Robotics engineer and start-up founder Michael Simard is spending most of the next few weeks on show floors and in meeting rooms at mining events in Sudbury and Timmins but he’ll have plenty of time to think about what lies ahead over the next 12 months for three-year-old ARLYX Technologies on the drive between the prominent Canadian mining hubs, including a return to Australia.
Simard is hopping from Mining Transformed at the unique NORCAT Underground Centre in Onaping to the Canadian Mining Expo in Timmins and then back to Sudbury for a Global Mining Guidelines Group (GMG) forum.
GMG’s big zero-entry mining push fits ARLYX and its founder’s vision for the industry’s future, currently embodied in the Quebec company’s electric autonomous utility vehicle.
The latest iteration of ARLYX’s robot carrier – “tested under real conditions at a tier-one mine” – made its first public appearance at Mining Transformed. The unit comes with ARLYX’s automated AutoLatch module which can load and unload up to five tonnes of materials such as rock bolts, pipes and concrete during post-blast periods or other times.
Evacuation of underground workings during post-blast mine ventilation of noxious gases leads to obvious productivity losses. ARLYX’s robot can deliver consumables so they are in place when crews return, which also means fewer utilities on ramps during production shifts to slow ore trucks. Simard says a single additional ore load per day can generate millions of dollars of annual gains.
“Ramp congestion is the bottleneck of every underground mine,” he says.
“Every day, hours and thousands of dollars are left on the table. ARLYX is the first to tackle the problem at its source by clearing the ramp.”
The former MDA Space and the Canadian Space Agency engineer has been getting predictably positive feedback on ARLYX’s technology and business case as he puts it in front of mining managers. That includes during the time he spent in Western Australia – “in one of the most advanced mining ecosystems in the world” – in the latter part of 2025 when he got good exposure to heavyweight miners and contractors.
“The appetite for innovation is higher in Australia than in Canada,” Simard told InvestMETS.com.
Among new planned hires is an Australian business development manager. Simard also likes the look of the Australian Automation and Robotics Precinct, north of Perth in WA, as a potential expansion base.
“We are now ready to deploy and test the real value the technology can generate,” he said.
“The issue with the mining industry is that they all want to be first to be second.”
Notwithstanding that familiar refrain, Simard is keen to further test interest from “many mines” in ARLYX’s technology as extraction generally gets deeper, regulations around underground hazard exposure continue to evolve and labour shortages grow. He says a single teleoperator can oversee up to 10 ARLYX vehicles simultaneously. The company wanted to help make “the zero-entry mine a reality – one where technology takes the risks, not people”.
As diesel fuel prices again increase short-term focus on electric vehicle economics the bigger picture, as always, is dominated by high-cost mine ventilation and the related, apparently incalculable health costs associated with diesel particulate matter.
On a more basic level, ARLYX is also arguing its case for the simplified mechanics and low maintenance needs of its robotic workhorses. The company’s engineers are said to be working on fire suppression, dust control and ore transport modules to build out its range.
“Our vehicle wasn’t retrofitted to be mining-ready,” Simard says. “It is designed for mines, their constraints and their realities.”
As well as new module launches planned for this year and next, ARLYX has an advanced 3D navigation system in the works.
And despite cultural roadblocks, Simard is optimistic about the path ahead.
“There’s a real shift happening in mining,” he says.
“Companies want adaptable, flexible equipment solutions and those options are still limited.
“The industry is transforming faster than expected.”
The progress of ARLYX and start-ups like it will be a real guide to how fast.
