Posted December 8th, 2023

2023: A Pivotal Year for Our Company—and for Our Customers

2023 was an unprecedented year for Prairie Machine. It was a year of amazing growth for the company. A year where our investment in electric technologies is finally starting to pay off and our wildest expectations were exceeded by the reality.

But this success has been decades in the making. We could not have achieved this record-breaking year without years of hard work and tireless commitment to innovation and partnerships.

Partnership Drives Innovation

From the beginning, our company focused on establishing trusted partnerships with our customers, and many of them are still with us more than four decades later.

For us, part of being a good partner means staying one step ahead of what our customers need as they face new challenges and new opportunities, which is why we have never stopped innovating.

This spirit of innovation led us to make a strategic acquisition of an electric vehicle company in 2015. It was early days, and the first Tesla had only reached the market only a few years earlier, but we saw the potential of this technology immediately. Not only is it a greener, cleaner choice, but it is far safer for the mines and the people who work in them. By replacing diesel vehicles with electric, our customers can eliminate unhealthy emissions as well as reduce operational costs.

Perfecting the Technology

Fast-forward to today, and our battery electric division, Rokion, is a global leader in the field and the first company to perfect a battery electric vehicle purpose-built for the mining industry. Unlike the diesel retrofits that are the only other option for going electric, Rokion trucks are modular in design, allowing for maximum design versatility.

With eight years of innovation and R&D behind us, our electric vehicles have been tried, tested, and optimized. In 2023, not only did we establish new industry benchmarks for cool-running safety and performance, but we used these achievements to help us build a global reputation and customer base.

Establishing a Global Footprint

Our hard-won reputation and innovative electric solutions, combined with the evolving needs of the global mining industry, created unprecedented opportunities for us this year.

In Canada, we stepped up to support long-time customers who needed to ramp up production as global events created significant disruptions in the supply chain for potash. We supplied long-time customer Nutrien with the boring machines, roof bolters, belt storage magazines, belt carts, and Flexiveyors they needed to scale up quickly to meet global demand, and we will be providing dozens of Rokion electric vehicles to BHP, a new entry in Saskatchewan’s potash market.

Further afield, we welcomed new global customers and partners.

Mosaic, whose Canadian operations we have served for decades, chose us to support a major capital acquisition of boring machines, electric vehicles, and auxiliary equipment to strengthen potash production in their Brazil operations.

Torex, a Canadian gold producer, chose us to supply them with several dozen vehicles for their Minera Media Luna project located southwest of Mexico City.

LDO Group remains a strong global distribution partner and will represent Rokion vehicles in Australia and New Zealand.

2024: Tenure, Talent, and Tenacity

While 2023 was an extraordinary year for us, we are aiming for a 2024 that surpasses it. The global reputation we established this year and our leading position as a provider of purpose-built electric vehicles will bring even greater opportunities in the year ahead.

Even more important, we have everything we need to seize those opportunities as fast as they come. Talent is paramount to the task, and we are lucky to have a deep talent pool. Today we employ more than 230 employees, including fabricators, machinists, and mechanical and electrical engineering talent, many of whom have been with us for a decade or more. And we are continually seeking more people to join our growing team.

We are also lucky to benefit from Canada's resilient supply chain, which has enabled us to deliver for our customers, even when they needed to scale global operations quickly.

This is the year we demonstrated to ourselves and the world that we are ready to support the mining industry on a global scale, and we can't wait to see where the next chapter in this story takes us.

Header Image Credit: Chris Hendrickson