Research network reaches out to businesses for deep mining research: network seeking new technology.

• Author: Migneault, Jonathan

The Ultra-Deep Mining Network in Sudbury received 62 proposals from researchers and mining supply and services companies to bring forward any ideas that would improve ultra-deep mining productivity or safety to reality.

The Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation (CEMI) launched the Ultra-Deep Mining Network to find practical advances that would make ultra-deep mining--deeper than 2.5 kilometres or roughly 8,000 feet--more economically viable.

Thanks to contributions from the federal government and mining sector, the network has $46 million to apply to research over a five-year period.

Bora Ugurgel, managing director of the Ultra-Deep Mining Network, said most proposals were from mining supply and services companies, while around 10 per cent were from academics.

The network has identified four areas of research that would benefit mining at extreme depths: rock stress reduction, energy reduction: material transport and productivity; and improved human health.

Ugurgel said many mining suppliers already have innovative ideas they've never had the chance to test or develop due to a lack of time or resources to pursue research. "They might already have the idea we're looking for," he said.

Developing technologies to mine very deep underground in an economical and safe fashion is more important than ever before, said Ugurgel. "Either we go deeper in existing ore bodies, or we find new ore bodies," he said.

In the Sudbury basin, he added, extracting deeper ore bodies seems to be the most likely way to continue mining operations in the near term.

If a Sudbury mine closes, Urgurgel said, it can cost the city 300 to 400 direct jobs at the mine, and many more indirect jobs through the city's supply and services cluster.

The two largest mining companies in Sudbury, Vale and Glencore, have already discussed plans to extend some of their mines' lifespans by going past the 2.5-kilometre mark.

In January 2014, Samantha Espley, general manager of mines and mills technical services with Vale's Ontario operations, said the company wants to reach three kilometres in depth, or nearly 10,000 feet, at Sudbury's Creighton Mine within the next decade.

Creighton Mine is currently under its Phase 3 expansion, which includes the extension of the primary access ramp from 7,940 feet to 8,200 feet and the creation of three main production levels to access additional ore bodies.

Glencore is completing a pre-feasibility study for its Onaping Mine, which would descend...