Twenty-four companies innovating new technology for the mining industry will share in $15 million in development funds to push their ideas more quickly to market.
Mining Innovation Commercialization Accelerator (MICA), a Sudbury-based research and innovation network, announced the winning ideas during a June 22 event in Toronto.
Doug Morrison, MICA’s president and CEO, said supporting small and medium enterprises (SMEs) plays a “critical role” in the country’s move to transition to green energy.
“Many SME innovators have already developed the solutions needed to achieve this — what they lack is the investment required to commercialize solutions and companies willing to implement them,” Morrison said in a news release.
“The funding announced today provides the investment necessary to help achieve results, and by utilizing the MICA Network, we help introduce their products to the companies that need them.”
Launched in 2021, MICA is a pan-Canadian organization devoted to speeding up the commercialization of new technologies aimed at making the mining industry more productive and sustainable.
Its membership includes mining companies, industrial suppliers, academic organizations and researchers, and industrial innovators.
The organization is targetting four areas of improvement in mining: increase mine production capacity, at a lower cost; reduce mining energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions; implement smart, autonomous mining systems; and reduce environmental risk and long-term liabilities.
MICA announced the first recipients to receive funding in 2022.
Among this round of funding are Northern Ontario recipients.
They include Symboticware of Sudbury, which received $1 million for its AI-powered communications solution, and MIRARCO, also of Sudbury, which received $280,027 toward its work on bioleaching. Sudbury's RIINO, which produces a zero-emissions monorail, received $780,000. MacLean Engineering, which is headquartered in Collingwood but has a Sudbury location, received $900,000 toward its fully automated underground bolter.
A full list of the recipients and their funding allotments is available here.
