NORCAT calls itself a global leader in the
development and provision of skilled labour
training and innovation services. In addition to
this, it is the only innovation centre in the world,
according to NORCAT, that owns and operates
an underground mine designed to “enable start-
ups, small/medium enterprises, and
international companies to develop, test, and
demonstrate innovative technologies in an
operating mine environment”.
These facilities have seen NORCAT become a
global destination for mining companies to “see
and touch” emerging technologies poised to
transform the industry, the company said.
In addition to a recently signed agreement
with Santiago, Chile-based mining technology
and innovation centre, Centro Nacional de
Pilotaje Chile, and an announcement of a
planned expansion of its Underground Centre,
the company, with Glencore’s Sudbury
Integrated Nickel Operations, recently launched
a technology and innovation programme. This
was established to facilitate and enhance the
C
mining company’s ability to bring new, state-of-
the-art technologies into its operations and
accelerate the rate of technology adoption
across the industry, NORCAT said.
Kevin McAuley, Director Sustainability,
Technical Services and Innovation at Glencore’s
Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations, said the
partnership not only provided the company with
a “unique opportunity to access a wide range of
emerging technologies that will help us deliver
on our broader business strategy, but also it
continues to support the vibrant mining
technology ecosystem at the NORCAT
Underground Centre”.
The organisation confirmed it would continue
to identify and engage with mining technology
companies from around the world to support
the implementation and demonstration of their
products at the Underground Centre.
“By doing so, NORCAT helps to connect and
broker relationships between mining technology
companies (the ‘builders of innovation’) and
global mining companies (the ‘buyers’ of
innovation), creating a vibrant tech ecosystem
unique on the global stage,” the company said.
NORCAT is not the only Sudbury-based
company with a test mine in the city.
Production support vehicle specialist,
MacLean Engineering, last year, purchased the
former MTI test facility in Sudbury and said it
intended to use it as the company’s innovation
hub.
MacLean has been a first mover in the
electrification of underground utility vehicles,
with close to 20 machines in mine sites across
the globe or manufactured and awaiting
delivery.
The underground facility includes a circa-300 m
underground ramp down to a depth of some 40 m,
at an average grade of 15%. It also includes an
excavated cavern where shaft jumbo mucking
training had previously been conducted, along
with a 4,500 m 2 building on a 3-ha site
footprint.
Stella Holloway, General Manager for
MacLean’s Sudbury operations, said access to
an underground facility provided the company
with a “research and development test bed for
new products and new technologies, a mine-
equivalent setting for conducting quality
assurance/quality control checks on MacLean
equipment prior to shipping, a place where
employees and customers, alike, can be given
hands-on exposure to our equipment in the
working environment, as well as a great location
for conducting photo and video shoots”.
While MacLean Engineering is still awaiting
permits to operate the test mine, it is planning
to open it up, in the future, to other leading
technology providers looking to test out new
innovations.
Patrick Marshall, MacLean’s Director of
Mining Technology, told IM: “By striking
strategic partnerships with leading mining
infrastructure suppliers, the MacLean
Underground Test Site will be a showcase for
the mine site of the future, making it the perfect
location for testing our next generation of
underground mining equipment, empowered
with Advanced Vehicle Technology developed by
MacLean Engineering.”
Still in this market, underground mining
equipment supplier, DUX Machinery, said
recently it was in the process of manufacturing
a very compact DUX Model DSL-300 scoop
loader.
The compact model has the operator side
seated in an “ergonomically correct”
compartment, while the engine side end is
identical to the DUX DT-5N dump truck, which
the company designed, built and tested in
2016/2017, with one machine now operating in
a narrow-vein copper mine in the US.
The company has become renowned for
developing machines for the underground
narrow-vein market and said of the mining
technique: “The advantage of the narrow-vein
mining methods is to improve the ore grade
delivered to the mill, significantly reduce waste
development and reduce equipment, mining,
ventilation and fuel costs.”
DUX’s DSL-300 comes with a 3-t tramming
capacity, a machine width of 1.4 m, a bucket
width of 1.45 m and a standard SAE heaped
bucket capacity of 1.22 m³. It also has an ejector
bucket option available.
While this unit is available with a diesel
APRIL 2019 | International Mining 77