Two Sudbury companies have announced a project that will showcase electric monorail technology envisioned as a novel method for moving personnel and cargo in the mining industry.
RIINO announced on July 2 its plans to establish a one-kilometre demonstration loop for its monorail on site at the Rainbow Concrete Quarry.
Still under development, the RIINO is being designed as an all-electric, autonomous monorail that can haul both personnel and cargo, in both surface and underground mining applications.
Its inventor, and the company’s CEO, Aaron Lambert, came up with the idea more than a decade ago while working as a mine contractor.
Last year, RIINO was the recipient of $780,000 in funding from the Mining Innovation Commercialization Accelerator (MICA) network, a Sudbury-based research and innovation coalition aimed at speeding up the time it takes for companies to get their mining technologies to market.
Lambert said he’s been working with Rainbow Concrete owner Boris Naneff on technology trials over the last two years.
“In the past two years, collaborating with Boris on various innovative tech trials has been incredibly fruitful. Our partnership has strengthened, driving forward industry innovation,” Lambert said in a news release.
“Boris’ consistent support has proven invaluable to our consortium of mining partners and our technological advancements.”
The demonstration site, which is expected to have minimal environmental impact, will give RIINO an opportunity to validate the technology at full scale, assessing its performance, reliability, and safety advantages in real-world scenarios, the company said.
Once established, the site will be open to the community and the mining industry.
The test site is expected to launch in 2025.
