Telemining pioneer seeks position as university chair.

• Author: Ross, Ian
• Position: Brief Article

Inco's former technical leader plans to share expertise with students, mining industry worldwide

The visionary who pioneered Inco's revolutionary telemining processes is bringing his expertise to Laurentian University.

Greg Baiden, who first coined the phrase 'telemining', resigned his position as manager of Inco's mine research divisionin Sudbury in June and moves across town this fall to mentor the next generation of mining engineers.

Aiming on transforming Laurentian's school of engineering department into "one of the best mining schools in the world."

Baiden, 45, is in line for a prestigious Canadian Research Chair's (CRC) position at Laurentian, after which he becomes a full professor.

The CRC is a position created by the federal government to entice acknowledged and world-renowned industry experts into university teaching positions. Baiden is one of Laurentian's nominees being sent in to an adjudication panel. An announcement is expected in late September. There is also talk he is being groomed as director of Laurentian's engineering department in 2002.

As Inco's technical team leader, Baiden was instrumental in introducing some of the most advanced mining technology in the world. He oversaw the development of Inco's Mining Automation Program (MAP), a $28-million investment involving five years of research.

The MAP project explores the potential of robotic automation to improve efficiency and cost structure of mining underground ore bodies.

Together with Canmet, the federal government's research arm, Baiden pulled together collaborations with companies like Swedish equipment supplier Sandvik Tamrock to blast, drill, mine and excavate ore bodies.

Through labour leaders are not overly enthusiastic about losing members to automation, Baiden wants to completely eliminate the physical danger, dirt and grunt work from mining and transform it into a sophisticated high-tech sector.

Inco has introduced tele-operated drilling and ore-hauling into production at three of its mines in Sudbury. The system, using a cable network connected to high-frequency radio antennas on the vehicles to transmit voice...