$2.5 million in mining technology grants awarded

The METS Ignited industry growth centre has awarded over $2.5 million of matched funding to support accelerating commercialisation in the Mining Equipment, Technology and Services (METS) sector.

The grants bring to more than $13 million invested in in 26 commercialising projects in the centre’s six years of operation as an Industry Growth Centre

METS Ignited CEO Adrian Beer said the resources sector was transforming to meet society’s demand for minerals obtained in a sustainable manner.

Beer said.: “This round of investment includes technology that delivers safety, autonomy and low emissions technology.

“By commercialising our home grown innovation through Australian technology vendors, we increase market access to our innovative capability, making Australia an attractive market for further technology investment.

“These projects demonstrate the importance of resources technology and critical mineral processing for the Australian economy”.

This latest round of project funding is focussed on scaling commercialisation. Six companies who have delivered successful industry pilots were selected to scale their technologies – MyPass Global, ZERO Automotive, Safescape, AMOG, Universal Field Robots and 3ME Technology:

• MyPass Global is a digital workforce management system, designed to streamline safety and compliance in highly regulated industries. Founded in Australia in 2015, MyPass addresses a universal challenge in workforce skills and compliance tracking – by connecting workers, employers, and training providers in one central, web-based portal.
• ZERO Automotive is a cleantech mobility company founded in 2018 which creates a sustainable future by decarbonising environments through custom battery electric Light Vehicle (bELV, pictured) conversions of internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEV). Their solar chargeable ZED70 Ti model is the first Australian built, Australian road safety approved, underground certified heavy‐duty bELV to be accepted in mining operations.
• Safescape commercialised the Bortana EV, a battery-electric vehicle designed to handle the aggressive operating environment of underground mines. Safescape is expanding to support 10 vehicles per month at full production.
• AMOG and Omniflex have collaboratively developed Industrial Internet of Things (IIot) instrumentation for the mining industry. They will expand production, certification as well as testing and performance verification process.
• Universal Field Robots (UFR) are an Australian based mining technology company accelerating the automation of mining activities through robotic mobile equipment and vehicles. UFR will expand their robot library, enabling the delivery of their robotic application across multiple product platforms.
• 3ME Technology is a battery and heavy electric vehicle technology company which has focussed its efforts on the electrification of underground mining since 2015. Its project will accelerate the production of batteries for 10 Beta Phase Bortana vehicles and Batteries, Drive, software kits and the first 10 TRITEV systems aligned to the longer-term demand of over 150 vehicles.

Picture: ZERO Automotive

Subscribe to our free @AuManufacturing newsletter here.