Blasting into the future of mining

The global mining industry is at a turning point. Confronted by declining ore grades, rising operational costs, and a growing talent shortage, mine operators are under increasing pressure to rethink how they extract and process minerals. At the same time, demand for mineral resources is outpacing supply, fueled by global electrification, renewable energy technologies, and expanding urban infrastructure. The result: stagnant productivity and profit margins under constant pressure.

While automation and artificial intelligence (AI) have transformed many aspects of modern mining, one critical process remains largely outdated — drilling and blasting. This essential step still depends on static designs, fragmented systems, and informal, experience-based decision-making. The consequences of suboptimal blasting are well-known: poor fragmentation, excess fines, increased energy consumption, higher dilution, and elevated processing costs. In short, ineffective blasting drives up costs, reduces revenue, and slows down production.

Watoga Technologies, a Canadian mining-tech startup, is directly addressing this challenge. Their flagship platform, RockHound, acts as the digital brain of the modern mine — a centralized AI-driven system that optimizes blasting operations and the downstream processes.

Reimagining blasting with RockHound

RockHound is not merely a digital blast design tool; it is a data-integrated, predictive analytics platform developed by mining professionals with deep domain expertise. Leveraging geology models, drill and blast data, explosive characteristics, and real-time feedback from downstream operations, RockHound enables data-informed decision-making at every stage of the blasting process. It provides granular insight into in-situ rock conditions, prescribes optimized blast designs tailored to variable geology, and models the downstream impacts on material handling, comminution efficiency, and overall plant performance.

The core vision is simple: Blast smarter, process faster, and extract more.

Key features include the following:

Predictive blast optimization: RockHound uses machine learning (ML) models to forecast the geological and structural conditions of the bench before the first hole is drilled. The system then recommends optimal design, charges, and delay timings based on fragmentation targets, crusher constraints, or dilution thresholds.

Mine-to-mill integration: The software does not stop at the blast. It correlates blast outcomes with crusher throughput, mill energy usage, and recovery metrics. This closes the loop and allows future blasts to be continuously refined.

Data-agnostic architecture: It can integrate with a wide range of sensors, software, and file types, including PDFs, Excel spreadsheets, and paper logs using optical character recognition (OCR). It centralizes fragmented datasets into one live, actionable dashboard.

Vendor-neutral ecosystem: Unlike traditional solutions tied to specific explosives manufacturers or drill rigs, the platform is designed to work with any hardware provider, making it easy to implement in diverse operational environments.

Reconciliation: It simplifies the creation of reconciliation reports by leveraging its easily navigable data architecture and centralized database, offering users flexible export options to support accurate, efficient, and transparent reporting workflows.

The result is a platform that not only optimizes blasting, but it also transforms it into a predictable, repeatable, and continuously improving process.

Born in the mine, built by miners

The story begins not in a corporate boardroom, but in the classrooms and research labs of McGill University. It was there that three students — Elliot Forcier-Poirier, Samuel Desjardins, and Roko Baljak — crossed paths during their studies in mining engineering, computer science, and applied mathematics. Driven by a shared frustration with the shortcomings of existing blasting technologies, they combined their technical expertise to explore a better way forward. Informed by interviews with over 200 mining professionals, their early prototypes evolved into a robust solution that is now attracting significant attention and adoption across the mining industry.

Just one year later, their startup, Watoga Technologies, has grown to six full-time employees and completed a successful funding round in El Segundo, California — a growing hub for military, agricultural, and mining technology startups alongside players like Durin and Metionic.

Pilots across the globe: Multi-commodity, multi-method

RockHound is poised for significant field deployment, with six pilot projects currently underway in partnership with mining operations across two continents, encompassing both open-pit and underground operations. Project sites include some of the world’s highest-tonnage copper producers, as well as emerging operations targeting critical and precious minerals such as lithium, gold, silver, nickel, and tungsten.

This operational diversity highlights the software’s capability to adapt to varied mining settings, orebody characteristics, and methods. Whether the objective is optimizing fragmentation to accelerate mucking in large-scale open pits or reducing overbreak in narrow-vein underground stopes, the data-integrated platform dynamically tailors blast designs to site-specific conditions and operational goals.

Critically, these pilot deployments not only validate the platform’s technical versatility and scalability, but also underscore a broader industry shift toward AI-driven blasting optimization — signaling increasing confidence in intelligent, data-centric approaches to mine-to-mill integration.

The competitive edge: A new breed of mining software

While many companies are racing to capitalize on the promise of digital mining, few approach it with the clarity and operational focus of Watoga Technologies. Unlike most mining tech startups — often led by outsider talents with limited field experience — Watoga was founded by insiders who understand the complex realities of mining operations.

This firsthand perspective enables Watoga to prioritize what truly matters on-site: robust data interoperability, real-time system responsiveness, and seamless alignment with the workflows of mine engineers and blasting crews.

Critically, RockHound’s open architecture and integration-friendly design have drawn interest from major players across the mining ecosystem, including major equipment manufacturers, explosive suppliers, and mining software providers. These stakeholders have expressed a willingness to connect their data streams to the RockHound platform — an uncommon level of engagement for an early-stage software platform, and a strong vote of confidence in both the technology and the team behind it.

The future is intelligent, integrated, and automated

The mining industry is steadily evolving toward a model where AI, automation, and human expertise work in tandem. In this context, tools like RockHound represent a significant step forward — not as a replacement for engineering judgment, but as an augmentation of it. By providing real-time data, predictive insights, and powerful simulation capabilities, the software supports more informed and consistent decision-making in blasting operations.

Blasting, historically seen as a blend of experience and intuition, is increasingly being redefined as a controlled, data-driven process. With advanced tools, mine operators can reduce variability, improve fragmentation outcomes, and achieve measurable efficiencies and savings across the production cycle.

As pilot programs progress and additional deployments are launched, early results will help clarify the role of AI-assisted blasting in broader mine-to-mill optimization. This software is not just a tool; it is a leap forward in this shifting mining landscape.

The right tool at the right time

As the mining industry faces mounting pressure from declining ore grades, rising costs, and escalating demand for critical minerals, the companies that will lead are those capable of optimizing every stage of the value chain. This software enters the field at a pivotal moment, offering tools to improve one of mining’s most fundamental — and often under-optimized — processes: blasting.

Built by industry experts and powered by a modern, scalable technology stack, RockHound has demonstrated adaptability across a range of commodities, geologies, and mining methods on multiple continents. It has the potential for wide-scale adoption as mines seek smarter, more integrated operational systems.

In a sector undergoing digital transformation, this new phase of innovation starts at the blast face. 

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