r/mining • u/reingokusama • Apr 22 '26

Europe Market Gaps On Mining Robotics

Hello guys. I'm thinking about starting on a project about filling market gap niches in mining industry via robotic technologies. I didn't deep dive in to mining market gaps yet but I know there is some market gaps because of geographical arbitrages. I'm going to deep dive in this niche and hoping to post about my project regularly. If anyone wants to give me any advice I'm open to anything and I'm open to connecting. And if can somebody can give me ideas about gaps that would be awesome.

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16

u/bubblerino Apr 22 '26

Lmao man robotics are literally the only thing our industry is ahead of the curve on. OEMs have that market locked down tight.

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u/reingokusama Apr 22 '26

İsnt there market gaps because of geographical differences?

2

u/Combat--Wombat27 Apr 22 '26

Depends how niche you want to get.

Things like refueling booms are an area that's seeking a bit of interest. Unfortunately, due to there being so many different OEMs a "one size fits all" scenario won't work.

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u/reingokusama Apr 22 '26

For example, is there drone surveillance systems for mine zone or co-robot dog partners for rough areas? Or AI analyze tools for any process of work?

3

u/bubblerino Apr 22 '26

Yes these things are used for surveying, but surveying is not exclusive to mining and is already a really high tech industry. Its standard practice to use drone based photogrammetry. Some ug operations have put the boston dynamics robot dog to work for accessing and surveying hazardous areas. Digital twinning is commonplace. We arent an orphan industry with nobody to provide us tech; youd be going head to head with the likes of caterpillar, komatsu, boston dynamics, dji, etc.

1

u/CyribdidFerret Apr 23 '26

Chinese is using robot dogs with thier electronic det systems to tag and time holes as well.

1

u/reingokusama Apr 22 '26

So everyone is thinking OEMs completely dominates globally and theres no room for competitiveness?

1

u/UGDirtFarmer Apr 24 '26

Yes, because third party stuff won’t integrate easily, the OEMs want the market

2

u/Valor816 Apr 23 '26

Yep, all of those things PM

Drones are main stream, don't know any area robo-dogs could help with and AI is everywhere from optimisation to fault finding.

1

u/Combat--Wombat27 Apr 22 '26

No.

0

u/reingokusama Apr 22 '26

depending on your experience is there any helpful robotic-ai ideas. Im not a expert on the mining industry, Im just searching for any useful ideas. What probably would be helpful if it exist? Based on robotics and ai of course

2

u/D_hallucatus Apr 22 '26

Less about geographical differences and more about financial differences I’d say. If there’s commercial quantities of ore and a big player setting up a mine they can bring the tech/staff/facilities etc to even very remote areas, they are experts at that. If it’s some small scale operation that can’t afford better equipment, ok, but why would they be able to afford your gear any more than what’s already available, unless you plan on undercutting on price (?)

I reckon best bet is to patent some safety device for a niche job or piece of equipment that’s gone under the radar and sell the patent to one of the major supply companies. If something is demonstrably safer it’s hard for modern companies to not buy it in case it’s their neck on the block after an incident enquiry

1

u/reingokusama Apr 22 '26

İs there any robotic dog co partners in the industry yet? Or drone safety surveillance etc? I have a contact in south africa in the industry. I was just looking for any helpful ideas. Technology is already overpriced so there could be competitiveness. Is there any robotics or ai data analyze possibilities you see based on your experience?

2

u/D_hallucatus Apr 23 '26

Yes, drones are used for a number of purposes already. They could be used for more in the future probably too. There are probably some jobs done in person that could be done by robot dogs for safety reasons, though the question is whether it is worthwhile or not to make the change. I don’t know how far robot dogs have come, could they go and do weeding in a rehab setting reliably? I’m sure they could take a water sample or download data from a monitoring bore, but those jobs are already being replaced with in-situ data loggers that can relay the data in real time

3

u/fdsv-summary_ Apr 22 '26

Maintenance equipment for chute, crusher and even mill relines could be improved. Mill relines have some incumbents but they focus on the strict mechanical side of things -- no way a human operated 7 axis hydraulic machine is as fast as something with a bit of 'cruise control' automation for at least part of the cycle. Things smaller than mill liners tend to be fitted with custom slings and chain blocks. Having equipment that is freed from work at heights and confined space rules would be very useful. Currently maintenance tasks (mill shut downs) take up about 10% of the year. Dropping that number by a few percent would make a material difference to share prices. Currently most tasks can get done within the duration provided by the mill reline main critical path.

Also cleaning rock spillage from under conveyor belts would be a great way to enter the market. The value isn't as high though as in that application you're only reducing labour costs.

1

u/reingokusama Apr 22 '26

Thank you for sharing that.

3

u/blck_swn Apr 23 '26

Check out unearthed.solutions online… a good portal for mining technology and innovation.

Robotics is well trodden in mining, stuff like drones even niche ground based robotics are finding good fit in the sector.

I always recommend spending time at a mine site, or deeply understand mining problems by engaging potential customers before trying to guess why value looks like. It’s a slow moving, risk averse industry but there’s def opportunities.

Check out groups like Jevons and Australian Droid and Robotic. There’s also the AARP in Northern Perth. Very much worth a look.

1

u/reingokusama Apr 23 '26

thank you man for sharing info.