TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Diversified miner Rio Tinto will invest C$10-million over five years to set up a Centre for Underground Mine Construction in Canada, the group announced late on Thursday.

The new facility will be based at the Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation (CEMI) in Sudbury, Ontario, and will focus on innovative rapid mine construction and ground control for mining at depth, Rio said in a statement.

The work with the CEMI will help Rio in developing new excavation systems, focusing on improving the construction and operation of underground mines.

As part of the programme, the Anglo-Australian mining group will conduct a full-scale performance verification trial in 2012, at the Northparkes copper and gold mine in New South Wales, Australia, as the first of three new underground excavation systems.

“In order to satisfy the global demand for minerals we will need to go deeper to access new resources,” commented Rio Tinto head of innovation John McGagh.

“By partnering with CEMI, Rio Tinto is supporting research into high-speed underground mine construction.”

CEMI will work on developing and designing new support methods for different excavation systems, establishing reliable predictions of rock behaviour to ensure effective construction technologies are chosen and used, advanced rock mass characterisation technologies, the performance of mechanical rock excavation based systems from an equipment and ground management perspective and work on pillar design and underground excavation stability projects such as rock fracture modelling.

The new centre’s research into high speed underground mine construction will include implementation of mechanised tunnelling and shaft sinking systems and CEMI will help with the development of innovative support systems and in minimising the risks for these technologies, Rio Tinto underground innovation GM Fred Delabbio said.

The new Sudbury centre will be Rio Tinto's fifth long-term research centre around the world, joining the group's Centre for Mine Automation at the University of Sydney, the Centre for Advanced Mineral Sorting at the University of Queensland, the Centre for Materials and Sensing at Curtin University in Perth and the Centre for Advanced Mineral Recovery, which is a collaboration with the Imperial College in London.

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I was thinking about Gedex recently after seeing Noront's recent drill results and I thought what happened to this company based in Mississauga? I mean ..what's not to like? Pehaps a call from Noront to ...Gedex ..to help with the ...drilling??

Gedex: Why are we different?

check out this link:

https://www.gedex.com/investment-highlights/

Just look at that intellectual property.. Wow. And  long term relationships with , De Beers, Rio Tinto, Anglo American..

But, strangely...the company's assets are being sold. Yep, it's that lenders thingie ..again.

https://www.gedex.com/court-summary/

interesting secured lender below:  FCMI Parent Co, for over 9.2 million.

https://www.zeifmans.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Creditor-List-1.pdf

https://www.zeifmans.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Executive-Summary-Sales-Document-Short-form.pdf

Final bids for this world class company due...Oct. 28, 2019

COMPANY SALE OF ASSETS

Company Overview Gedex’s proprietary technology can substantially improve the imaging of the Earth’s subsurface and create immense value by mitigating risk and expediting the discovery of resources.

Other applications include environmental, space, and homeland security. With over US $100 million invested to date, Gedex’s High-Definition Airborne Gravity-Gradiometer (HDAGG®) technology provides low noise and high resolution images of variations in the Earth’s subsurface density and promises to materially improve the exploration for resources.

Key Highlights

 Highly Differentiated Breakthrough Technology - provides superior imaging of complicated geology. The system assists with the determination of resource tonnage with very low negative environmental impact.

 Significant Intellectual Property - nearly US$100 million has been invested in research and development over 17-year period.

 Best in Class Demonstration - recent validation tests flown over known geology have produced performance levels better than all other fixed-wing AGG systems currently in use.

 World Class Partners - include well known and leading industry companies. Gedex Sales and Investor Solicitation Process On August 12, 2019, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice (Commercial List) made an Order (the “SISP Order”) authorizing and approving the commencement of a Sales and Investor Solicitation Process to market and sell, on an “as is, where is” basis, all of the property, assets and undertaking of Gedex (or any part thereof), or to solicit prospective investors to make an investment in Gedex’s businesses (or any part thereof), all in accordance with the procedures set out in SISP Order.

Bids must be submitted by the Bid Deadline, which is October 28, 2019.

DetailsregardingtheS IS P O rderandS IS P procedures,canbefound at:https://w w w .zeifm ans.ca/current-insolvency-files/gedex/