RPMGlobal and Mirarco receive funding for underground software development

RPMGlobal has announced an increase in funding for its optimization software development program after receiving industry funding to 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 organization that supports innovators to commercialize new Ontario-based technologies.

RPM acquired three optimization software modules in December 2021 from Sudbury-based Mirarco as part of a three-year collaborative research partnership. Mirarco is an innovative solution research provider for the mining industry and research arm of Laurentian University.

Commenting on the OCI support, David Batkin, RPMGlobal’s head of product strategy, said it was terrific to be working with forward thinking, likeminded 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 optimization programs.”

Mirarco president and CEO Nadia Mykytczuk is thrilled to have secured the OCI funding to support this research. She stated, “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.”

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

The support provided by OCI will be matched by RPMGlobal and will be used to support the multi-year collaboration arrangement between RPM and Mirarco.

Learn more at RPMGlobal.com or mirarco.org.