The CEO of London-listed Tribe Technology, Charlie King, has described a new strategic alliance with Boart Longyear unit, Veracio, as an “important milestone in our journey towards becoming the market leader in drilling automation in the mining industry”.
Tribe, formed in 2019 and listed on London’s AIM market last year, plans to work with Veracio to jointly develop a “new and novel system” for blast hole chip sampling that will leverage both their proprietary intellectual property.
“The outcome of this agreement will expand the offerings of both parties, including the development of further IP during the joint development, which will be owned in equal shares by Tribe Tech and Veracio,” Tribe said.
“While Tribe Tech is confident on the future prospects of the agreement for the group, the board of directors of Tribe Tech expects any resultant revenues or earnings contribution to the group in the next 12 months to be inconsequential.”
Tribe is currently manufacturing autonomous reverse circulation drill rigs at its Belfast factory in Northern Ireland for Anglo American and Major Drilling subsidiary, McKay Drilling of Australia. It has ambitions to replace many of the 1400 or so RC drill rigs in use around the world with autonomous units.
Veracio is selling proprietary drilling and rock sensors and data tools into the large Boart Longyear services business, as well as external customers. It describes itself as “the global leader in core and chip sample scanning”.
“Tribe Tech have shown a fantastic collaborative spirit and we’re excited to see what we can develop together,” Veracio CEO John Clark said.
