News

Press Release

Cape Town, South Africa, 9 May 2022: Dwyka Mining Services, authorised reseller of Maestro Digital Mine, is a specialized manufacturer of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) devices to give mining teams up-to-the-minute information about worker safety underground.

Hazardous gasses underground are an invisible threat to mining teams, who often don’t know they are in danger until it’s too late. This gas buildup can be created through the exposed strata, blasting, daily “mucking” and even runaway battery fires on critical machinery. Traditionally, the gas levels are measured by the ventilation system at the return air raises or wearable sensors donned by miners. While this fixed infrastructure has saved countless lives, mobile autonomous inspection on aerial and ground robots of strategic areas before re-entry or in emergency situations are the next step to complete real-time coverage.

In a new development being showcased for the first time at Mining Indaba, Boston Dynamics Spot Enterprise robot, equipped with Maestro’s IIoT gas sensor which can be operated on mine-site, to detect hazardous gasses like Carbon Monoxide, without putting mining and ventilation teams in danger. Ventilation and mining teams will easily be able to add different gas sensors onto the connected Zephyr Air Quality Station, capturing critical environmental data to proactively identify gas or temperature challenges.

“The established client base of Maestro Digital Mine environmental sensors will allow us to make the technology mobile for broader applications. We’re very excited about this integration with Maestro Digital Mine as a future partner payload for Boston Dynamics Spot Enterprise solution and look forward to continually improving worker safety for whole-of-mine deployment with our new best friend Spot.” says van Schoor.

Boston Dynamics Spot Enterprise, is an agile mobile robot designed to navigate all types of terrain, allowing organisations to automate routine inspection tasks, capture data securely and safely, and allow for streamlined operations in complex and dangerous environments.

Using the Spot Enterprise on-board processing the data is shared wirelessly over WiFi and gas and temperature sensor readings are captured while the robot is in operation and displayed in real-time via the MaestroLink™ Server application. With the addition of a SLAM scanning unit sensor, like the Emesent Hovermap, readings can be saved with precise coordinates in a high-fidelity point cloud that can be exported and examined in a variety of mining software packages.

“Collaborating with our mud-in-boots partner, Dwyka Mining Services who are always pushing the envelope with technology integration with pioneering brands like Boston Dynamics, is in turn pushing us to innovate and collaborate with our core purpose of enhancing lives by the pursuit of productivity and safety excellence,” says Michael Gribbons, CEO and Co-Founder of Maestro Digital Mine. “This relationship will open up immediate opportunities to Dwyka Mining Services and Maestro in Africa and extend mobile environmental monitoring to our current installations at over 170 mines in 38 countries globally using our patented edge based IIoT sensor technologies once the solution is fully embedded.”

As the doors open to this year’s Mining Indaba on Monday, delegates will be able to see Spot ‘in the metal’ with a Zephyr AQS™ at booth 908 at Dwyka Mining Services Technology Co. in its custom see-through kennel, ready to deploy and dock back onto its charging station ahead of its next mission.

“We are excited to share our new best friend Spot and its amazing capabilities with the delegates of Mining Indaba and the global mining industry. In the spirit of technology collaboration, we have assembled the world’s best mining technologies to be on the stand with us to share and conceptualise end-to-end solutions for maximum impact for our mining clients,” states van Schoor.

“Spot is an amazing platform with almost unlimited applications. The ability to get live environmental monitoring data ‘on the go’ by extending our remote sensing capability to ‘smell’ for hazardous gas detection from our new robot dog is very exciting,” says Rethabile Letlala Operations Director Dwyka Mining Services.

The adoption of underground mining technology is linked closely with the extent of mine-wide wireless connectivity available up to the working face. Generally referred to as the ‘last-mile’, the underground section from a level access to the blast face, this area is complex to deliver robust wireless coverage. Dwyka Mining Services has delivered a range of successful projects fully deploying WiFi coverage (see Case Studies) and Spot’s capability to connect over WiFi extends mines opportunity to control Spot from surface for remote gas inspection.

About Dwyka Mining Services

Dwyka Mining Services is a pan-African mining technology platform that assists underground mining clients to adopt, and adapt to, evolving technologies with a focus on supporting efforts to improve safety, health and environmental conditions in the collaborative pursuit of the digital mine of the future.

About Dwyka Mining Services Technology Co.

As the mining industry plans and begins executing on their digital adoption roadmaps, Dwyka Mining Services will be showcasing leading global technologies at booth 908 as part of our Dwyka Technology Showcase Co. collaboration.

About Maestro Digital Mine

Maestro Digital Mine manufactures Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) measurement and control instrumentation for the optimization of underground mine ventilation and underground digital networks for last mile communication. Maestro products are made exclusively for the underground mine automation, IT, and ventilation sectors, delivering energy savings and productivity improvements while meeting the highest health and safety standards. Learn more about Maestro’s digital solutions at www.maestrodigitalmine.com.

Maestro Contact:

Nataly Argüello
Marketing Manager
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Office: 1-705-805-6918, x218

Read the press release at Dwyka’s website.

Media Coverage: 

Dwyka and Maestro showcase robotic mobile gas sensing solution at Indaba
International Mining

Dwyka Mining Services, an authorised reseller of Maestro Digital Mine, has used the 2022 Investing in African Mining Indaba, in Cape Town, South Africa, to premier a new robotic solution that is fitted with Maestro’s IIoT gas sensor. Read more here.

Dwyka Mining Services and Maestro Digital Mine showcase connected worker and robotic dog solutions
Global Mining Review

In a new development being showcased for the first time at Mining Indaba, Boston Dynamics Spot Enterprise robot, equipped with Maestro’s IIoT gas sensor, can be operated on site at mines to detect hazardous gasses such carbon monoxide, without putting mining and ventilation teams in danger. Read more here.

‘Spot’ in the spotlight at Mining Indaba
Mining Review Africa

Hazardous gasses underground are an invisible threat to mining teams, who often don’t know they are in danger until it’s too late. This gas buildup can be created through the exposed strata, blasting, daily “mucking” and even runaway battery fires on critical machinery. Read more here.

Dwyka Mining Services and Maestro Digital Mine unlocking value in the last mile
Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal

Sudbury mining supplier pairing up with South African firm on miner safety. Dwyka Mining Services, authorized reseller of Maestro Digital Mine, is a specialized manufacturer of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) devices to give mining teams up-to-the-minute information about worker safety underground. Read more here.

Dwyka to make tech tangible at Mining Indaba, conduct live virtual walkabouts
Creamer Media’s Mining Weekly

Pan-African mining technology platform Dwyka Mining Services plans to have key technology partners join its team at the upcoming Investing in African Mining Indaba 2022 to offer their view on mining technology in an effort to “make tech tangible” for Dwyka customers. Read more here.

Robodog to sniff out gas hazards
Mining Magazine

Pan-African mining technology platform Dwyka Mining Services plans to showcase a Boston Dynamics Spot Enterprise robot equipped with Maestro's IIoT gas sensor at an upcoming trade show. Dwyka Mining Services said the robot, often referred to as a "robodog", can be operated on a mine-site to detect hazardous gasses, like carbon monoxide. Read more here.

Spot the robotic dog makes its debut at this year's Mining Indaba
News 24

The Boston Dynamics Spot Enterprise robot was showcased for the first time at the 2022 Mining Indaba on Wednesday at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town. The robotic dog named Spot is an agile mobile robot designed to navigate all types of terrain, allowing organisations to automate routine inspection tasks, capture data securely and safely, and allow for streamlined operations in complex and dangerous environments. Read more here.

Dwyka Mining Services and Maestro Digital Mine unlocking value in the last-mile: connected worker and robotic dog solutions for safer mining
Mine Connect

Dwyka Mining Services, authorised reseller of Maestro Digital Mine, is a specialized manufacturer of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) devices to give mining teams up-to-the-minute information about worker safety underground. Hazardous gasses underground are an invisible threat to mining teams, who often don’t know they are in danger until it’s too late. Read more here.

Spot the robotic dog gets tails wagging at mine industry conference in Cape Town
Daily Maverick

The advanced technology of the mining sector has been on full display in recent days. Last week, it was a monster hydrogen-powered truck with a 290-tonne payload. This week, at the Cape Town Mining Indaba, Spot, a robotic dog with a payload of 14kg, made a fetching appearance. On Wednesday morning, the third day of the Mining Indaba, a robotic dog named Spot walked 1.5km from the V&A Waterfront to the Cape Town International Convention Centre. Simply because he can, of course. Read more here.

On the Move Monitoring

Article by Daniel Gleeson, part of the Mine Ventilation feature of the July 2022 Edition of IM.

The Sudbury-based company has become synonymous with improving underground mine ventilation safety as well as reducing blast re-entry times, with an offering that includes air quality stations, automated regulators and “fail-safe” LED displays. Its core remains IIoT devices and last mile digital networks for underground mines.

At the recent 2022 Investing in African Mining Indaba, in Cape Town, South Africa, Dwyka Mining Services, an authorised reseller of Maestro, made a splash, premiering a new robotic solution fitted with Maestro’s IIoT gas sensor.

The Boston Dynamics Spot Enterprise robot, equipped with Maestro’s IIoT gas sensor, can be operated on mine sites to detect hazardous gases like carbon monoxide, without putting mining and ventilation teams in danger. Ventilation and mining teams will easily be able to add different gas sensors onto the connected Zephyr Air Quality Station, capturing critical environmental data to proactively identify gas or temperature challenges, according to the companies.

Using Spot Enterprise on-board processing, the data is shared wirelessly over Wi-Fi, and gas and temperature sensor readings are captured while the robot is in operation and displayed in real time via the Maestro Link™ Server application.

“This relationship will open up immediate opportunities to Dwyka Mining Services and Maestro in Africa and extend mobile environmental monitoring to our current installations at over 170 mines in 38 countries globally using our patented edge-based IIoT sensor technologies once the solution is fully embedded.”

The debut of the Spot/Zephyr AGS™ combination follows hot on the heels of another partnership with Exyn Technologies that has seen an aerial drone with a Maestro gas monitoring IIoT device fitted on it come to the fore.

This new gas monitoring drone, which will integrate critical gas sensors onto the ExynAero™ and ExynPak™ platforms, is, effectively, the “quickest and safest mobile gas monitor on the planet”, Gribbons says. “The drone is able to automatically launch and log targeted gases directly on the point cloud in any confined area without deploying mine rescue personal with Scott Air-Paks.”

This, in turn, improves worker safety and accelerates the time to obtain accurate data in emergency conditions or for more granular data at the headings for reducing blast re-entry times, he added.

Powered by ExynAI’s multi-sensor fusion capabilities, gas sensor readings are captured while the robot is in flight and displayed in real time via a ruggedised tablet, Exyn explained. These sensor readings are saved with precise coordinates in a high-fidelity point cloud that can be exported and examined in a variety of mining software.

Performance Across the Fan Curve

Maestro is also involved with ventilation developments at the Odyssey project in Quebec, Canada, part of the Canadian Malartic mine.

This project, owned through a 50:50 joint venture between Yamana Gold Inc and Agnico Eagle Ltd, will see an underground mine developed beneath the existing open-pit operations. The future Odyssey Mine will be accessed by a ramp and a shaft estimated to be 1,800 m deep.

The owners of the mine have already gone on record to say that Odyssey will feature an LTE mobile communication network, an automated fleet of 60 t trucks operated from the surface and on-demand ventilation.

Maestro is set to provide 4 x 4 m MaestroFlex™ regulators to the mine, which will help control three underground booster fans from Spain-based Zitrón.

Louis van Wyk, General Manager of Zitrón North America, says these 2.3-m diameter, 1.6 MW booster fans are some of the largest the company has supplied to underground mines.
“This is quite a big installation underground,” he said. “Normally booster fans – which mostly assist the primary fans sitting on surface – are 500-600 kW.”

Van Wyk said the company was about 80% through manufacturing these fans, with – at the time of IM’s call – factory testing at Zitrón’s facility in Spain coming up.

Read the complete article in the IM Digital Magazine here.

Press Release

Sudbury, ON. Canada – August 30, 2022 – Maestro Digital Mine announced that Jahanzeb Sohail has been appointed Chief Operating Officer of the Company effective today. In his new role, Mr. Sohail will oversee engineering, operations, logistics, information technology and sourcing, and lead the Company's undertaking to improve efficiency and quality across the organization.

Originally from Pakistan, the son of Sohail Rafique and Shaheen Sohail, Mr. Sohail was born and raised in Dubai, U.A.E. until he moved to London, Ontario, where he completed his undergraduate studies in B.E.Sc Electrical Engineering and a Master in Electrical Engineering with a specialization in Power Systems at Western University.
 
Starting as an Electrical Engineer at Maestro, Mr. Sohail was responsible for managing projects, leading product development and certification testing. He later took on the role of Product Manager of the Air Quality products line, managing product performance for a much wider selection, new products and features, development life cycles, and undertaking large complex projects with multiple deliverables to customers across the world. He and his wife, Safa Ayub will be located in Sudbury.
 
“We are pleased that Jaha will take on this major leadership role at Maestro Digital Mine,” said Michael Gribbons, President and Chief Executive Officer, Maestro Digital Mine. “Jaha has already demonstrated leadership and success in executing strategies that are key to the success of our transformation, in our categories of IoT devices and last mile networks, and I look forward to being able to have Jaha’s skill, expertise and approach to business more broadly extended across the organization.”
 
Maestro Digital Mine, a division of High Grade Controls Corporation, manufactures Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) measurement and control instrumentation for the optimization of underground mine ventilation and underground digital networks for last mile communication. Maestro products are made exclusively for the underground mine automation, IT, and ventilation sectors, delivering energy savings and productivity improvements while meeting the highest health and safety standards. Learn more at www.maestrodigitalmine.com.

See PDF version here.

Contact for Media:
Nataly Argüello
Marketing Manager
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Len Gillis talks about the latest tested autonomous drones from Exyn Technologies equipped with Maestro environmental sensors.

Underground mining can produce a long list of hazardous gasses such as carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulphide, sulphur dioxide, methane and oxides of nitrogen.

Routine rock blasting is also a source of hazardous gas and there are times when mining companies incur significant time and expense to ensure that the gasses are cleared out before sending miners back into underground spaces.

Exyn recently tested some of its technology at the K+S Werra mine site in Germany where the ExynAero™ and ExynPak™ drones were equipped with gas monitoring devices created by Maestro.

Automated drones with gas testing devices can speed up the gas check procedure significantly.

Read the full article here.

Interview by Global Business Reports

Michael Gribbons: President, CEO and Co-founder of Maestro Digital Mine.

Can you outline the importance of your partnerships with Exyn Technologies and Boston Dynamics?

Maestro has two key ecosystem partnerships, and both are with autonomous devices. One is with Exyn on their autonomous drones that can find their way around a mine. The other one is Boston Dynamics' Spot, the robotic autonomous dog. We are lucky to have been identified by both companies as being the ideal partner for technology and gas monitoring. The whole application is about getting data back to the face, and both Exyn and Boston Dynamics enable technology to go into places where there is no network. I see this foremost as a worker safety apparatus. If you have an explosion in a mine and the network is down, you can send in either Spot with a big payload or you can send in an Exyn drone to get the job done quicker.

What are the keys to Maestro’s success in consistently introducing new technology into mines?

Product development is about predicting what the next phase of evolution is going to be. In that respect, you must understand the mining industry, and the new technologies that are available. You must then tailor those technologies for the industry. Maestro is not interested in incremental improvement. We are looking at step change, and we typically do that by disruption. The type of disruption we pursue is about simplifying our products. For example, we try to avoid adding a PLC, panel or any other associated pieces of software, or engineering services.


Read the full interview in the Global Business Reports website here.