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$112M Canadian mining innovation hub headquartered in Sudbury to service sector ‘hungry for innovation’

MICA expected to support the creation of 900 jobs and at least 12 new businesses, and the commercialization of at least 30 new products, services or processes
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Charles Nyabeze, VP, Business Development and Commercialization, Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation Inc. (CEMI), speaks at the announcement for the Mining Innovation Commercialization Accelerator (MICA) network.

For the Mining Innovation Commercialization Accelerator (MICA) network, its strength is in its partnerships.

MICA is a pan-Canadian initiative bringing together stakeholders from a wide range of fields to accelerate the development and commercialization of innovative technologies to make the mining sector more productive and sustainable.

“We all know Sudbury is the hub of mining activity, and its resource extraction companies are hungry for innovation,” said Charles Nyabeze, VP, Business Development and Commercialization, Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation Inc. (CEMI). “MICA will be a conduit for them to find those innovations.”

MICA is a $112.4-million project funded through public and private investments, including $40 million from the federal government, announced July 13 by Sudbury MP Paul Lefebvre and Nickel Belt MP Marc Serré.

MICA will be headquartered in Sudbury, and will operate across Canada through the following main partners: the Bradshaw Research Initiative for Minerals and Mining, InnoTech Alberta, Saskatchewan Polytechnic, MaRS, Le Groupe MISA and the College of the North Atlantic. 

MICA is expected to support the creation of 900 jobs and at least 12 new businesses, and the commercialization of at least 30 new products, services or processes. 

“We had to spend a lot of time strengthening the network, reaching out across Canada to identify the partners that we need,” said Nyabeze. “The most important thing is for us to find partners that allow us to tap into the innovations ecosystem of Canada and really harness that potential.”

MICA is an ecosystem initiative designed to modernize mining and improve its productivity and environmental performance, strengthen the Canadian mineral supply chain, and increase the domestic and export sales of Canadian innovators, said Nyabeze.

Canada will be only one of the clients served by MICA, said Nyabese.

“The bigger client is the global mining industry, and we’re really looking forward to making sure Canada takes its place as a leader in technology development and makes a difference on a global scale,” he said. “We foresee the global mining industry looking at MICA as the primary source for new innovations.”

MICA has been in the works since at least 2018. During the proposal-writing proposal, project leaders secured about 80 shovel-ready projects, and those are the first projects that will be looked at in the first intake, said Nyabeze. 

“They will be vetted, and some will receive funding, but some won’t. Even if they don’t get funding, they are still on the platform and part of the project, giving them more exposure to move forward,” Nyabeze said. “We are looking to identify late-stage projects, technology ready for commercial-scale demonstration.”

For Nyabeze and the team, the work now really begins.

“I’m really excited,” Nyabeze said. “This is a shift in my focus, from proposals to rolling out and running the program. The momentum is there and there are a lot of people who have been anxiously waiting to become a part of this network.”

– Sudbury.com



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