A Hidden Gem in Mining Software
Some businesses take you by surprise—not because you didn’t see the need, but because it’s hard to believe no one solved it properly until now.
RPMGlobal is one of those businesses.
Having spent over 15 years in the mining industry—particularly on the production and operations side—I’ve lived the complexity and inefficiency of traditional mine development and planning firsthand. That’s what makes RPM’s solution so exciting. It’s a textbook example of technology improving not just process, but profitability.
Why Mining Needs RPMGlobal
Developing a mine is a capital- and information-intensive process.
At a high level, the core development philosophy hasn’t changed in decades:
- Find the ore body.
- Map the most efficient excavation route to it.
- Extract and process it with the lowest-cost combination of equipment and labor.
- Convert it into a high-yield product and connect it to the lowest-cost distribution chain.
Until recently, this has involved:
- Geological surveys,
- Core-hole sampling,
- Manual interpretation using 2D drawings and static maps,
- And often, best-guess planning based on probabilistic data with large error margins.
That means high upfront costs, slow planning cycles, and expensive mistakes.
Enter RPMGlobal.
Radiographic Precision + Software Efficiency = Disruption
What RPMGlobal has done is deceptively simple—but transformative:
They’ve enabled 3D radiographic modelling of ore bodies based on the same core-hole sampling, using much more advanced scanning, imaging, and inference techniques.
This allows engineers and mine planners to:
- Accurately locate ore bodies in 3D space,
- Determine concentration and yield with higher precision,
- Design efficient extraction paths using automated algorithms,
- Minimise machine usage and haulage costs,
- And ultimately reduce the CAPEX and OPEX of mine development.
It’s like going from paper maps and compass to satellite-guided autonomous navigation.
But the brilliance of RPM isn’t just the tech—it’s the business model.
A Classic SaaS Flywheel in a Legacy Industry
Mining is traditionally slow-moving when it comes to adopting technology.
But RPMGlobal has achieved something rare:
They’ve embedded software-as-a-service (SaaS) economics into a highly resistant legacy vertical.
Each new implementation:
- Improves operational performance,
- Lowers cost-per-ton,
- Increases precision (thus reducing financial risk),
- And deepens dependency on the platform.
That gives RPM:
- High gross margins,
- Sticky customer relationships,
- Recurring revenue from mission-critical software,
- And a long tail of upsell opportunities as digital mine planning becomes the new standard.
Their clients don’t just buy software—they build operations around it.
Why This Business Excites Me
As someone who has been deeply embedded in mining operations, I understand both:
- The enormous cost of inefficiency,
- And the asymmetric upside when you reduce that inefficiency at scale.
What RPMGlobal offers is not just marginal gains.
It’s a step-change improvement in how mines are planned and operated.
And unlike many tech companies selling to miners, RPM doesn’t feel bolted on.
It feels essential.
Looking Ahead: Underrated TAM + Strong Competitive Position
The global mining industry is undergoing a digital shift.
But it’s still early.
- As global resource demand increases,
- As ESG and safety compliance tighten,
- And as investor expectations rise for return-on-invested-capital…
…mining companies will need to get smarter, faster, and leaner.
RPMGlobal sits at the intersection of this need and this opportunity:
- Their Total Addressable Market (TAM) is expanding,
- Their product suite is increasingly integrated,
- Their competitive moat is growing with every additional dataset.
In my view, this is still an undiscovered compounder in its early innings.
Final Thoughts
Some investors dismiss mining as “old-world” and ignore it.
But smart investors know the resource sector is entering a new era:
- Automation,
- AI-driven planning,
- Electrification of fleets,
- And precision software like RPMGlobal enabling it all.
My thesis is simple:
RPMGlobal is not just catching this wave—they’re helping define it.
I started my position in RPMGlobal after recognising that their product wasn’t just useful—it was inevitable.
And for a capital-intensive sector like mining, inevitability is gold.
