Computer applications in the mineral industry: The role and contribution of CANMET

One of the primary goals of the Canada Centre for Mineral and Energy Technology (CANMET) is to support R&D performed by industry in order to improve the economic performance and productivity of industry. Since the early days of computer applications, this has been achieved by undertaking in-house projects and supporting industrial and academic efforts in process simulation. As computer technology evolved towards microcomputers, the transfer of software has become a key element of the global technology tranfer from CANMET to industry. The early 80’s have seen CANMET become the chief supplier of software for the evaluation and optimization of mineral processes as a result of the SPOC project (Simulated Processing of Ore and Coal). The commercial diffusion of Artificial Intelligence products, especially of expert system shells has opened a vast domain of computer applications for process diagnosis, operator training and process control. This new computer technology has been incorporated in the R&D projects supported by CANMET and the impact of these early efforts is already being felt in the industry. The paper reviews CANMET’s contributions to computer applications in the mineral industry, outlines the various mechanisms by which technology transfer can be achieved and provides information on how to benefit from existing and up-coming projects.