#DisruptMining: Goldcorp’s contest is a catalyst for quantum leaps in performance

Celebrating at last year’s challenge are (L to R): Jacques Yves Guigné, CEO of Acoustic Zoom; David Garofalo, CEO of Goldcorp; and Gary Dinn, vice-president marketing at Acoustic Zoom. — Photo courtesy Goldcorp

Every year in the mining sector, there is increased pressure on operating costs, sophisticated investors demand better returns with more confidence, and improved technology is required to identify and access mineral reserves.

Hence, Goldcorp's contest offers a million-dollar incentive to top industry disruptors with its #DisruptMining challenge.

This is the third year Goldcorp has sponsored #DisruptMining as a way to give a voice and platform to innovative ideas that just might make quantum improvements in critical areas of cost reduction, production enhancement, environmental footprint and investor confidence.

“If you really want to innovate, you need to reach for new ideas,” said Luis Canepari, vice-president technology at Goldcorp.

#DisruptMining is a way to get at the best ideas and to put the top-tier innovations in front of a team of executive decision-makers. Every presenter leapfrogs the barriers to access industry titans to share innovations. The best idea wins access to a development fast track that includes a million-dollar investment and a chance to test and refine innovations.

Goldcorp created the #DisruptMining initiative as a way to accelerate Getting to 2021, Goldcorp’s 20/20/20 strategy to increase production, decrease operating costs and increase reserves––all by 20%. Incremental changes won’t close this gap. Quantum-leap ideas will, ideas that might not get traction with mining executives without this platform.

Finalists present their innovations in a shark-tank format event March 3, 2019, during the annual Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) conference in Toronto. The winner will qualify for up to a $1,000,000 investment and unlock opportunities to pilot ideas, refine technology and prove to the world these ideas work.

Last year’s winner, Acoustic Zoom (AZ), promised to use proven technology to increase confidence with augmented data collection. The company’s value proposition is improving accuracy when analyzing reserves.

AZ was rewarded with a million-dollar investment and an opportunity to show the world how its technology works in a mining scenario. The investment is valuable, but the experience is priceless. Goldcorp is now a minority owner in AZ because of the million-dollar investment.

“Anything we can do to improve our accuracy goes right to the bottom line,” Canepari said. “More accurate information is cost-effective.”

#DisruptMining is a both a catalyst for technology advancement and a platform for innovation to present ideas intended to address a multitude of challenges in mining. Winners are selected based on solutions that create most value to Goldcorp, drive the most bottom line impact and are least cost to implement.

The #DisruptMining award recognizes people in the mining industry who present radical ideas that may disrupt the process, market and thinking––all in a very good way.

Canepari’s advice for contestants: “Find a new way of thinking.”