Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology Andrew Parsons announced a non-repayable investment of $650,000 from the Research and Innovation Fund to develop a virtual research and training facility that uses digital twin technology at College of the North Atlantic, in partnership with GRi Simulations on Tuesday.

The project will establish a virtual research and training facility at the college that is tailored to the mining industry and uses data from key mine sites.

GRi Simulations will use data to develop software and build a platform that reflects key real-world mining assets over the next two years.

A digital twin is a virtual model of a physical object, system, or process that mimics its behaviour and performance in real life.