Goldcorp, Integra team up 
on innovation contest

Goldcorp (TSX: G; NYSE: GG) and Integra Gold (TSXV: ICG; US-OTC: ICGQF) are launching a contest to find the next disruptive and exponential technologies that have the potential to revolutionize the mining industry.

“You’re seeing other industries being turned on their heads with new technologies, and it really hasn’t happened yet in the mining industry,” Integra Gold’s president and CEO Stephen de Jong says.

“Innovation has become a bit of a buzzword and gets used and abused a bit,” he adds. “But real innovation — disruptive technology combined with traditional mining and exploration techniques — is where the opportunity is.”

For the mining sector to stay competitive and deliver greater value to shareholders, the companies argue, there must be greater collaboration to foster investment and accelerate innovation in mining.

Innovators who want to pitch their ideas must submit their applications by Jan. 18, 2017, at www.disruptmining.com.

The submissions are limited to four pages and must include an introduction to the idea and technology being championed, and an explanation of the promise the technology holds for the mining sector.

All of the ideas will be showcased during the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) convention on March 5, 2017.

Those responsible for the best five submissions — selected by Goldcorp and Integra — will be invited to pitch their ideas live in front of a panel of five judges at a gala event. The judges will be senior executives in the industry, including Rob McEwen of McEwen Mining (TSX: MUX; NYSE: MUX).

The prize is up to $1 million in investment for a proof of concept at one of Goldcorp’s mines, or an investment in the winning technologies.

“The real prize is to get up on stage and have all these mining executives and financiers listen to your pitch, because you’re looking at a strong representation of decision makers in that room,” Integra’s de Jong says.

The format of the competition will be similar to the hit television series Shark Tank, in which entrepreneurs present their ideas to businesspeople in the hope of an investment.

The proceeds from the gala event at PDAC will go to charity.

“There seems to be a real appetite in our industry for innovation, change and looking at new ways of how we do things,” de Jong says. “Keep an eye out in the new year, when you will start to see some big names get behind this.”