Keynote Tuesday

Mining and milling processes are major consumers of water and energy, as well as significant waste generators. Through the application of clean technologies it is possible to reduce the consumption of these often finite resources, while decreasing both operating costs and the industry's environmental footprint. While consumption reductions are possible with existing technologies, innovative approaches and solutions are needed to achieve desired and sustainable consumption levels.

Recently Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) teamed up with Goldcorp and the Centre of Excellence in Mining Innovation (CEMI) to find innovators with cleantech solutions in mining, particularly for comminution. The $10M Crush It! Challenge invited innovators to submit their best ideas to improve the crushing and grinding process of rocks by reducing energy consumption. You will be introduced to the six selected finalists chosen by the Challenge Jury and each will blow you away with their technical project proposal. Together, finalists are set to receive $800,000 to build and test their cleantech solutions. The top innovation will receive a $5 million grant.

The imperative has never been clearer. The mining industry is projecting significant talent shortages; yet, we have massive pools of under-utilized talent in our country. The demographics of our Canadian workforce are shifting rapidly; yet, many companies struggle to diversify. Dozens of business and academic studies demonstrate the positive business impacts of diversity and inclusion, “diversity dividend”, and the risks of failing to improve their performance on diversity and inclusion, “diversity debt”; yet, the mining industry is lagging behind other industries in harnessing the benefits of a sustained and strategic focus on diversity and inclusion.

Join us for an engaging presentation from the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion (CCDI) on emerging Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) trends, research and innovation. Cathy will discuss how diversity and inclusion can connect with your social responsibility or sustainability efforts, reduce risk, improve innovation, and secure the long term sustainability and profitability your company.

CCDI has worked with hundreds of organizations across Canada – including several in the mining sector – to assess the current state of diversity and inclusion in their organization, develop diversity strategies and learning solutions, and measure the ROI (return on investment) of improving performance in diversity and inclusion. Through this keynote, you will hear about CCDI's ground-breaking work with mining companies and learn how your organization can access free resources to support your organizational D&I efforts.