All you need to know about the Future of Mining Conference & Unearthing Startups for the Future

Thank you to Future of Mining Australia for having us.

In January 2022, Unearthed and Future of Mining partnered to offer five startups the opportunity to raise their profile with global industry leaders, senior decision makers and investors at the Future of Mining Conference Australia 2022. 

This challenge invited startups from across the globe to showcase their innovative technology and solutions that have the potential to deliver a significant impact to the mining and resources industry and accelerate our path towards a greener future.

The top five startups selected from this challenge have participated as finalists, pitching to an online and in-person audience at the Future of Mining Conference held in Sydney on the 28th and 29th of March 2022.

Future of Mining Australia connects C-suite, Heads and Managers of Mine Operations and Mining Equipment, Technology and Services (METS) Providers from top enterprises around the globe and addresses the key strategic and operational questions that matter from project/operations level management through to the boardroom. Participants will debate and define the future mining landscape across Australia.

Find out more here.

Finalists were judged by the selected experts judges based on the following criteria with a focus on their potential impact to the mining and resources sector.

• Impact - What is the impact on the mining and resources industries?
• Innovation - How innovative is your solution?
• Feasibility - How feasible is the innovation?
• Environment - What is the environmental impact of your solution?
• Submission Quality - Your submission should be complete and of a high quality.

Meet the finalists of the challenge

Melinda Moore - Clean Mining is a mining innovator, developing a ground-breaking metal extraction process, MetoxS. Harnessing the powers of non-toxic, non-aqueous molten salts to deliver lower emissions, higher profitability and improved safety. Their vision is to see MetoxS adopted by all new sulphide mines by 2030.

Robert Cumming - Urban.io provides an Industrial IoT Network-as-a-Service to cost-effectively connect things operating in hard to reach places with operations and maintenance ‘personnel’. Their solution helps prevent unplanned outages, reduce the costs of onsite inspections, provide visibility into asset utilisation and wastage and reduce the risk of remote worker injuries.

Russell Menezes - RadiXplore can be used by explorers to scan through millions of pages of reports (including poor quality and scanned reports) to find unrecognised mineral deposits or petroleum leads. Their users have managed to add new projects to their portfolios which translated to 10-20 million increases in their market caps. Besides project generation, RadiXplore also has applications across other parts of the resources value chain.

Craig Milne - Copperstone helps manage liabilities and safety costs associated with tailing ponds by deploying HEELIX, a ruggedized, remote, amphibious robot capable of bringing sensors or sampling payloads to hazardous locations.

Levente Kolek - Minealytics offers data-centric process control and plant automation solutions utilising deep-learning and computer vision. 

Insights from the judges

• Clean Mining was awarded the winning pitch due to the high potential impact of their solution, and its potential to be a real game changer to the industry. 
• The debate between the judges was hot, and it was a close decision, with all of the startups excellently presenting the impact and feasibility of their solutions. 
• The judges questions were focused on better understanding the current traction the companies had in the market, and their growth strategies. Tips for startups - make sure you include how you’re differentiated from your competitors in your pitch!

Interview

Watch the special interview where Unearthed Industry Lead, Holly Bridgwater questions:

Melinda Moore, Clean Mining

Russell Menezes, RadiXplore

Robert Cumming, Urban.io

and Friska Wirya, Fresh by Friska