Tag Archives: MIRARCO

Vale partners with MIRARCO on bioleaching, bioremediation processing project

Base metals, Environmental, Mining events, Mining services, Sustainable mining, Water management, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Vale Energy Transition Metals, a leading global supplier of nickel, copper, cobalt and platinum group metals, says it is moving to accelerate commercial recovery of critical minerals from mine waste in partnership with the Mining Innovation, Rehabilitation, and Applied Research
Corporation (MIRARCO) at Laurentian University, in Canada.

As part of efforts to reduce mine waste and capture additional value from mined material, Vale has committed C$875,000 ($635,769) over five years to MIRARCO to support a new industrial research chair program in biomining and bioremediation. The announcement was made during the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada 2023 Convention, in Toronto, Canada.

The industrial research chair program, led by Dr Nadia Mykytczuk (pictured in the centre), will develop, pilot and work towards commercialising bioleaching and bioremediation processes including efforts to recover nickel and cobalt from low-grade pyrrhotite tailings and other waste.

Luke Mahony, Chief Technical Officer at Vale Energy Transition Metals (pictured second from left), said: “This builds on our extensive R&D history and proven track record of lab-to-plant process development and represents a significant opportunity for waste-stream reprocessing here in Ontario. We see this as a triple-win, with potential to reduce liabilities, accelerate commercial recovery of critical minerals and capture additional value from mined material.”

The Government of Ontario will also contribute C$750,000 through the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corp. to support this industrial research chair program.

Greg Rickford, Minister of Northern Development (pictured second from right), said: “The new and improved Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation is supporting innovative solutions in the resource extraction sector that will change the way we see mining traditionally. By partnering with Vale and Laurentian University, we are committing to Made in Ontario solutions that will reduce mine waste and enhance value for materials already involved in the mining process.”

Dr Mykytczuk, President and CEO of MIRARCO, said: “This funding and collaboration will accelerate the development of new tools to help us extract value from wastes, producing the metals we need in an environmentally sustainable way.”

Vale Energy Transition Metals is one of the world’s largest producers of high-quality nickel and an important producer of copper and responsibly sourced cobalt. With headquarters in Toronto, Canada, and operations in Newfoundland & Labrador, Ontario, Manitoba, Indonesia and Brazil, the business delivers critical building blocks for a cleaner, greener future.

MIRARCO Mining Innovation is in its 25th year and has been a leader in the development of innovative solutions in response to the needs of the mining industry. Located in Sudbury, Ontario, MIRARCO works collaboratively with industry, private sector, government, academia, and community stakeholders, building fit for purpose teams to effectively deploy knowledge, technology, and sustainable practices across the mining life cycle.

RPMGlobal and MIRARCO’s AVM, VCM software to receive funding boost

Mine ventilation, Mining services, Mining software, , , , , , , , ,

RPMGlobal has announced an increase in funding for its optimisation software development program after receiving industry funds to further support the ongoing development of its decision support software for underground mining.

The support has been given by the government of Ontario through the Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI), an organisation that supports innovators to commercialise new Ontario based technologies. RPM acquired three optimisation software modules in December 2021 from Sudbury-based MIRARCO as part of a three-year collaborative research partnership. MIRARCO is a solution research provider for the mining industry and research arm of Laurentian University.

David Batkin, RPMGlobal’s Head of Product Strategy, said it was terrific to be working with forward thinking, likeminded organisations.

“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,” he said.

MIRARCO President and CEO, Dr Nadia Mykytczuk, added: “This collaboration with RPMGlobal will result in full commercialisation 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.”

The software modules benefitting from the investment are part of RPM’s Design and Scheduling product portfolio. These modules consist of the Advanced Valuation Module (AVM) and the Ventilation Constraint Module (VCM), both of which extend and complement the functionality of RPM’s mine optimisation software solutions.

The AVM facilitates the generation of optimised underground mine plans that are robust to uncertain product prices and ore grades. The VCM generates optimised underground mine schedules based on ventilation constraints.

The funding provided by OCI, which has a proven track record when it comes to supporting software development, RPM says, will be matched by RPM and will be used to support the multi-year collaboration arrangement between RPM and MIRARCO.

Batkin concluded: “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.”

RPMGlobal acquires three mine planning optimisation software products from MIRARCO

Mine ventilation, Mining mergers and acquisitions, Mining services, Mining software, , , , , , , ,

RPMGlobal has announced a further software product acquisition after entering a collaborative research partnership with Canada-based MIRARCO.

The agreement gives RPM ownership of three mine planning optimisation software products that will strengthen its Design and Scheduling product suites, in particular the SOT product, RPM said.

The acquisition is part of a three-year collaborative research partnership with MIRARCO, an innovative solution research provider for the mining industry and research arm of Laurentian University based in Sudbury, Canada.

MIRARCO was instrumental in the original research leading to the development of RPM’s Schedule Optimisation Tool (SOT). SOT, along with Attain and Surface SOT, were products acquired by RPM as part of its July 2020 acquisition of Revolution Mining Software.

RPM CEO and Managing Director, Richard Mathews, said: “We are very proud that MIRARCO continues to place their trust in RPM to further develop and commercialise these important optimisation programs.”

One of MIRARCO’s core research domains is furthering the research and development of decision support software for the mining industry.

MIRARCO has developed three separate but complementary underground mine planning optimisation products, which RPM has, under this agreement, agreed to acquire and commercialise. These products extend and complement the functionality of RPM’s mine optimisation software solutions in the areas of Advanced Valuation, GeoSequencing, and Ventilation, it said.

As part of a strategic multi-year collaboration arrangement, RPM and MIRARCO will continue to work together on research and development projects that deliver demonstrable and innovative solutions for the mining industry.

The Advanced Valuation Module (AVM) facilitates the generation of optimised underground mine plans that can deal with the effects of uncertain product prices and ore grades. The mine planner specifies distributions for product prices over the mine’s life and ore grades. AVM will then optimise the life-of-mine schedule, maximising the operation’s net present value (NPV).

The GeoSequencing Module (GSM) facilitates the generation of optimised underground mine schedules adhering to stope sequencing constraints motivated by geotechnical considerations. The mine planner selects the rules for stope sequencing and GSM automatically generates alternative sets of stope-to-stope dependencies, or GeoSequencing scenarios, while enforcing the selected rules. The output is an NPV-optimised life-of-mine schedule based on the mine’s geotechnical considerations.

The Ventilation Constraint Module (VCM) generates optimised underground mine schedules based on ventilation constraints. Through interaction with a ventilation solver, VCM automatically generates airflow-based constraints on the equipment for each ventilation district. Using these constraints, VCM generates optimised NPV life-of-mine schedules that are feasible from a ventilation perspective.

Mathews added: “This acquisition is strategically important for two reasons. First, it further supports our commitment to delivering real innovation to the industry through the ongoing investment and collaboration with the leading minds within key research and development institutes such as MIRARCO. Secondly, it continues our commitment to owning and further investing in the development of innovative strategic mine optimisation solutions particularly for our underground mining clients.

“With the completion of this transaction, RPM is now the proud owner of nine underground mine planning software optimisation products that are used by software suppliers to the mining industry particularly in the underground space to build optimised underground life of mine plans.”

Mathews said the company started acquiring and developing underground mine optimisation products back in August 2017, starting with the acquisition of MineOptima (borne out of research of the Network Optimisation Group at the University of Melbourne) and then in July 2020 with the acquisition of Revolution Mining (borne out of research of MIRARCO) and now with MIRARCO once again.

Dr Nadia Mykytczuk, Interim President and CEO of MIRARCO and Executive Director of the Goodman School of Mines, said: “RPM’s global reach and drive to deliver innovative technology solutions for the mining industry make them a perfect industry partner for MIRARCO. We are looking forward to building on our already strong partnership and collaboration with RPM over the next three years and beyond.”

vSMRs could solve decarbonisation challenges at Canada’s remote northern mines: study

Environmental, Mining services, Power supply for mines, Sustainable mining, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Very small modular reactors (vSMRs) could provide clean, economic and reliable power and heat to remote northern mines and surrounding communities in Canada, according to a recent study completed by Ontario Power Generation (OPG), Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL), and Mining Innovation, Rehabilitation, and Applied Research Corporation (MIRARCO).

The feasibility study, looking into vSMRs ability to reduce or eliminate reliance on diesel, found that the most economical energy mix was for vSMRs to provide 90% of the baseload power required for mining operations and associated uses, with only peak demand periods managed through use of diesel generation, reducing emissions by 85%. Emissions could be lowered further by adding other renewables to the mix, decreasing the diesel component, at a slightly increased cost, it said.

SMRs are defined as producing up to 300 MW of power, while vSMRs produce up to 10 MW of power per module. These small modular reactors are more flexible than conventional reactors, better enabling them to work within a diverse energy grid alongside intermittent technologies such as solar or wind, according to the study partners. They can also be used for applications like process heat or hydrogen production, which help enable further industrial sector decarbonisation.

The technology is seen to have potential applications in Canada’s mining sector, where there are 10 off-grid operating mines. Most of these are served by diesel generators, which offer reliable, fast-acting, easy-to-vary output but are GHG-emitting.

Advantages of a vSMR, producing less than 10 MW, include:

  • Their small size, making them easier to transport and install in remote communities, and scalable to meet changing needs;
  • Their ability to safely, reliably produce power;
  • Long operating life without the need for an onsite inventory of fuel; and
  • Short installation period due to their modular construction and factory fabrication.

Global First Power, a joint venture between OPG and USNC-Power, is the most advanced vSMR project in Canada, according to the study. The project recently received Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission approval to begin a technical review. Subject to federal government financial support, the next step in the process is to construct a demonstration vSMR at CNL’s Chalk River campus.

This demonstration project will serve as a model for future SMR deployments, as called for in Canada’s SMR Roadmap and Action Plan, by producing competitively priced clean energy ideally sized for remote communities and heavy industry such as mining and resource projects.

Robin Manley, Vice President of New Nuclear Development at OPG, said: “Nuclear power and SMRs play an enormous and critical role in meeting Canada’s climate change goals. This study demonstrates that not only can a vSMR dramatically reduce emissions in an industry that currently relies heavily on diesel, but it can do it in a cost-effective way.”

François Caron, Director of the Energy Center and Bruce Power Chair for Sustainable Energy Solutions, MIRARCO, Mining Innovation, added: “This study paves the way for the future of mining: not only does it show that vSMRs could provide a cost-effective and reliable energy source, it demonstrates that vSMRs are a long-term solution that can help diversify and intensify a mining operation while also providing a surplus that will benefit communities in the area.”

(Pictured is a cross section of the USNC-Power Micro Modular Reactor™ (MMR™) unit (CNW Group/Ontario Power Generation Inc))

RPMGlobal acquires ‘cutting-edge financial mine scheduling optimisation solution’

IoT, Mining finance, Mining mergers and acquisitions, Mining software, , , , , , , , , ,

RPMGlobal has added mine scheduling optimisation capability to its expanding mining software remit with the acquisition of Canada-headquartered Revolution Mining Software.

Privately-owned Revolution Mining Software develops and sells its flagship Schedule Optimisation Tool (SOT™), a “cutting-edge financial mine scheduling optimisation solution”, RPMGlobal said.

SOT is the industry’s only strategic financial optimisation tool for underground mines that enables mine planners to improve productivity and profitability by optimising the net present value (NPV) of the mine schedule, according to RPMGlobal.

SOT emerged out of research undertaken by Mining Innovation, Rehabilitation and Applied Research Corporation (MIRARCO), a not-for-profit corporation of Laurentian University, in Canada, well known for solving complicated mining industry problems through innovative thinking.

“This scheduling program adds value to mining operations in several ways, including by generating life-of-mine schedules that adhere to all specified precedence and operational constraints, optimising NPV based on the user’s financial model,” RPMGlobal said.

RPMGlobal CEO and Managing Director, Richard Mathews, said RPMGlobal will invest in Revolution Mining’s scheduling optimisation tools to deliver even more innovative solutions that add real value for its customers.

“RPMGlobal was born from the belief that mine planning needs to be built on sound economics and the Revolution Mining products strategy is completely aligned with that core value,” he said.

Lorrie Fava, Revolution Mining’s President, said: “The entire Revolution Mining team is so passionate about the solutions we are delivering to the industry, so it was important to us that RPMGlobal also shared our vision and passion, which they clearly do.

“To be able to be a part of a company with RPMGlobal’s pedigree and history is a very exciting prospect for the team at Revolution Mining. We look forward to joining the RPMGlobal team and are convinced that the Revolution Mining Software product suite will benefit from increased investment and the sales and marketing support that RPMGlobal can offer these products right around the world.”

As part of the acquisition, RPMGlobal has also acquired Revolution Mining Software’s Attain™ and SurfaceSOT™ software solutions.

Attain is a software solution that, RPMGlobal says, ensures operational mine planning is systematically aligned with the long-range plan. “This approach ensures the company has optimised short-range schedules that are feasible and aligned with the long-range schedule,” it explained.

SurfaceSOT is a solution that will work for all types of mining operations to maximise their NPV by optimising their long-range schedules, including management of stockpiles and product blending while minimising the re-handling of materials, the company added.

“The acquisition of the SOT, Attain and SurfaceSOT solutions extend the strategic capability of RPMGlobal’s scheduling solutions,” RPMGlobal said. “RPMGlobal’s sophisticated mathematical modelling tools for short and mid-range planning amplify the benefits its customers receive from these optimisation and schedule alignment tools.”

Following completion of the transaction, all of Revolution Mining Software’s employees and management will move across into the RPMGlobal business, the company added.

Canada government backs mine rehabilitation plan

Environmental, Mineral project development, Mining finance, Mining policy, Mining services, Sustainable mining, , , , , , , ,

The Government of Canada has invested C$184,000 ($138,978) in a climate change project that, the government says, lays the groundwork for the rehabilitation of the country’s abandoned and orphaned mines.

This project, led by the Mining Innovation Rehabilitation and Applied Research Corporation, will develop a comprehensive approach for evaluating rehabilitation plans for abandoned mines through a review of 15-20 sites in Ontario and the Northwest Territories, including an in-depth review of three sites, the government said.

“The ultimate goal of this project is to ensure that rehabilitation plans for today’s abandoned mines will address the climate change risks of tomorrow, while protecting the health and safety of Canadians as we enhance our stewardship of the land around us,” the government said.

Paul Lefebvre, Parliamentary Secretary to the Honourable Amarjeet Sohi, Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources, announced the investment: “Our government is supporting projects that help us expand our understanding of the impacts of climate change,” he said. “With this knowledge, we can help ensure today’s plans for abandoned and orphaned mine rehabilitation will reduce the climate-change risks of tomorrow.”

Today’s announcement supports the objectives of the Adaptation and Resilience pillar of the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change by turning scientific information and traditional knowledge into action, the government said. It is funded through Natural Resources Canada’s Climate Change Adaptation Program.