Chile exchange program winners announced

Three METS companies have been selected to take part in the METStech Passport program. The program, announced in April, is the first of its kind between Australia and Chile and involves sending Australian scale-ups to Chile for a two-week immersion in the country’s mining innovation ecosystem.

The successful applicants are Conveyor Products and Solutions (CPS), Minnovare and Matrix Materials. The companies will gain unprecedented exposure to the resources sector, flying to Chile in October for meetings and site visits with mining companies, government, industry and universities in the region.

The METStech Passport is a ticket to new opportunities in the LATAM region for METS companies. It is a joint initiative between METS Ignited, Austrade and Fundacion Chile’s Open Innovation program, Expande.

Conveyor Products and Solutions

Conveyor Products and Solutions is an established manufacturer of conveyor components as well as a leading provider of engineered solutions in the bulk materials handling industry. CPS is developing a distributed drive technology (DDT) system to combat the numerous problems associated with the ever-increasing scale and capability of conveyors. The solution aims to disrupt the limitations of conventional conveyor design and increase project viability in both greenfield and brownfield applications.

Minnovare

Minnovare’s Production Optimiser system increases drill and blast efficiency in underground hard rock mining. The Production Optimiser provides a highly accurate underground blast hole drilling solution that gives drill and blast engineers increased design freedom and increased confidence that their designed blast will produce the results expected — namely, maximum ore recovery with minimal dilution.

Matrix Materials

Matrix technology offers the opportunity to achieve sustainable development of transport infrastructure and enhance commercial advantage in designing resilient transport systems. Mining waste streams can be used as a low-cost construction material, avoiding disposal and landfill costs, fulfilling waste stewardship goals and improving the mining industry’s social license through the direct, visible benefits to communities. The technology is both a waste recycling offering and an innovative infrastructure construction technology that promotes global sustainability objectives, provides substantial financial and environmental benefits for transport infrastructure, and enables the mining industry to participate in the circular economy.