An Austrian company that employs artificial intelligence (AI) to autonomously operate a mineral processing facility is the 2019 winner of the #DisruptMining innovation challenge.
ANDRITZ was named the winner following a live, pitch-style competition March 3 in Toronto during the annual conference of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada.
For its efforts, the company has won the chance to negotiate a contract or an investment of up to CAD$1 million toward development of the concept from Goldcorp, the main sponsor of the event.
“We thank Goldcorp and KPMG for their tremendous leadership driving innovation and digitalization forward in mining,” said Sohail Nazari, business development manager, and Arthur Gooch, director of innovation, in a statement.
“We are excited to be part of Goldcorp’s success to bring autonomous plant operation to mineral processing and we look forward to getting to work.”
ANDRITZ has trained artificial intelligence to respond to a variety of situations, making it capable of adapting to changing inputs and improving recovery time.
The trained AI’s ability to quickly process information and recommend data-driven solutions will allow for the improvement of the operation, such as startup and shutdown, and assist operators to achieve plant-wide optimization.
Judges for the competition included Goldcorp chair Ian Telfer; Katie Valentine, partner at KPMG Australia and global head of mining consulting; Sue Paish, CEO of Canada’s Digital Technology Supercluster; Jacob Yeung, University of British Columbia student and #DisruptMining UBC Captain; and Wal van Lierop, president-CEO at Chrysalix Venture Capital.
Proceeds from the live finale – totalling $200,000 – will go toward scholarships in mining, innovation and technology at the University of British Columbia.
In addition to the scholarships, Goldcorp and KPMG announced a $50,000 donation to Hope Air, a national charity arranging free transportation to medical appointments for Canadians living in remote communities that would otherwise be challenged to receive specialized medical care.
Launched in 2017, the annual #DisruptMining innovation challenge encourages companies to come up with solutions to the mining industry’s most pressing issues.
