The federal government, through the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario (FedNor), is investing $4.5 million towards an expansion of NORCAT’s underground innovation centre in Sudbury, Ontario.  

The investment will expand the facility’s ability to replicate complex underground mining and defence environments, giving companies and industry partners a realistic setting to test and develop new equipment and technologies for these applications. 

Areas of focus for testing will include autonomous systems, robotics, advanced communications, artificial intelligence and navigation technologies that can operate without GPS. 

The project will build on NORCAT’s existing underground infrastructure to accommodate larger equipment and more complex testing scenarios, with additional features including “longer flight paths, different drift geometries, greater decline-ramp configurations, and enhanced power and communications infrastructure,” Jenni Myllynen, initiatives officer at FedNor, told CIM Magazine. 

The expansion is expected to take around two years to complete. The centre currently supports around 50 mining technology projects annually, with this expansion expected to increase its capacity to support up to 50 per cent more projects each year. 

“With support from FedNor and the Government of Canada, we will significantly expand our capacity for technology development and hands-on training, supporting larger-scale projects and a broader range of emerging technologies,” Pejman Salehi, CEO of NORCAT, said in an Oct. 30 news release. “This expansion will also help Canadian companies advance dual-use technologies and pursue new opportunities in Canada’s defence sector.” 

The investment comes through the federal government’s Regional Defence Investment Initiative (RDII), which aims to help Canadian businesses enter defence supply chains and strengthen the country’s defence-related industrial and innovation capacity. The initiative also prioritizes helping companies to validate the dual-use potential of their technologies. 

Myllynen noted that since FedNor launched the RDII in October 2025, 11 projects across northern Ontario have been approved to receive a total of $12,949,219 in funding. 

Beyond defence applications, FedNor expects the expansion to create economic opportunities for businesses across the region by helping them bring new technologies to market, potentially generating new revenue and jobs. The agency also sees opportunities for greater collaboration between companies, which could help strengthen northern Ontario-based supply chains. 

NORCAT’s underground centre opened in 1997 at the former Fecunis Adit copper mine. The facility has since become a testing ground for emerging mining technologies, providing companies with an operating mine environment to develop and demonstrate equipment while also serving as a hands-on training centre for mine workers. 

The latest investment follows previous efforts to expand NORCAT’s facilities in response to demand from mining technology companies. A 12,000-square-foot surface facility opened at the underground centre in 2021.