Made in CA Exclusive Interview
Published: April 3, 2023
Published by: Nicole Blair
NSS Canada is a mining technology company that provides reliable, accurate, and innovative mining and survey equipment solutions. Developer of MOSS (Miner Operated Survey System), NSS Canada is also a Leica Geosystems, Exyn Technologies, and Hexagon Mining Authorized Reseller.
Our Vision: A future where mining technology can drive change and connection. We bring our expertise to the marketplace with an innovative approach.
Our Mission: Developing key relationships with industry partners that focus on innovation, allowing us to provide the most efficient, accurate, and innovative connected solutions to our customers and bringing the best mining technology together for our customers.
Tell us about yourself?
I have been working in the mining industry for over a decade. What attracted me to this line of work was the incredible people within the industry, the room for professional growth living in a mining city like Sudbury that has infinite potential for development and innovation as well as leading a team that develops revolutionary mining equipment that can change the lives of miners through safety. As President of NSS Canada, I lead the planning and execution of corporate development and business transformation efforts in establishing NSS Canada as a market leader, furthering the company’s forward-thinking and innovative products and services, focusing on efficiency and accuracy in the industry.
If you could go back in time a year or two, what piece of advice would you give yourself?
I would tell myself that anything is possible and to think big because anything is possible with the right team by my side.
What problem does your business solve?
Our business solves many problems for the mining, surveying, engineering, and construction industries. Accuracy and efficiency are two critical elements in the mining industry today. It is crucial that miners follow mine plans accurately to be as efficient as possible. With each meter of advance, there is a chance of overbreak, underbreak, and deviation from the designed mine plan. These three factors can result in a substantial loss in money and time. Overbreak, as well as damaged zone, significantly impacts the project cost, construction period, safety, and performance of the underground structures.
With MOSS, optimization is key. With more demand for productivity, you need to keep up and generate an ROI for any investment you make. As a solution with more functionality and a significant increase in accuracy and efficiency, the Miner Operated Survey System (MOSS) is a total underground solution, proving its ROI almost immediately!
MOSS has been proven to help reduce overbreak by 15-20 per cent by enforcing best practices. Miners are provided ample feedback to help their drilling improve, stay consistent and prevent them from deviating from design. Miners can see how well they are progressing and will have more accountability for their work.
Our MOSS AR (currently in development) will solve even more problems underground. MOSS AR (Augmented Reality) is a new technology developed by NSS Canada that incorporates MOSS (Miner Operated Survey System) with an augmented reality display.
The addition of MOSS AR provides real-time holographic projections of all survey and planned data, reduces traditional survey equipment requirements, and saves time with a five-minute markup process.
As a Leica Geosystems reseller for over 30 years, we can solve all your problems. Miners face major obstacles. From designing mine infrastructure to capturing detailed mine features, Leica Mining Solutions help you overcome challenges and supply you with accurate measurement solutions.
What is the inspiration behind your business?
The inspiration behind NSS Canada is making mining safer, faster and more innovative for miners. Our goal is to create revolutionary mining equipment that changes the way we think about mining. Our goal is also to attract more youth and future workers to see value in working within the growing mining industry.
What is your magic sauce?
NSS Canada differs from the competition because we are an experienced reseller for trusted brands like Leica Geosystems, Exyn Technologies, and Hexagon Mining. We also have the best underground mining technology developed in-house. The software is fully matured and packed with decades of input from miners, geologists, and engineers. We are also at the forefront of mining with our new MOSS AR currently in development which will shrink the markup process to as little as five minutes versus the traditional 40-minute markup time.
What is the plan for the next 5 years? What do you want to achieve?
In the next five years, we would like our Miner Operated Survey System (MOSS) to be the standard mining software used at every mine across Canada. We would also like to keep developing new technology for the mining industry, such as our MOSS AR (Augmented Reality).
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?
Many other companies in the mining industry don’t see the future of mining like we do. Our goal, as a company, is to be a the forefront of underground mining technology developments.
How can people get involved?
If you’re a mining, surveying, engineering, or construction company, we have the solutions to optimize your workflows. Visit our website at www.nsscanada.com or call us at 705-744-3246.
Read the original article on Made in CA: https://madeinca.ca/bruno-lalonde-nss-canada/