Can you provide an update of CEMI in the last 12 months?

I am pleased to say we received an extension of our MICA funding for another two years, which gives us organizational stability through the end of 2027. We have completed the distribution of those funds to support additional SMEs, growing from 50 to 68 companies. About half of our MICA recipients have since attracted private investment, and most of those are now in the final stage of field trials that demonstrate real-world performance and move innovations from projects to commercially viable solutions.

How does CEMI help SMEs move from promising ideas to commercial success?

We focus on the commercialization process, with field trials as a primary goal for those who need them. CEMI was created in 2007 to pursue step-change innovations, but in recent years, many companies have emphasized incremental improvements, and SMEs are excellent at filling those niches. However, incremental change alone will not carry the industry far enough. Consequently, CEMI is renewing its focus on strategic innovations that can achieve a significant improvement in operations in terms of cost, sustainability and competitiveness.

We are investing in the simulations needed to quantify the potential benefit of strategic innovations as the first step in an investment approach to innovation. This requires us to demonstrate the expected performance of the innovation, the costs to achieve it, and therefore define the ROI and the payback period. These strategic innovations have to be disruptive because the coming increase in demand for metals is itself disruptive, and meeting this kind of challenge cannot be met without implementing disruptive changes in how mining is executed.

What are the biggest barriers you see for new and existing mines?

Working conditions in many mines are arduous and not attractive to younger people. The industry is failing to attract enough new talent. We must transform the technology platforms for production, ventilation and equipment control so that roles are computer-driven, autonomous or highly automated, and aligned with the kind of work younger professionals want to do. 

What can mining learn from other sectors to improve operations?

We see strong parallels in equipment deterioration and maintenance costs. Greater autonomy must go hand in hand with modular equipment design and standardization across fleets. We should also rethink what machines are actually required for the jobs at hand. Other industries have transformed with advanced monitoring of equipment and people; mining must adopt similar approaches, including targeting cooling where people are present and improving underground conditions for equipment.

Why is CEMI building relationships in other jurisdictions, and how does that help Canadian SMEs?

We build partnerships abroad to help SMEs find earlier sales in larger, more open markets. These relationships also inform our innovators about local needs, such as hotter climates or the critical issues in very large block-caving operations. We can then help our SMEs to adjust their offerings for those situations and help accelerate commercialization.

What does CEMI and the mining industry need from the government to help it grow in the future?

Most of our funding comes from the Federal government because our work spans all Canadian commodities. Ontario’s perennial opportunity is the Ring of Fire, but we also face pending closures and contractions in major centers such as Timmins and Sudbury. We have proposed funding strategic innovation to rejuvenate these hubs. Global corporations are preparing to move capital to new jurisdictions, so we must manage our asset base in the national interest and use innovations to enable profitable mining of lower-grade deposits. 

What are your goals for CEMI and the MICA program over the next 12 months?

Our primary focus is ensuring the MICA program continues to perform as well as it has. We expect roughly half of our projects to end, with most of these successfully being adopted into the industry. MICA currently supports only about 20% of the innovations we identified across Canada; the remaining 80% are waiting for support. The projects we do fund generate about 8 times more economic activity than our seed funding, which shows the value we can mobilize when given the opportunity.