Shaping the Future of Mining with Surgical Precision
AN IMPACT STORY
The ‘Romeo and Juliet’ gold deposit, located near the Anaconda Mining’s operation at Point Rousse, Newfoundland, wasn’t love at first sight. The steepness and narrowness of this newly discovered high-grade vein made it cost-prohibitive to access and resistant to conventional extraction methods despite an estimated value of up to $100 million. Dustin Angelo and Allan Cramm had previously developed a novel approach of extraction with Memorial University’s drilling program. In 2019, the pair co-founded Novamera. Today, the Ontario startup blazes a trail with its AI-powered Surgical Mining solution. Learn how a $3.5-million co-investment from DIGITAL helped Novamera commercialize their solution globally.
A New Mining Category – Built in Canada
Surgical Mining is faster, cleaner and far less invasive. Novamera’s proprietary downhole sensor is capable of collecting up to 4,900% more subsurface data than traditional delineation methods. This data feeds into machine learning and AI to generate digital-twin models of ore bodies and calculate precise drilling trajectories. Novamera then deploys its proprietary Extraction System — a combination of a positioning control system, a course correction device and predictive steering technology — that minimizes cost by fitting onto conventional large-diameter drills.
Surgical Mining can generate up to 95% less waste, 44% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and drastically lower water usage and surface disruption relative to conventional mining. Since mining companies face mounting environmental pressures and shrinking margins, the appeal is clear. “We can’t transition to clean energy without mining,” Angelo says. “Our mission is to provide the tools the industry needs to mine the resources that are critical to a net-zero future, and to do it in a faster, cleaner and more cost-effective way.”
Global Impact with DIGITAL
The Data Driven Surgical Mining project supported by DIGITAL involves Great Atlantic Resources and Maritime Resources in Newfoundland, along with long-time research partner Memorial University. At Great Atlantic’s Jaclyn Main Zone, Novamera is executing a full surgical mining cycle, extracting up to 2,700 tonnes of ore through three 100-metre drill holes. At Maritime, the company is conducting high-resolution imaging. This DIGITAL initiative showcases both the economic and environmental advantages of Novamera’s system. This initiative is both another example of Canadian innovation taking a lead role in a global imperative: more sustainable mining, and it is opening a significant opportunity for Novamera. With $6 trillion in untapped narrow vein deposits worldwide, and with the increased urgency relative to securing and getting critical minerals to market, Novamera’s solution couldn’t be timelier.
Impact At-A-Glance
$6
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49xMore Datacollected compared to traditional methods |
95%
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44%
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Building Momentum
After early validation with major mining players Newmont and Vale, the company found its true niche: enabling junior and mid-tier miners to economically develop small high-grade deposits. Novamera deployed its imaging technology across five field projects, including a mid-tier gold miner and a major producer. These “precursor” projects allowed companies to better understand the geometry of their deposits before committing to full extraction. “It’s a low-risk way to generate high-value insights,” Angelo explains. The momentum has translated into Novamera signing a memorandum of understanding with Northstar Gold to apply its technology at the Cam Copper site in Ontario and a letter of intent with Kuya Silver to extract silver-polymetallic material from near-surface deposits at its Bethania mine in Peru.
Scaling Smart, Staying Focused
As Novamera scales, it’s also building the leadership and impact of the Canadian mining ecosystem. “We see this as a category-defining innovation and we want Canada to lead it,” Angelo says, adding that DIGITAL has been instrumental in all of these areas. Demand for minerals is soaring and the stakes are high. According to one recent estimate, the world faces a 14.6-billion-tonne shortfall in minerals needed to transition away from fossil fuels. Technologies like Novamera’s Surgical Mining offer a path forward, not just to mine more, but to mine smarter, cleaner and more efficiently.
“DIGITAL’s support has been instrumental to Novamera’s growth. It helped unlock further funding from provincial governments and Atlantic Canada agencies. They helped open doors for us, not just with other funders, but with industry collaborators. It’s been a mutually beneficial partnership…and we’re just getting started.”
– Dustin Angelo
Get in Touch
Interested in learning more about how DIGITAL can help support your Canadian mining technology or connect you to Canadian solutions providers? Get in touch with Chris Doody, Director of Investment Oversight today!