The competition final took place March 3 during the PDAC convention.

ANDRITZ impressed the judges and earned the opportunity to negotiate a contract or investment of up to C$1 million (US$750,000) with Goldcorp.

Sohail Nazari, business development manager and Arthur Gooch, director of innovation at ANDRITZ, said: "We thank Goldcorp and KPMG for their tremendous leadership driving innovation and digitalisation forward in mining. We are excited to be part of Goldcorp's success to bring autonomous plant operation to mineral processing and we look forward to getting to work."

David Garofalo, president and CEO of Goldcorp, commented: "Congratulations to our #DisruptMining winner ANDRITZ and to all our finalists and semi-finalists. Innovation doesn't stop or start with one idea, one technology, or one company. For the mining industry to reach the demands and potential of the 21st century, every company must step up and innovate. We must all be safer, more efficient, and responsible and we'll get results faster through collaboration and the kind of break-through thinking the #DisruptMining platform is meant to uncover for our industry."

Armughan Ahmad, president & managing partner, digital solutions at KPMG, said: "Congratulations to ANDRITZ for winning #DisruptMining. Thank you to all the finalists and semi-finalists for driving innovation forward and challenging all of us to realise the immense opportunity exponential technology represents for the natural resources sector. At KPMG we are proud to support dynamic, innovative companies and we're increasing our investment in helping our clients with digital transformation."

ANDRITZ, a global supplier of machines and automation solutions, developed a continuous way of training artificial intelligence (AI) to operate a mineral processing facility using ANDRITZ's digital twin. The AI is trained to respond to a variety of situations, making it capable of adapting to changing inputs and improving recovery time. The trained AI's ability to quickly process information and recommend data-driven solutions will allow for the improvement of the operation, such as start-up and shutdown, and assist operators to achieve plant-wide optimisation.

Deciding the fate of the three finalists was a panel of industry judges:

• Ian Telfer, chair of Goldcorp and acclaimed mining industry titan;
• Katie Valentine, partner at KPMG Australia and global head of mining consulting;
• Sue Paish, CEO of Canada's Digital Technology Supercluster;
• Jacob Yeung, University of British Columbia student and #DisruptMining UBC captain; and
• Wal van Lierop, president & CEO, Chrysalix Venture Capital.

Goldcorp CEO David Garofalo announced that net proceeds of C$200,000 from the #DisruptMining live finale will be granted toward mining, innovation and technology scholarships to the University of British Columbia. In addition to the scholarships, Goldcorp and KPMG announced a C$50,000 donation to Hope Air, a national charity arranging free transportation to medical appointments for Canadians living in remote communities that would otherwise be challenged to receive specialised medical care.