46°28′2.121″N80°58′25.5936″W / 46.46725583°N 80.973776000°W /46.46725583; -80.973776000
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| Company type | Non-profit Organization |
|---|---|
| Industry | Mining |
| Founded | 1987 (as Geomechanics Research Centre) |
| Headquarters | Greater Sudbury,Ontario,Canada, Sudbury ,Canada |
Key people | President, Dr. Nadia Mykytczuk, CEO |
| Owner | Laurentian University |
| Website | www.mirarco.org |
Mining Innovation Rehabilitation and Applied Research Corporation, orMIRARCO, is the "largest not-for-profit applied research firm in North America."[1]
MIRARCO is made up of five centers:
CEM develops "analytical systems and remote monitoring technologies" and provides "research and technical services" to supportresource industries.[2] CEM's primary concern isenvironmental sustainability.
CEM's expertise includes:
GRC conducts "engineering and scientific research and development in the field ofgeotechnical engineering," applying its findings to "promote safer and more economicalexcavations at depth."[3] GRC's primary concern is geological risk assessment and management.
GRC's expertise includes:
EVO was created in 2008 from the former CMT (Centre for Mining Technology) and VREX (Virtual RealityExploration) groups. CMT focused on technology projects like Water-jet scaling andmine planning, while VREX focused on mine safety,[4] and integration, interpretation, and visualization through its Virtual Reality Laboratory (owned byLaurentian University).
The combined group now focuses its efforts on creating and using software for themining industry. Its first major software product was the Schedule Optimization Tool (SOT), which launched in June 2008.[5] The SOT[6] uses aGenetic Algorithm to produce optimal schedules for underground mining operations.
EVO also has ongoing projects invirtual reality safety, mine ventilation, and long-term mine planning. In addition, EVO is building anopen-source data visualization and integration product calledParaViewGeo, a derivative ofParaView.
MIRARCO is a supporter ofopen-source software, and tries to promote use of open-source software throughout the company. One of MIRARCO's projects, ParaViewGeo, is licensed under theBSD license. Many of the projects at MIRARCO are completed using open-sourceprogramming languages, such asPython,Java,OpenGL, andProcessing, and some of MIRARCO's lab computers feature theFedora Linux operating system instead of, or in addition to,Microsoft Windows.
On September 20, 2008, MIRARCO participated inSoftware Freedom Day, an annual worldwide celebration of free/open-source software. Robert Maynard, lead programmer of ParaViewGeo presented the results of a four-month effort to rapidly teach a group of seven co-op students how to program Python and how to use ParaViewGeo.[7]
MIRARCO used to share a floor in theWillet Green Miller Centre withCEMI (Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation), but has since moved into the second floor of the Cliff Fielding Building right across the Innovation Space. An open-house was held on August 22, 2008 to showcase the original four research organizations to the public.[8]
The goal for the organizations sharing the same location is to increase communication between stakeholders in mining research. Former President and CEO of MIRARCO, and now Founding Director ofCEMI,[9] Dr. Peter Kaiser described the move as sounding "primitive, but it's sometimes amazing how big the gap is across a parking lot, between a building and another one," and that "[if] we have these things all separated, we cannot reap the benefits from the integrated approach."
