The CanMicro team analyzes data collected from thermal images of ore heated by microwaves to make sorting decisions. Courtesy of Erin Bobicki

When the finalists of the recent Crush It! Mining Challenge – a competition sponsored by Natural Resources Canada to help facilitate energy reductions in the comminution processes of the mining industry – were announced in April 2019, two of the six had something particular in common: the use of microwaves.