More funding has been announced to help the Sudbury-based MIRARCO mining innovation centre further the research and development of decision-support software for underground mining applications.
This is part of a three-year agreement between MIRARCO and the Australia-based RPMGlobal software company that was first highlighted last December.
In a news release issued Monday, MIRARCO said the additional financial support was given by the government of Ontario through the Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI), an organization that supports innovators to commercialize new Ontario based technologies. A dollar amount was not revealed in the announcement.
The Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI) describes itself as an agency that helps to accelerate job creation through innovation, commercializing game-changing research by connecting industry and academia.
The software created by MIRARCO, known as SOT (Schedule Optimization Tool), has three modules that can be used by mine planners in their day-to-day mining operations. This includes a GeoSequencing Module, a Ventilation Constraints module and an Advanced Valuation module.
David Batkin, RPMGlobal’s Head of Product Strategy, said it was terrific to be working with forward thinking, like-minded organizations.
“RPM and MIRARCO have had a great working relationship for the past few years, and it is fantastic to be enjoying this additional support from OCI. It will go a long way to further develop these important optimisation programs," Batkin said.
“We are very thankful to OCI for this support and for having the foresight and vision to recognise the value that this technology will bring to the underground mining industry," he added.
In Sudbury, MIRARCO President and CEO, Dr. Nadia Mykytczuk said she was thrilled to have secured the OCI funding to support this research.
“This collaboration with RPMGlobal will result in full commercialization and deployment of tools that will benefit the mining industry. We are really excited to have our teams working together as well as bringing together new academic collaborators from Queen’s University,” Mykytczuk said.
The support funding provided by OCI will be matched by RPMGlobal and will be used to support the multi-year collaboration arrangement between RPM and MIRARCO.
