Launched in December 2017, Minocular gives an automatic mining management platform
Minocular combines IoT and geospatial data to help with surveys and planning
It is currently operating with huge enterprise names along with Ambuja Cement and others
While on our six-city tour of the Tier 2 startup surroundings with BIGShift, we determined several promising startups. This series will cowl some of the most progressive startups. From this collection is a startup from Raipur, Minocular that has taken a SaaS technique to boost efficiency and protection in the mining enterprise.
The mining sector is a big untapped ability in India for the tech enterprise. Despite being domestic to 1,531 running mines, the arena’s contribution to the GDP has been beneath three%. And this contribution has been declining in the beyond few years. While the GDP growth of the country went from 5% in 2012-13 to 7% in 2017-18, the contribution of the arena (apart from petroleum and natural gasoline) fell to at least one.53% from 1.Ninety three% within the equal period.
While the authorities is making efforts to refine the mining zone with the National Mineral Policy 2019 that seeks to deliver transparency, socioeconomic boom and protection and the ‘Khan Prahari’ app and different such initiatives, era startups also are stepping in.
Modular Mining, Hexagon and Minocular are 3 examples of startups that are focussed on mining, and the changes being delivered in can be important for the monetary improvement of the sector.
Based in Chhatisgarh capital Raipur, Minocular has taken a completely automated technique to mine management software program. While other gamers within the mining organization tech quarter makes use of equipment inclusive of company aid making plans software, it includes manual facts access to streamling fleet control and other parts of the operation. On Minocular’s computerized platform, making plans and operational software program get car-crammed facts thanks to IoT terminals for the fleet and other factors inside the supply chain. This is combined with geospatial information to assist mines with survey activities for enlargement and making plans toward it. These are supplied as actional insights in real-time.
Discovered at the Nagpur leg of the six-town BIGShift tour, Minocular was founded in December 2017 with the aid of Puru Agrawal and Mohit Sahu. To increase its attain among mining operations, it collaborated with Director General of Mines Safety (DGMS) to launch Khanan Mitra with the intention of connecting mining employees with each other. Currently, the app has extra than three hundred mines on board.
From Digital Marketing To Mining: The Story Of Minocular
Sahu and Agrawal weren’t constantly mining tech players. They solid a friendship at some stage in their education years. Both engineers, Sahu opted to specialize in mining, even as Agrawal chose computer technological know-how. This combination has held them in exact stead at Minocular. Their first venture, even though, was a ways from anything concerning mines. In June 2016, the duo released a virtual marketing enterprise, BlueBanyan Technologies.
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Within only a few months of starting BlueBanyan, they got a pilot mission from a mine. They were called on to suggest tech that might remedy issues associated with mine surveys.
“We observed that there was no generation being used at any level of the mining operations. After many visits to mines, understanding their issues, running with the managers, surveyors, blast managers and dumper operators and greater, Minocular became released as an included platform for the mining enterprise,” Agrawal instructed CFT.
Sahu’s heritage as a mining engineer changed into a real boon for Minocular as it gave the startup loads of credibilities, and it is able to also understand and examine the industry better.
Raipur provided them with the benefit of being in proximity to a number of the most important mines in India. And the demand from the enterprise changed into the icing on the cake. Minocular had all the substances for fulfillment, plus its consciousness on automation and rising technology become a key competitive gain as well.
“Mining is a place, in which there are numerous challenges. We are using and experimenting with the ultra-modern tech like drones, AI, ML which offers us the joys to learn as well as implement it in actual life.”
The Minocular platform has two principal services — making plans gear and operation gear. While to begin with there have been many products presented at the platform, they narrowed it down to two important modules as they realised the wishes and workings of a mine.
“This basically came as a suggestion from the industry itself,” Agrawal informed us.
How Minocular Helps Mines Plan Smarter
Agrawal elaborated on how mines conduct surveys. To outsiders, a survey may seem to be an occasional need for a mine, but he stated that it desires to be executed each day. This helps mines determine out the perfect places for drilling and blasting and other sports. “So essentially, 90% of the time, they are running on their map itself,” defined Agrawal.
Minocular’s MinoDrone is a drone analytics platform customised for the mining industry. Irrespective of whether or not the entire gadget is being used or no longer, a mine can add and procedure its own drone maps. Minocular specialists use the drone to behavior whole survey and deliver outcomes that then be used for volume calculations, brief-term and long-term making plans and extra.
How Minocular Helps Mine Operations
“The second and major a part of Minocular is the platform itself. We installation an IoT community inside the mines, connecting all of the main assets inclusive of dumpers, excavators, weighing bridges, quality analysers and greater,” Agrawal delivered, highlighting how technology is automating things that was once completed through guide checking and supervision.
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Apart from providing real-time statistics and monitoring of belongings, the operation gear paintings on top of the MinoDrone map, making it extraordinarily easy for any minefield to integrate making plans and operations. Mines get get right of entry to to excessive-precision AI algorithms primarily based at the IoT information to expect the first-class of output and generate reports mechanically. Further, it is able to additionally are expecting what the actual manufacturing might be inside the future.
Is Minocular The Future Of Mining?
The startup claims that whilst maximum of the startups on this area work on compliance and commercial enterprise management, Minocular is the handiest platform that focusses on the operations of the mines and covers it quit-to-stop, beginning from surveying to dispatch.
For now, it earns revenue through selling software program licenses to mines, income of customised hardware utilized in its IoT community in addition to monthly or quarterly drone-based surveys. Besides this, the Khanan Mitra app allows them to get admission to new leads, consumer referrals and offers them an engagement platform to hook up with miners and mines.
Currently, it has agencies along with Nuvoco Vistas Corp as customers and it's far doing pilot work with essential enterprise names together with Ambuja Cement and five different mines. Going forward, Minocular plans to earn sales via licensing its MinoDrone tech to mines in Australia, South Africa and more. While its annual sales is INR 35 Lakh until 2018-19, this economic 12 months it's miles targetting sales of greater than INR 50 Lakh.
“Mining is an enterprise where some massive players personal and manage most of the mines. Most mine managers recognize each different. The app helps us get good referrals from close by mines and additionally connect to other mines running under this organisation,” Agrawal introduced.
