The mining industry has long been a balancing act between tradition and innovation. As environmental standards tighten, companies are compelled to adopt new technologies that reduce costs and increase efficiency. This year’s Web Summit in Vancouver, held from May 11 to 14, showcased some of these cutting-edge solutions aimed at decarbonizing the sector and minimizing waste.
Two standout companies, Rockburst Technologies and Tersa Critical Minerals, presented their innovative approaches to transforming the mining process. Both firms are based in British Columbia and are leveraging advanced technologies to address longstanding challenges in the industry.
Rockburst Technologies: A New Approach to Comminution
Rockburst Technologies is revolutionizing the early stages of the mining process with its CoreBurst technology. Traditional methods of comminution, which involve crushing and milling ore, are often inefficient and energy-intensive. Rockburst’s innovative solution uses transcritical CO2 pulverization to break rocks from the inside, significantly reducing energy consumption.
The Science Behind CoreBurst
The CoreBurst technology injects CO2 into the ore at high pressure. When the pressure is released, the CO2 expands and breaks the rocks apart. This method is not only more efficient but also turns the rocks into carbon sinks, trapping the CO2 used in the process. Rockburst claims that this technique uses 50 percent less energy than traditional methods.
Challenges and Opportunities
Despite its potential, adopting new technologies in the mining industry is fraught with challenges. Oscal Malpica, CEO of Rockburst, highlighted the difficulties of securing funding and changing entrenched mindsets. “The mining industry is a very conservative, very traditional industry, very hard to break into,” Malpica stated during the “Global Scale: The BC Hub for Next-Gen Resource and Energy Tech” panel.
Malpica emphasized the importance of validating the concept before seeking investment. “When you’re in hard tech, your prototypes, or at least in my case, my prototype is a three-meter-tall massive machine… but just to build that thing, it takes C$2 million,” he explained. Rockburst has received support from Natural Resources Canada, the University of British Columbia, the Government of South Australia, and industry giant BHP.
Safety concerns and the lack of regulations governing the new process are additional hurdles that Rockburst must address over the next three years. Malpica invited industry stakeholders to visit their lab and witness the three-meter-tall prototype in action, showcasing the before and after effects of their technology.
Tersa Critical Minerals: Extracting Value from Waste
Tersa Critical Minerals is focusing on another critical aspect of the mining cycle: remediation. The company has developed proprietary microbial fuel cell and microbially induced calcite precipitation technologies designed to extract critical minerals from mining waste. This process not only recovers valuable resources but also leaves clean water behind.
Innovative Extraction Process
Tersa’s technology can extract critical minerals such as copper, lithium, and cobalt from waste with a 90 percent recovery rate. This means cleaner water for affected areas and increased mineral production for miners. Barinder Rasode, Co-founder and CEO of Tersa, acknowledged the challenges of securing funding and finding willing partners. “Mining companies are very open to innovation, but they worry about liability,” Rasode said.
To address these concerns, Tersa has developed a modular unit that does not increase liability. Despite being a relatively young company, Tersa has already partnered with industry giants like Newmont. They are looking to deploy their technology at the Equity silver site in central British Columbia, a former large-scale silver mine.
Partnership with Indigenous Communities
The pilot project at the Equity Silver site came about through a partnership with the Wet’suwet’en First Nation’s Yinka Dene Economic Development General Partnership. This collaboration aims to clean up the contaminated site, demonstrating the potential for innovative technologies to address environmental challenges while benefiting local communities.
The Future of Mining
The mining industry is at a crossroads, where government regulations and sound business decisions intersect. Companies like Rockburst and Tersa are paving the way for a more sustainable and efficient future. Their innovations have the potential to reshape the industry, delivering better returns for miners while remaining environmentally responsible.
Both companies are still in the early stages of their journey, working in a sector that is open to innovation but cautious about adopting new systems. They are focused on building technologies that require less energy and cost inputs while returning better results. As Malpica noted, “The humble beginnings of a company is just engaging your customers right from the very beginning and just making use of the resources that you have at hand.”
With support from government programs like the Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP) and industry initiatives like BHP’s Ventures, these innovative technologies are poised to make a significant impact on the mining industry in the years to come.
