www gbr eports c om Glob al Business R eport s is nec essar y if mining c omp anies ar e t o r e ap the benefit s of innov a tion The Digit al Mine is no t a t echnologic al ac c omplishment it is a cultur e It is the int e gr a tion of people pr oc ess and t echnolog y which cr e a t es an envir onment wher e da t adriven knowledg e empowers decision mak ers and cr e a t es opportunities t o impr ove the business he said Vic P ak alnis pr esident CEO of MIRARC O Mining Innov a tion R ehabilit a tion and Applied R ese ar ch Corpor a tion the lar g es t nonpr ofit applied r ese ar ch firm in North Americ a expr essed the mood of r ene wed op timism The las t five ye ars in the indus tr y wer e the wors t I have e ver witnessed in my 40ye ar c ar eer but the times ar e finally turning The sec t or is adop ting sophis tic a t ed ne w t echnologies fr om alt erna t e vertic als t o incr e ase saf e ty pr oduc tivity and sus t ainability MIRARC O and Laur entian University r ec ently signed a C1 million Memor andum of Unders t anding MOU with nucle ar ener g y giant Bruc e P ower f or the de velopment of small modular r e ac t ors SMRs Vik P ak alnis said tha t this initia tive c ould pr ovide a tr ansf orma tional solution t o curr ent power challeng es c onsidering the c os t of running diesel g ener a t ors is C032kilow a t t hour which c an g o up t o C078kilow a t t hour in Ar c tic oper a tions due t o fuel supply unr eliability SMRs will be able t o pr oduc e ener g y lower than C015kilow a t t hour with z er o gr eenhouse emissions s t a t ed P ak alnis Ano ther c omp any inves ting in innov a tion t o drive down c os t s is glob al c onsulting firm SRK which r ec ently mer g ed with the Sudbur yb ased mine simula tion c omp any Labr ec que T echnologies Gar y P o xleitner SRK s princip al mining engineer explained how this p artnership c an help cus t omers visualiz e mining oper a tions and plan ac c or dingly Onc e a mine has been designed Labr ec que T echnologies sofw ar e simula t es pr oc esses tha t help client s ac cur a t ely pr edic t mine pr oduc tion and work out how bes t t o equip their oper a tions t o maximiz e pr ofit ability The solution curr ently driving business gr owth f or NS S Canada f ormerly Northern Sur ve y Supply is MOS S Miner Oper a t ed Sur ve y Sys t ems a har dw ar e sofw ar e solution cr e a t ed by Bernie Smith a t Glenc or e and then de veloped in p artnership with L eic a Pr ecision Mining Sys t ems and A ut odesk MOS S allows f or millime t er ac cur ac y wher e as tr aditional mine sur ve y me thods give an ac cur ac y of ar ound 1 t o 3 f ee t Bruno Lalonde g ener al manag er of NS S Canada exp anded on the benefit s of this t echnolog y MOS S r educ es the overbr e ak per c ent ag e fr om 30 typic ally t o under 10 he said c ontinuing A 1 overbr e ak c an c os t up t o U S500000 in ma t erial handling so MOS S of ers it s users v as t savings bo th in time spent and ec onomic ally as well as a quick r e turn on inves tment T om P alangio pr esident of WipW ar e the North Bayb ased pr oduc er of pho t o analysis sys t ems and sofw ar e belie ves tha t c ompe titive nec essity drives innov a tion in Canadian mining An ounc e of g old is worth the same thr oughout the world but if oper a ting c os t s abr o ad ar e che aper domes tic c omp anies need t o find a w ay t o le ver ag e t o sur vive he s t a t ed WipW ar e has cr e a t ed nondisrup tive me thods of me asuring gr anular siz es in r e al time t o help mining oper a tions op timiz e pr oc esses T om explained how machine vision allows c omp anies t o alloc a t e r esour c es t o t asks tha t r equir e human t alent WipW ar e looks a t r epe titive boring sampling jobs within the indus tr y wher e people c an be fr eed t o do mor e import ant jobs if a machine c an monit or r esult s f or them No ticing the high r a t e of f ailur es of pipes and fit tings tr ansporting slurries and dif er ent abr asive ma t erials in the mines David Dillon f ounder of Dur a 21 be g an cr e a ting machiner y and c o a tings t o dr ama tic ally ex t end their ser vic e c ycle Y ou your project and the fnancier are on different continents W ere your common ground Integrated solutions at every phase of your project com Our Ontario Of fces Sudbury 1 705 682 3270 sudbur ysrkcom T or ont o 1 41 6 60 1 1 445 torontosrkcom