The Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation has received $823,000 from the Ontario government for a research chair in holistic mining practices and $2.24 million for a research project called Smart Underground Monitoring and Integrated Technologies (SUMIT).
The research chair, funded through the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation’s Emerging Technology Program, will be held by Doug Morrison, former global mining director at Golder Associates.Morrison will develop a five-year research and development plan to help sustain mines in the Sudbury region, provide local innovators with access to research initiatives, mentor and recruit innovators, researchers and students in collaborative solution teams and build on established expertise in areas of interest to the global mining community.
The $2.24 million grant for deep mining research is provided through the Ontario Research Fund’s Research Excellence Program. The funding will support the work of more than 75 researchers and students, and focus on mitigating georisk, rapid underground development and improved management of energy, materials and waste.
The deep mining research project will be a collaborative effort involving faculty and students at Laurentian University, the University of Toronto and Queen’s University in Kingston. Counting contributions from industry and institutional partners, the project is valued at $6.7 million.
“We appreciate the McGuinty government’s commitment to this project and are gratified to have the full endorsement of mining industry partners for this research,” said Peter Kaiser, chair of rock mechanics and ground control at Laurentian and president/CEO of CEMI. “By leveraging the collective expertise and knowledge at Laurentian, Queen’s University, and the University of Toronto, we will be able to achieve game-changing knowledge capacity in how the world designs mines and controls mining operations.”
Active mines will serve as “living laboratories” for the SUMIT research so that researchers can test computer-modeled and early-stage innovations in the underground work environment and produce tested solutions, said Kaiser.
