The mining industry is undergoing a significant transformation, driven by the advent of new mining companies that are introducing groundbreaking technologies and practices. We showcase 10 of these innovative entities, each making substantial strides in areas such as mining automation, the electrification of mining equipment, the implementation of sustainable mining practices, and the efficient management of tailings and waste. These companies are at the forefront of leveraging advanced technologies to enhance operational efficiency, reduce environmental impact, and promote sustainable development within the global mining sector.
This article will provide data-driven insights into:
- Top Trends Advancing the Mining Industry
- List of 10 New Mining Companies & Their Profiles
- Tip for Scouting Innovative Mining Companies Efficiently
Key Takeaways
Drawing insights from the Big Data & AI-powered StartUs Insights Discovery Platform that provides data on over 3.7+ million emerging companies globally, we explore the evolving landscape of the mining industry. This sector is marked by key trends and a substantial workforce, shaping its future. Here are some key insights at a glance:
- Latest Mining Trends: Major mining industry trends include automation, electrification, connected mining, sustainability, and tailings & waste management.
- Mining Industry Statistics: The global mining industry, with over 156K organizations and a 6M workforce, is seeing a slight decline in its annual growth rate by 0.97%. Despite this, it has welcomed over 9K new mining companies in the past five years.
- 10 Top Mining Companies to Watch:
- Impossible Metals – Autonomous Underwater Vehicles
- Airth.io– Mine Value Chain Optimization
- Reverse Carbon Mining Project – Reverse Carbon Mining
- Medaro Mining – Hard Rock Lithium Mining
- EnviroGold Global – Volcanogenic Massive Sulfide Ores Processing
- SensOre – Geoscience Data Analysis
- Vilota – Visual Positioning System
- OptimalSlope – Optimal Mine Pitwalls Designing
- Critical Infrastructure Technologies (CiTech) – Deployable Radio Towers
- Mineprism – Rock Fragmantation Data Analysis
Mining Trends Improving Processes & Driving Sustainability
Mining Automation
The integration of automation, robotics, and drones enhances operational efficiency, safety, and accuracy in exploration and extraction processes. Automated machinery and drones minimize human exposure to hazardous mining environments and revolutionize data collection.
Mining Equipment Electrification
Electrification of mining equipment, from haul trucks to diggers, reduces reliance on fossil fuels, cutting greenhouse gas emissions and operational costs. Meanwhile, integrating renewable energy sources such as solar and wind into mining operations further diminishes the carbon footprint and aligns with global sustainability goals.
Connected Mining
Connected Mining encapsulates the deployment of IoT and advanced connectivity solutions, fostering integration between equipment, personnel, and operational systems, creating a synchronized, data-rich mining environment. Real-time data analysis and communication enhance decision-making, optimize production, and predict maintenance needs, minimizing downtime.
Sustainable Mining Practices
The focus on ESG emphasizes the adoption of practices that minimize environmental impact, from water conservation and eco-friendly extraction methods to rehabilitation of mined areas. It also involves transparent, community-engaged operations that contribute positively to local development.
Tailings & Waste Management
Innovative strategies for tailings management include dewatering technologies that reduce the volume of waste and advanced containment systems preventing leaks and contamination. Furthermore, the industry explores the reuse and recycling of tailings and other mining wastes, transforming them into valuable materials for construction and other industries.
Also read: Discover Top Mining Industry Trends & Innovations
Explore 10 out of 9K+ New Mining Companies
This segment unveils 10 companies redefining the mining sector through innovative technologies and sustainable practices. From deploying autonomous underwater vehicles for minimal-impact nodule harvesting to leveraging AI for predictive mineral deposit location and advancing carbon sequestration techniques, these new mining companies represent the industry’s future.
Note on Signal Strength
One of the unique metrics we feature for each company is Signal Strength, a proprietary data point generated by our Discovery Platform. Signal Strength gauges the extent to which a company’s influence has permeated the global ecosystem of startups, scaleups, and emerging companies. This proprietary metric serves as a valuable guidepost for understanding a company’s standing in the broader market landscape.
1. Impossible Metals
- Founding Year: 2020
- Employee Range: 11-50
- Location: USA
- Signal Strength: Very Strong
- What they do: Impossible Metals is a mining company that develops a fleet of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) to harvest polymetallic nodules while preserving marine ecosystems. This mining company’s pick and place manipulator technology, combined with advanced image-sensing, ensures minimal environmental impact. Further, its patented bacterial respiration method eliminates the need for harmful chemicals, reducing energy consumption, tailings, and environmental pollutants while ensuring rapid metal extraction, producing only neutral pH wastewater.
2. Airth.io
- Founding Year: 2021
- Employee Range: 11-50
- Location: USA
- Signal Strength: Medium Strong
- What they do: Airth.io offers AI-driven solutions that optimize the mining value chain, enhancing efficiency, safety, and profitability. Through strategic mine scheduling, comprehensive data platforms, advanced analytics, and financial tools, airth.io delivers actionable insights for smarter mining operations. Its ecosystem, including Airth Plan, Connect, Act, Finance, Manage, and Aether, integrates to provide a holistic view of operations, from heap leach production to stockpile management.
3. Reverse Carbon Mining Project
- Founding Year: 2022
- Employee Range: 2-10
- Location: Austria
- Signal Strength: Very strong
- What they do: Reverse Carbon Mining Project introduces a carbon sequestration approach that repurposes biogenic waste into char via pyrolysis and securely storing it underground, akin to coal. This initiative removes CO2 from the atmosphere and revisits the essence of mining by “mining” carbon back into the earth, thereby reversing the carbon cycle.
4. Medaro Mining
- Founding Year: 2021
- Employee Range: 11-50
- Location: Canada
- Signal Strength: Very Strong
- What they do: Medaro Mining uses hard rock lithium technology (HLT) to improve lithium production from spodumene-rich concentrates. Its solvent extraction process produces high-purity lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide, with commercial-grade aluminum hydroxide/oxide and silica as profitable by-products. This technology offers a compact, modular, and scalable solution, suitable for remote locations, significantly enhancing the economic viability of lithium extraction in the mining industry.
5. EnviroGold Global
- Founding Year: 2019
- Employee Range: 11-50
- Location: Canada
- Signal Strength: Very Strong
- What they do: Addressing the challenges posed by these difficult-to-process ores, EnviroGold utilizes a mild acid catalyst in a self-sustaining reaction to free metals trapped in pyritic and volcanogenic massive sulfides (VMS). Thus, it offers a sustainable and cost-effective alternative to traditional, energy-intensive methods. The company’s neutralizing acid-forms tailings and recovers precious and critical metals, reducing the environmental impact and enhancing the ESG profiles of mining projects.
6. SensOre
- Founding Year: 2019
- Employee Range: 11-50
- Location: Australia
- Signal Strength: Very Strong
- What they do: SensOre leverages AI and machine learning to analyze extensive geoscience datasets and identify digital fingerprints that predict mineral deposit locations. Its technology suite, including the Predict, Know, and Learn features, assists in classifying mineralogical, geological, and multi-element data.
7. Vilota
- Founding Year: 2021
- Employee Range: 2-10
- Location: Singapore
- Signal Strength: Strong
- What they do: Vilota offers a visual positioning system (VPS), to tackle the challenges posed by GNSS-dependency in mining operations. Vilota’s solution utilizes synchronized stereo cameras and inertial sensors to fuse data, accurately estimating the position and orientation of mining vehicles and equipment in GNSS-denied environments. This enables extended fleet management underground, precise location tracking of mobile plant equipment, and augmented collision avoidance systems, ensuring safer and more efficient mining operations even in the most challenging conditions.
8. OptimalSlope
- Founding Year: 2021
- Employee Range: 2-10
- Location: UK
- Signal Strength: Medium Strong
- What they do: OptimalSlope offers cloud-based software to determine optimal profiles for mine pit walls, significantly reducing waste rock excavation. This solution enhances mine profitability by increasing net present value (NPV), while simultaneously cutting CO2 emissions. It offers a scalable, subscription-based model or tailored consultancy, including training, ensuring mines achieve both higher profits and lower carbon footprints.
9. Critical Infrastructure Technologies (CiTech)
- Founding Year: 2021
- Employee Range: 11-50
- Location: Australia
- Signal Strength: Strong
- What they do: CiTech creates innovative infrastructure and power systems crucial for mining operations. Its product, NEXUS 16, is a high-capacity communications system designed for rapid deployment in remote areas. CiTech’s system provides autonomous stabilization on slopes and solar-powered operation with capacity for expansion. It includes a secure, mechanically driven 16-meter tower for reliable arrangement in challenging underground conditions.
10. Mineprism
- Founding Year: 2023
- Employee Range: 2-10
- Location: USA
- Signal Strength: Medium Strong
- What they do: Mineprism’s AI-based platform Rocky AI optimizes mining productivity and reduces environmental impact. Its hardware device, Crusher Rocky, eliminates manual labor and simplifies volume analysis for accurate p80 calculations. These rock fragmentation analysis solutions streamline blasting processes, integrate with existing mining tools, and deliver real-time data for informed decision-making.
Quick Tip to Find New Mining Companies
Utilizing a SaaS platform like the Discovery Platform for identifying new mining companies provides significant benefits compared to traditional scouting methods:
- Increased Efficiency: The Discovery Platform offers advanced tools that streamline the scouting process. It replaces your hours of conventional desk research, saving time and resources in identifying new mining innovations.
- Access to Real-time Insights: Gain a competitive edge with up-to-date information on the latest trends in the mining industry. The platform keeps you informed with near real-time updates on emerging mining companies and news, enabling you to make swift and informed decisions.
- Precise Scouting: Customize your search to focus on specific niches within the mining sector, such as connected mining, mining equipment electrification, or mining process automation. The platform’s diverse filtering options allow you to target your scouting efforts precisely, ensuring that you find the most relevant and groundbreaking companies in the field.
Ready to Explore All New Mining Companies?
This overview highlights just a few mining solutions of all 9K+ new companies currently covered by the Discovery Platform. To explore them all, book a personalized demo or download one of our free Industry Innovation Reports for a quick overview.
