Mining

Mr. Alex Henderson, General Manager, Mines and Mills Technology - North Atlantic, Vale, is the Champion of the CMIC Mining Initiative.

The mandate of the Mining initiative is to achieve step change in industry technical applications. The initiative works towards a vision for mining comprising four major themes, with a scope of a five to ten year horizon for hard rock underground mining. The four major themes for the industry include sustainability, collaboration, productive capacity, and health and safety.

 - Sustainability: to attract the "best of the best" and ensure the industry is sustainable environmentally, financially, and in terms of human resources

 - Collaboration: to engage the total mining industry to work towards one recognised national research coordination group that acts as one voice for the industry

 - Productive capacity: to plan for a cost regime that navigates the economic cycle, where projects are properly picked, championed and funded under a well-understood and process-driven system. Applied Research will identify practical and innovative approaches to solve issues, and best practices from adjacent industries will be used. This will include innovative design and technology step changes in mining technique. There will be a move to continuous operation rather than drill and blast.

 - Health and Safety: to have zero harm, through step changes in cost, safety and the effects on the environment, safety by design, environmental stewardship, the minimization of underground exposure, and cognisance of chronic effects.

These themes of focus correspond to several of the problems identified at the January 2012 CMIC Signature Event, including in the areas of logistics, deep mining, productive capacity, development rates, and the underground physical working environment.

Currently, several companies have joined the initiative: