Coffey Mining, a subsidiary of Coffey International Limited subsidiary is to set up an R&D center in Brazil in conjunction with the state of Minas Gerais. Coffey Mining said it is working in partnership with the Minas Gerais state government in Brazil to develop a research and development centre, specializing in geo-technologies and advanced visualization using virtual reality.

With state of the art technology and projects using innovative applications, the aim is to develop this centre, based in Belo Horizonte, into a global research and development centre for the mineral-metallurgical sector.

The R&D center will develop the virtual reality applications that are expected to cut down costs, time and risks during all phases of projects in the mineral-metallurgical sector. The concept of the virtual reality facility is to provide immersive visualization in a cinema-style setting that enables more than just technical stakeholders to engage in the understanding of a project.

This capability will also include technical abilities around creating models and the ability to explore new ways to apply the technology to improve the outputs and investment in the mining industry. The centre will contribute to training and retaining qualified labor in this region of Brazil, and will facilitate an exchange of ideas between companies, national and international institutions and include the participation of university researchers and students in the projects.

Coffey is the first company from the mining sector to receive funding under the state government-funded SIMI program. SIMI is an initiative from the Secretariat for Science, Technology and Higher Education for Minas Gerais that integrates and coordinates the promotion of innovation in the state. The total value of the project is A$$2.3million, with the grant accounting for half of this.

Coffey’s Brazil-based operations have been developing database and visualization solutions for the mining industry for over a decade, using their exploration and geology expertise to design and construct the GeoEXPLO suite of software products. Recent development work has expanded this range of solutions to include a hosted web-enabled database solution that caters for geology, geo-technics and environmental requirements.

A recent road show to Australia also showcased geospatial technologies to combine geoscience consulting, GIS technology and visualization technology (including digital maps and web portals) to provide visually compelling solutions to facilitate training, communication, risk assessment and predictive analysis.