Showcasing Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the raw materials sector in Europe

This year, EIT RawMaterials in collaboration with the European Commission will be joining PDAC 2020 that will take place in Toronto, Canada. On 1-4 March, PDAC 2020 will gather companies active in mineral exploration and development sharing the vision of a globally responsible and sustainable minerals industry.

The Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises is organising a technology workshop at the PDAC convention in Toronto, in collaboration with DG for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs and EIT RawMaterials.

The PDAC convention offers a global reach out where the EU can attract investment and potential suppliers to cover the needs of the EU industrial value chains, and to promote values of sustainable and responsible mining and EU innovation, equipment and services for the extractive sector. The 2019 convention welcomed participants from all over the world, including prospectors, students, indigenous peoples, government officials, investors and executives, as well as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. 1,100 exhibitors, 2,500 investors and 25,800 attendees from 132 countries participate in the event.

Innovation projects supported by EIT RawMaterials, as well as Horizon 2020 projects will present new solutions to explore mineral resources, manage water and tailings, and automate, digitalise and electrify mines that can help the industry to meet the raw material demands of a climate-neutral economy at minimum environmental and social costs. Discussions will centre on how research and innovation projects can help to build trust in the extractive industry together with civil society.

EIT RawMaterials together with the European Commission will present the opportunities in the Horizon programme to cooperate with leading research organisations from advanced mining countries, and to receive funding for organisations in developing countries.

At the EU booth, projects SIMS and Smart Exploration, participants will be able to explore the Virtual Reality mine environment and see new prototypes for geophysical exploration in action.

Opportunities for start-ups

Apply for a travel grant and free access to PDAC 2020 with EIT RawMaterials

Are you a start-up planning to boost your future business in North America? Are you interested in prospect new leads, customers and partners at the PDAC 2020? Apply for the EIT RawMaterials travel grant up to EUR 1000 + the access pass fee (worth CAD 600) + access to matchmaking event organised by EIT RawMaterials. Only limited seats are available!

Deadline: 31 January 2020. The application is closed.

Short course with innovation project MAP

Qualitative and quantitative prospectivity mapping and assessment of undiscovered mineral resources

On 4 March, innovation project MAP, supported by EIT RawMaterials, invites all the PDAC 2020 participants to join a short course on ‘Qualitative and quantitative prospectivity mapping and assessment of undiscovered mineral resources’.

The short course will provide an overview of several commonly used methods for qualitative mineral prospectivity mapping and the three-part methodology for quantitative assessment of undiscovered mineral resources. The development and integration of these methods will be reviewed, as well as practical implementation and recently developed software tools. Case studies in the USA, Finland, Greenland and Germany will be presented.