FUNDS: Ontario gov’t pledges $15M for deep mine research

ONTARIO – Greg Rickford, Ontario Minister of State for Science and Technology, announced that the provincial government is giving $15 million to the Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation. The money will go toward CEMI's ultra deep mining network.

CEMI is conducting research to solve four challenges that underground mining faces at extreme depth – rock stress, increasing heat, difficult working conditions, and falling productivity. Such work will be of importance to operations such as Vale's Creighton nickel-copper mine where development is to reach 3,000 metres below the surface in the next decade, a project that will cost an estimated $250 million.

CEMI's ultra deep mining network has received $31 million in cash and in-kind contributions from the mining industry.

Additional information about deep mining is posted at MiningExcellence.ca.