IM 2021 September 21 | Page 30

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

26 International Mining | SEPTEMBER 2021