NORCAT Underground Centre

NORCAT has announced new strategic partnerships with four local companies to help expedite the agency's vision of building the "mine of the future" in Northern Ontario.

Equipment World, Fuller Industrial, Spectrum Group and K4 Integration will provide the NORCAT Underground Centre with state-of-the-art technology to not only advance the facility, but also to demonstrate leading innovation available to the global mining industry.

"The NORCAT Underground Centre is a unique facility," Don Duval, the CEO of NORCAT, said in a release. "We're the only non-profit organization in the world that has an operating mine that provides both start-up tech ventures and multi-national companies the resources, expertise and equipment to enable them to design, test and ultimately showcase new and innovative products in an operating mine environment."

Fuller Industrial, which delivers and maintains process piping systems and corrosion, and abrasion resistance, will provide the Underground Centre with best-in-class engineered piping for high compression air and water.

"Fuller Industrial has a long-standing and very positive relationship with NORCAT," said Jeff Fuller, CEO Fuller Industrial. "We are thrilled to be supplying these resources to not only demonstrate our capabilities in the mining industry, but also to support an organization that provides others with the ability to design, test, and showcase new products."

A wireless solutions company, Spectrum Group, will be providing NORCAT with state-of-the-art hand-held digital communications technology for the underground environment.

"Spectrum Group is excited to have our technology actively used within the NORCAT Underground Centre. Having the continuous feedback from the users will enable us to make incremental improvements more often to ensure we are meeting the needs of our customers both now and in the future," said Geoffrey Hatton, company president and CEO.

K4 Integration will provide the NORCAT Underground Centre with a unique digital tag-in/tag-out board to ensure all visitors, workers, trainees and employees are tagging in and out while on the property.

"We are exceptionally pleased to be working with NORCAT to demonstrate our TopVuTM eTag system technology that not only improves productivity and real-time data management, but also it ensures the on-going safety of all workers on-site," said Marc Brunet, sales manager at K4 Integration Inc.

The partnership with Equipment World Inc, a leader in material handling and storage solutions, will demonstrate unique opportunities for creating an efficient, safe, and modern shop, warehouse, and storage facility in a mining environment.

"Equipment World thrives on providing innovative solutions to the mining industry in material handling and storage solutions," said Corey Lair, Manager Equipment World Inc. "This partnership will be an excellent opportunity for us to showcase how the mining industry can safely and ergonomically store products while maximizing space and allowing us to test our ideas in the field."

sud.editorial@sunmedia.ca