Canadian Science Policy Conference 2015

Organizers: Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation

The mining industry has historically been resistant to try new technologies, but they can no longer afford to keep this stance. As mines go deeper to access ore deposits, they become more costly to operate. It is also hard to attract and retain new talent and mine closures have a negative effect on the Canadian economy, especially as small-to-medium sized enterprises (SME's) are hit the hardest.
The Business -led Network Centres of Excellence Ultra-Deep Mining Network (UDMN) was created with these needs and challenges in mind. We have established services to assist with transferring new technologies to the mining industry. The benefits will be realized in three areas:

1. Increasing research and development (R&D) capacity through a networked solution team approach
Our network solution team strengthens the public private sector relationship by engaging the mining service and supply sector, industry, academia, research institutions and government,
creating the tools and highly qualified people that will meet the needs of the mining industry.

2. Change Management
Introducing change is always a challenge across most industries, especially in an established mining industry. Change management allows us to look at the existing process and review/rewrite this process to allow new technologies to be embedded into existing systems.

3. Increasing research and development (R&D) receptivity at the mine sites.
Increasing R&D receptivity within the mining industry ensures more support for projects that have industrial trials built into the deliverables. This also helps researchers lower the risk trials and increases market exposure.

The paper will further define how these three approaches have been applied under the Ultra-Deep Mining Network (UDMN), whose mandate is to help the mining industry to adopt commercially viable R&D project results, and the deployment of proven innovative technologies.