Newfoundland government spends C$650K on virtual mining industry academy

The province’s Research and Innovation fund can provide up to C$750K for projects like this

Rowan Dunne

Published

9 hours ago

The government of Newfoundland & Labrador is digging into its Research and Innovation Fund to help establish a virtual research and training facility for the provincial mining sector.

Andrew Parsons, Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology, announced a C$650,000-dollar contribution last week.

In partnership with the local software company GRi Simulations, the academy will be established at the College of the North Atlantic (CNA). This school has multiple campuses throughout the province, and the specific location was not specified.

The complex will employ “digital twin” technology that essentially mimics real-life scenarios that mine workers may encounter during their work day. Digital twins are essentially a “virtual representation of an asset, subsystem, or system, combining digital aspects of how the equipment is built with real-time aspects of how it is operated and maintained,” as described by GRi.

“This unique facility will advance collaboration, innovation and training to help position Newfoundland and Canada as leaders in the mining sector’s digital transformation and adoption of remote operations, automation and AI,” CNA Dean, Michael Long, said in a government release.

Eight jobs will be created through implementation of the educational initiative. One of its primary focuses will be to teach students how to remotely operate machinery above and under ground.

“The Mining Simulation Lab emerging from this work will result in both advanced simulator development for mining operations and state-of-the-art training capacity to foster next generation operators in the industry,” GRi leader Steve Dodd said.

Newfoundland is rich in minerals and metals

The province holds 23 of the 34 critical minerals recognized by the Canadian government.

Newfoundland will soon become a a major contributor to the domestic gold mining industry too. The Valentine Gold Mine, operated by Calibre Mining Corp (TSE: CXB) (OTCMKTS: CXBMF) (FRA: WCLA), will become one of Canada’s top gold producing assets once production begins in Q3.

Calibre recently announced that it will be merging with Equinox Gold Corp (TSE: EQX) (NYSEAMERICAN: EQX) (FRA: 1LRC). Once this occurs by the end of H1, the combined company will become Canada’s second largest gold producer behind Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd (TSE: AEM) (NYSE: AEM) (FRA: AE9). Between Valentine and the Greenstone Mine in Ontario, the mining giant will be capable of producing 590,000 Canadian gold ounces per annum.