Wheaton’s inaugural Future of Mining Challenge is breaking new ground for mining innovation

It’s a critical time for Canadian mining and eyes are on B.C.’s metal and mineral industry.

With the demand for local and sustainable mining, Vancouver-based Wheaton Precious Metals is encouraging innovation through cooperation and offering financial support with its inaugural Future of Mining Challenge.

“The Future of Mining Challenge was a way for us to stimulate some support and excitement about some of the new technologies that are out there, and with that support, try and help build the pathway for these new technologies to be implemented,” says Randy Smallwood, CEO of Wheaton Precious Metals. 

Launched in September 2024, groups from around the world submitted proposals for their mining technologies or solutions to address this year’s theme: reducing greenhouse gas emissions. With over 30 applicants, it came down to five finalists. And on March 4th, Wheaton announced Toronto-based ReThink Milling won the $1 million USD prize for its two rock-breaking technologies (the Conjugate Anvil Hammer Mill and the MonoRoll). 

“Three percent of the world’s energy is used to break rocks and it’s not done very efficiently,” explains Gillian Holcroft, President of ReThink Milling. “Over the course of the last six years, we’ve been able to develop technology that, when used together, we can reduce the energy consumption by 65 percent,” she says, adding that this has a significant impact on reducing greenhouse gases and costs, and could even be applicable to other industries. 

“We have two prototype machines, one that breaks coarser rocks, so down to about a half an inch (starting up at 3, 4, 6 inches), and then a finer grinding machine that goes from half an inch down to micron size, so the thickness of your hair, for how small some of the particles have to be,” says Steve Wilson, CTO of ReThink Milling. 

With ReThink Milling’s work is the culmination of a global team effort, with nine industry leading companies already supporting the company. Holcroft and Wilson say the winnings will propel their technologies forward to commercialization and hopefully foster even more industry partnerships.

“It’s great to have a made-in-Canada solution for the Canadian resource industry. Resource is such a big part of Canada’s overall economy, it’s great to have leaders here and to be leaders in that technology advancement,” Wilson says.

Holcroft adds that winning this prize challenge is a “game changer” for them. “Our peers selected our technology as having the most promise for the mining industry […] and making the whole mining operation more efficient—it’s just fantastic,” she says. 

Though Wheaton CEO Randy Smallwood wasn’t on the judging panel, what set ReThink Milling’s technology apart for him was its simplicity: “Those two technologies are both something that, when you look at, it’s obvious, and you just think, we need to do our best to try and bring it in,” he says. 

Smallwood is excited to see this industry innovation but says the job isn’t done yet. “This is not the end of a contest. It’s the start of a relationship with ReThink Milling and we’re going to do our best to make them a success,” Smallwood says. 

Wheaton’s Future of Mining Challenge will be an annual event, with Wheaton to announce the next challenge’s (narrower) theme soon.

“We do have to think about the broader industry,” Smallwood says. “We need to continue to improve our own performance in terms of delivering as much as we can for as little impact as we can.”