Vayeron founder Ryan Norris takes mining tech to next level at Resources Centre of Excellence

A Qld tech entrepreneur is set to fast track crucial technology by emulating real-world scenarios in a replica underground mine to avoid failures that can threaten the profitability of mines and ports.

Entrepreneur Ryan Norris has big dreams and as the first ‘innovator in residence’ at the Resources Centre of Excellence, he has every chance of reaching them.

For three months, his company Vayeron will enjoy exclusive access to the centre’s state-of-the-art complex and its replica underground mine.

The company will develop its research into sensors on conveyor systems to better predict the failures that regularly threaten the profitability of mines and ports.

“We’re looking to solve that through our monitoring technologies, which embed intelligence within the rotating components, the rollers and can actually in real time measure physical parameters that indicate that that component is wearing and about to fail,” Mr Norris said.

Resources Centre of Excellence CEO Steven Boxall (left) stands with Vayeron engineer and entrepreneur Ryan Norris, the first innovator in residence, by the replica conveyor system. Picture: Duncan Evans

For the Mackay-based innovator, there’s nowhere else in Australia that offers him the ability to stop-and-start a conveyor to track and readjust research in real-time.

“We’ll have the ability to deploy our technologies on this system and be only a few metres away in the lab gathering real-time data,” he said.

“And if we need to, and this is the beauty about it, if we need to stop all of a sudden and go and adjust something, we can.

“Which is not possible when you’re on a mine site.

“You’re at the whim of the operation of the mine that you’re on.

“It’s never possible and nothing goes according to plan on site.

“So it gives us the lab conditions, but in an environment that’s pretty much spot on in terms of being like a real mine.”

Mr Norris founded Vayeron in 2014 and the company has already secured a foothold in global markets, with customers in Brazil, the US, Canada and Taiwan.

“We’re proud to say that we’re a Mackay headquartered but globally focused business,” he said.

With three-months of concentrated innovation, Mr Norris hopes to uplift his company to a new level of sophistication.

The Resources Centre of Excellence holds a replica underground mine, offering a test site for companies to innovate without the disruptions of a regular mine site. Picture: Duncan Evans

“It’s taken quite an effort to bring them (products) to market because of that slow research and development cycle, which is a result of constrained access to these sites that use conveyors,” he said.

“So by bringing our R and D here to the RCOE, we’re able to fast track a lot of technology development, because we’re emulating real world scenarios.”

Mr Norris’s family moved to Australia from Zimbabwe when he was seven years old.

Following high school in Western Australia, Mr Norris moved to Mackay to study engineering at Central Queensland University.

Mackay’s $10m Resources Centre of Excellence also serves as a training site for companies preparing their workers for mining. Picture: Duncan Evans

RCOE CEO Steven Boxall said the residency was his centre’s way of giving back to the community after 16 months of operations.

“With innovators, they struggle to come up with the funds to take that next step,” he explained.

“It’s really our philanthropic support to help innovators in the region.”

The $10m complex, funded by the state government and Mackay Regional Council and supported by industry heavyweights such as BMA and Anglo, is an open system that anyone can plug into to push boundaries of mining.

Mr Boxall said he was thrilled to see Vayeron pursue its ambitions.

“Because of the fantastic work that Vayeron has done, and the position they’ve got in the market and the alignment with the facility and the equipment we have with where they’re hoping to take their research and development, there’s just a natural fit that Vayeron became the first innovator in residence,” he said.

Originally published as Vayeron founder Ryan Norris takes mining tech to next level at Resources Centre of Excellence