On Sunday November 17th the Professional Engineers Organization Ottawa Chapter hosted an Innovation Challenge.  The challenge centered on solutions for tailings and mine waste management.  Considering that Canada has over 7000 abandoned, neglected, terminated and inactive mineral sites, dealing with mine wastes and tailings is a real challenge for both mining companies and governments.

Solutions pitched included the implementation of biofilm to reduce sulphur, the adding of polymer to tailings to provide more stability, and the recovery of coal tailings and processing to produce a green fuel source for steel producers.  All the presenters did a great job explaining the problems their solutions addressed.  A panel of experienced judges asked further questions about the science and economics behind each innovation.  

The first place innovation took home the $1200 prize money.  Big thanks go out to the University of Ottawa, Terrapure Environmental and Carlton University for sponsoring the event.  Major Reclaim staff attended in the hope of implementing some of these cutting-edge innovations along with our partners in the mining industry.  

Major Reclaim will be attending the Vancouver Resource Investment Conference this coming weekend.  This conference is a great opportunity for mining companies small or large to line up investors.  This year’s show boasts over 250 companies displaying at the trade show.  There are over 60 speakers addressing topics ranging from Financing for early stage asset development to the future of the precious metal industry. 

The Major Reclaim team will be there helping precious metal companies raise money by maximizing their hidden assets.  To give you an example, in 2015 we helped a mining company who just went through bankruptcy, recover over $6 000 000 that they didn’t know they had.  We did this at no cost to the client.  What could your operation do with millions of dollars you didn’t know you had?

Reach out to us on Twitter or email and we can set up a time to discuss what we can do for you at VRIC this weekend!  We hope to see you there!

Maybe your wondering "Why would a mining company be interested in a Consumer Electronics Show?".  That is a great question!  We are dedicated to helping our partners in the mining sector not only recover hidden assets but also to find uncoventional solutions to challanges they face everyday.  This year at CES there were well over 3700 exhibitors.  Of that number, over 400 are start-ups.  We were able to see where things are headed with new and innovative technology.  One example of this is Nanotechnology.  For years there has been a lot of research done in this field.  Finally, this year we are starting to see companies applying this research to industrial and consumer goods.  Imagine being able to coat your coveralls or gloves with a solution that makes them super hydrophobic and super oleophobic.  This means that water and oil cannot adhere to the fabric, at a microscopic level.  This is now a reality!  Imagine being able to completely waterproof and dust proof sensitive electronic sensors and devices without having to take them apart.  This too is a reality.  

We all know that safety is a priority on any mine site.  We have gauges to monitor how equipment is working and sensors to tell us how our milling operation is running. This protects expensive pieces of equipment and ensures that the entire milling operation is running the way it should.  People are just as important to any mine or mills success as the machines that they operate.  Imagine being able to monitor the vital signs and health data of all your key employess.  This technology now exists.  From one central location managers would be able to see important data like location, heart rate, body temperature, blood oxygen content, breathing and even blood pressure.  Medical emergencies would be preventable.  Injuries would be immediately reported to a control center and help could be dispatched immediately.  

These are just two simple examples of some of the technology we are investigating.  We look forward to personally testing some of these products.  If they live up to our high standards we can recomend them to our partners in the mining industry.  Stay posted for more pictures and video from CES 2016.