Mining’s old guard needs strong medicine
A new report details subpar investor returns in the mining industry over the last decade, particularly big cap diversified companies which have not adapted to new realities.
SABRTech Inc., a small Canadian company committed to producing and supplying biofuel for the aviation industry, is the winner of an international clean technology competition launched last September by the government of Nova Scotia.
The two-year-old company, based in Halifax, is developing a new method for growing and harvesting micro-algal biomass at industrial levels.
SABRTech was awarded $100,000 in cash, a $200,000 negotiable seed investment, and in-kind business building services, beating out nine other clean technology companies in the United States, Serbia, Denmark, the Netherlands and fellow Canadians.
“I was looking for just as much feedback and constructive criticism on both our business plan and the technology itself as I could possibly get,” said entrepreneur Mather Carscallen.
“We’re working right now to produce a prototype, so our goal is within the next three years to have a commercial plant up and running,” he added.
World fastest growing industry
Percy Paris, Nova Scotia’s Minister of Economic and Rural Development and Tourism, said the province launched the Clean Tech Open last Fall, through Innovacorp. The goal is to attract the best clean technology companies in the world to Eastern Canada.
Submissions came from companies as far away as China, Europe, the Caribbean, the United States and across Canada. In total, 65 projects were presented, being about half of those submissions from local companies.
When the competitors were down to the final 10, they were asked to submit a business plan and make an in-person pitch to a five-member panel of judges.
“Knowledge-based companies like those in the clean technology sectors create good jobs and are vital to Nova Scotia’s future prosperity. This competition supports the innovation and competitiveness priorities of jobsHere, the plan to grow our economy,” said Paris.
The Minister reminded the experts attending the award ceremony that clean technology is one of the world’s fastest growing industries.
Innovacorp, Nova Scotia’s early-stage venture capital organization, is in discussions with other companies that made the competition short list or were discovered during competition promotion. The corporation expects to work with at least two entities to help them establish Nova Scotia operations.
