What has the recent shift towards the adoption of AI solutions meant for Rithmik Solutions (Rithmik) in recent months?

We have noticed a shift in the markets overall where mining companies are getting serious about addressing their fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. These topics have been in discussions for years, but companies are now starting to take action. There also seems to be a shift in adopting AI-driven solutions auch as Rithmik offers. In the past, there has been some resistance against AI for numerous reasons, but in experiencing what is possible with AI, the level of excitement and acceptance is rapidly gaining momentum.

Due to the current open-mindedness and excitement about AI, we have had a barrage of conversations from mining companies and OEMs that want to partner with Rithmik as we are doing something very specific that no one else is currently doing. We are right now talking to three new clients to do a value assessment project with them to demonstrate what we can do with their data.

Can you touch upon Rithmik’s growth plans?

After the closing of the US$1.2 investment round in 2021 to commercialize our Asset Health Analyzer (AHA), we are now looking to raise US$3 million. We plan to hire talent, grow the company, and increase our scalability to be able to serve more clients.

Are you seeing the market moving from the need for increased efficiency and the decrease of downtime to more sustainability-focused concerns?

There are still people on both sides of the fence. Some companies are directly transitioning to electrification and alternative energy sources, but some companies are not able to do that or that is not in their game plan, and they are wanting to lessen the fuel consumption and GHG emissions from the fleet that they have. The challenge is that companies have the information on their fuel consumption, but do not have the solution to lessening this consumption. Rithmik can offer analytic solutions to draw circles around opportunities in the mechanical space, operator behavior, and road condition information to deliver actionable insights.

What is the role of new technologies in the success of the green transition?

Mines have been collecting data for approximately 20 years, but it has not been fully exploited and there is so much both low-hanging and higher-hanging fruit embedded in that data. As there is so much information, it can be difficult to uncover the value, but AI is an extremely powerful tool for looking at these substantial amounts of data, finding correlations and relationships, and extracting the value. Moving forward, AI will be important in the data collection and analysis space and the autonomous space.

Are mining firms in Québec ready to put AI in the driver’s seat?

A future of full automation is possible, but I believe it will take longer than what people are saying. The mining industry has many different challenges that you do not see, for example, in manufacturing plant environments. The solutions there are built in at the engineering level whereas, within mining, there are so many variables that make it difficult to adjust at that engineering level and the technology is currently getting applied from the top down. Mining is significantly complex, which is one of the main reasons why the mining industry is a bit behind in technology. To get to full automation, a lot of change management and open-mindedness will be required as we need to change some of the processes that are currently being used, not just within maintenance and operations, but the entire mining process.

What key milestones does Rithmik want to achieve in 2023?

Rithmik will be focused on further emphasizing and quantifying the capacity of our product to reduce fuel burn and mitigate GHG emissions. We will also be expanding our team and scaling up to serve more clients, having our solutions in more mines around the world.