Simulation for safety: deal with Sandvik puts innovation centre clients in driver's seat.

• Author: Myers, Ella
• Position: MINING

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NORCAT is quickly becoming a virtual playground for mining professionals looking for hands-on machinery training, with the goal of improving health and safety in the industry.

The NORCAT Mining Equipment Simulation Training Centre in Sudbury is doubling their simulation training capacity in the coming weeks, thanks to a strategic partnership with mining equipment supplier Sandvik, announced on March 7.

"The key aspect is going to be safety," said Jason Bubba, NORCAT's director of training and development.

"What we can do in the mining equipment simulator is different from the real world. Essentially we can measure everything an operator does in the simulator," said Bubba. "The operators are scored on absolutely everything they do so over the course of the training. We can improve on their scores and they can be more efficient."

Greg Cotnam, a production and maintenance trainer at Glencore in Sudbury, has used the equipment himself and regularly sends his employees. He said the machines offer something on-site training can't deliver.

"You can simulate things that you can't throw at a guy down here, like a machine catching on fire. When you get in a panic situation, at least you can handle it," said Cotnam. "I've run bolters for 20 years, and I didn't think it would be that realistic. With the noise and the feeling, it's quite the experience."

The partnership involves the addition of a second ThoroughTec simulator to their space. Each simulator has four different pieces of machinery, and the new one will initially include a Sandvik drill, loader...