The Canada Centre for Mineral and Energy Technology (CANMET), the research and technology arm of Energy, Mines and Resources (EMR) Canada, will establish a mining research laboratory near Val d’Or, Que.
The announcement was made in that northwestern Quebec city by Pierre Blais, minister of consumer and corporate affairs, on behalf of Jake Epp, EMR minister. Quebec’s minister of energy and resources, Lise Bacon, attended the ceremony.
A special feature of the laboratory is that it will conduct part of its operations underground. To create its new facility, the government purchased two buildings and a garage at the former Beacon gold mine east of Val d’Or and gained ramp access to the 70-metre level.
The research will concentrate on three main areas to improve both the competitiveness and safety of underground mining: the development of productive technology for use in narrow vein mines and in areas of particular interest to northwestern Quebec; rock fragmentation and blasting technology; and development and testing of technologies for the automation and “robotization” of mining operations.
Blais said that because all of these technologies are applied across Canada, the laboratory will serve the interests of Canadian mining as a whole as well as the special needs of Quebec.
The laboratory is expected to begin limited operations this year and will have a staff of 12 when fully operational (in about a year’s time). It will also have facilities for up to 18 people from industry and other research and development organizations to conduct their own research or collaboratively on projects with CANMET staff.
The Val d’Or-area facility brings to five the number of CANMET mining research laboratories: two are in the Ottawa, Ont., area, a third is in Elliot Lake, Ont., and a fourth is in Sudbury, Ont.
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