12 Apr Member Company Profile: Newtrax

GMG Member Newtrax is a technology provider specializing in advanced underground mining solutions. They are also a sponsor and organizer of the GMG-CIM Montreal AI in Mining Forum on May 1. We spoke with Marketing Manager Cynthia Younes to better understand the company’s role in the industry.

What is Newtrax’s role in the mining industry? 

Underground mines—though significantly safer and more modern than only 20 years ago—remain significantly more dangerous and remarkably less efficient at tracking production than surface mines. Why? In short, anything deeply underground is more complex and/or more expensive to operate. Also, underground mining is projected to become the most prevalent method of ore extraction, largely for two reasons: metals and minerals close to the surface are increasingly rare; underground mines have a significantly lower environmental footprint.

This is why Newtrax exists. We eliminate the digital divide that exists between surface and underground mines. We strive to create a world where 100% of mining is underground so all mines can be as safe and as profitable as possible. To achieve this, Newtrax integrates the latest Internet-of-Things (IoT) and analytics technologies to monitor and provide insights on underground operations, including people, machines and the environment.

Teamwork and trust is one of your company’s guiding values. How do they influence how you work and what you develop?

We believe that without trust, teamwork cannot exist. That is why we value trust so much. Our mission is to become trusted partners of mining companies on their digital transformation journey. We believe building long-lasting, solid relationships is the key to meaningful change, so most things that we invest in, we do it for the long-haul. Most of our original team members from our start-up days are still with us. When it comes to development, we are very picky about who we decide to partner or work with to build our products and solutions because it takes time to build trust.

We put a lot of effort into building solid relationships with our clients and delivering on our promises because they too have to trust us to save the lives of their workers. We take our responsibility very seriously and we foster a very “safety-oriented” culture inside and outside of our workplace.

Global citizenship is also one of your guiding values, what is the role of global industry collaboration in this?

We all know that mining is a very global industry, so we learned very quickly that if we wanted to be successful in this business, we needed to be present globally, understand the realities of each region and adapt to them. Our products and solutions affect people all over the globe, which is a beautiful thing if you think about it. It’s also a big challenge to operate on such a large scale when the company is still growing at a rapid pace, but it keeps things exciting. Even though the mining industry is global, most of the big players know each other and you will have to collaborate with some of them one way or another, so keeping a “global citizenship” mindset helps establish the perspective.

Why did you choose to become involved with GMG, particularly the AI in Mining Forum?

Newtrax is a huge proponent of the use of AI and Machine Learning in underground mining; we lead a LinkedIn Group on the subject, and we have experts in-house that are thought-leaders in this space, so it was obvious to us that this involvement would be a great fit. We are very well connected when it comes to researchers in the fields of AI and ML, and we want to communicate the benefits of adopting these methods in our industry in every way we can. We have just completed a pilot project in AI at one of our client sites and the value that was achieved was just phenomenal, so we know it works. We are looking forward to the interesting discussions that will come out of GMG’s AI in Mining Forum this year.