Tech in mining #6
Discover more from Tech in Mining newsletter
Tech in mining #6
Hope everyone had a good week! This week, we have some quick updates re: electrical vehicles, drones for seafloor mining, VR in training, and Wenco's Open Autonomy solution!
🗞Interesting updates
Vale's Canadian mines have started to trial electric vehicles. E.V.s are much quieter and produce less heat & zero exhaust emissions (aka reducing ventilation demands), so we hope more mines follow this lead! More here âš¡
Gold on the ocean floor is estimated to be ~$150 trillion - you can imagine governments and organizations trying to race to the bottom of the floor. Companies (once authorized by International Seabed Authority) are using underwater drones to map the seafloor with the hope to strike gold. More here 🤿
The first company to gain deep-sea mining rights, Nautilus, went bankrupt last year after failing to mine in Papua New Guinea. The project was also opposed fiercely by conservation groups due to adverse environmental impacts. This has raised concerns around the viability of future deep-sea mining projects.
NORCAT Innovation center in Ontario has received $1.3 million in federal funding to develop and deploy blended training programs for mine workers (such as VR equipment training and in-field competency training on jumbo drills and LHD machines) in partnership with local mining companies. More here 📚
Oxbotica (an English autonomous vehicle software company) and Wenco (part of Hitachi) are partnering to create an Open Autonomy solution for mining. This is exciting given it will theoretically avoid vendor lock-in and allow third-party autonomy suppliers to integrate with customers' existing operations. More here 🤖
📜Deep dives:
"The air hit their chests with a large thud, the ground shook for what seemed like ages and the man prayed hoping the crew would make it out of the mine." Read about the experiment from 1627 that changed drilling and blasting, with a history of the technology after here.
📊Charts:
According to S&P Global, in Q1, the mining industry market capitalization fell by 29%, the lowest in sixteen quarters. More here
🙌Share it with a friend!
Please forward it to a friend/ colleague who you think would be interested in subscribing 😃If you have any thoughts on new content you'd like us to share, please get in touch!
Brought to you by founders of SedimentIQ