Rio Tinto to create Sudbury research centre

Rio Tinto (RIO-N, RIO-L, RIO-A) has announced it will establish the Rio Tinto Centre for Underground Mine Construction at the Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation (CEMI) in Sudbury, Ont. The mining giant will be investing $10 million dollars over five years to undertake research at the centre. This is the fifth global research centre to be established by Rio Tinto.

The company is focused on mechanized excavation including a shaft boring system (SBS) and tunnel boring systems (TBS), and it has selected CEMI as the agent for collaborative research leadership in support of high-speed construction associated with underground mining.

Researchers at the new centre will will look at ground and machine performance. Test sites will be instrumented to improve ground-characterization techniques and to develop support systems to ease high-speed, mechanized tunnel and shaft development technologies for mines in highly stressed ground and at depth.

Researchers will work within a global network to learn from test sites wherever Rio Tinto’s TBS and SBS are deployed. This will include monitoring of rock performance to better understand strainburst potential, the integration of innovative support systems to accelerate advance rates, and in situ testing to better and more reliably anticipate rock behaviour.

As new mechanized excavation techniques open innovative mine layouts, work at the centre will include projects related to pillar design and underground excavation stability, including projects on rock fracture modeling and engineering design for economic mine layouts at depth.

“In order to satisfy the increasing global demand for minerals Rio Tinto is seeking a step change improvement in the construction of the next generation of large underground mines,” said John Mc- Gagh, head of innovation at Rio Tinto, in a statement.

Fred Delabbio, general manager of underground innovation at Rio Tinto, said: “CEMI provides an opportunity to combine experts from both the civil and mining industries. This combination has provided the basis for successful development of step change technologies based on the future requirements of Rio Tinto such as our mechanized tunnelling and shaft sinking systems.

“CEMI was invited to assist in the development of innovative support systems and in minimizing the risks for such technologies because of its outstanding track record in building successful solution teams,” he said.