The sold-out live event will take place on March 5, 2017 at the Carlu in Toronto during the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) convention.

Deciding the fate of the five finalists will be David Harquail, CEO, Franco-Nevada Corp; Robert Herjavec, CEO, Herjavec Group; Rob McEwen, chairman and CEO, McEwen Mining; Todd White, COO, Goldcorp; and Bernadette Wightman, president, Cisco Canada.

Each finalist will have five minutes to pitch and defend their idea to the panel ‘shark tank’ style, and demonstrate how their idea or technology has the potential to #DisruptMining. Judges will have two minutes to respond and ask questions.

Goldcorp has committed US$1,000,000 for a proof of concept at one of its mines or investment in the winning technologies. The remaining four judges will represent US$100,000 each. Following each presentation, any judge will have the ability to send a disruptor to the deal room to negotiate an investment.

The five finalists are:
Bio-Mine: Using a bio-intelligent, augmenting consortium of organisms designed specifically for targeted metal recovery and remediation, this game changing environmental technology is programmable to specific mineralogy in many different environmental conditions. Discovered by Dr Vasu Appanna, a professor and former Dean of Science and Engineering at Laurentian University, also led by company co-founder Kurtis Vanwallegham, Bio-Mine is set to drive the mining recovery and remediation sector towards the elusive and ultimate ‘zero-footprint’ goal.
Cementation Canada: Using a combination of existing and proven crushing, pumping and slurry technologies, Cementation has developed a proof of concept model for process injection hoisting that would eliminate the need for mine shaft production hoisting or trucking, transporting ore to the surface using a pump driven pipeline loop. The technology is adaptable to all mining methods and would substantially reduce energy consumption and ventilation requirements. The team at Cementation builds mines from design through to construction and this invention has the potential to revolutionise underground mine development to the benefit of the entire industry.
Goldspot Discoveries: Has developed a machine-learning algorithm capable of significantly improving mineral exploration targeting on both a regional and local scale. Goldspot Discoveries is revolutionising the investment decision model by using the Goldspot Algorithm to stake acreage, acquire projects and royalties, and invest in public vehicles to create a portfolio of assets with the greatest reward to risk ratio. Managed by seasoned industry experts from both financial and technical backgrounds, the team is armed with a unique technological edge designed by the Data Miners, the next generation of mining genius and runners up in the 2016 Integra Gold Rush Challenge.
Kore Geosystems: The true power of machine learning and artificial intelligence can only be unleashed with robust, high quality data inputs. KORE plans to install instruments onto the drill rig that can provide real-time, automated data accelerating timelines for multiple mining stages and decision-making intelligence. The KORE team, Vince Gerrie, Aaron Maher, Sebastian Goodfellow, Chris Drielsma, Patrick Hooker and Chris Lane, bring together years of expertise in geology, geophysics, software engineering, and technology development.
TradeWind Markets: Is a new electronic trading, settlement and custody platform for physical gold bullion. TradeWind Markets is using a combination of distributed ledger technology (blockchain) and exchange technology to unlock functionality in gold bullion, vaulted with a G7 Government counterparty. The business is a partnership between IEX, the Investors Exchange, a fair, simple and transparent stock exchange, and Sprott Asset Management, a globally recognized leader in precious metals investment.
In addition to the five finalists, 12 semi-finalists have been chosen for the #DisruptMining daytime expo. These include:

• Acoustic Zoom
• BGC Engineering
• Dundee Sustainable Technologies
• GeoLEARN
• GroundTruth Exploration
• Hard-Line
• Heads Up Display
• Objectivity.ca
• Minrail
• New Mining Solutions
• Scanimetrics
• YieldPoint