Why this company exists

Deep down, we have an uneasy feeling of being trapped in a collision between the efficient (but dissipative) systems humans have built and the complex (but sustainable) systems the earth has provided for us. The symptoms include conflicts over what should be built where they intersect, which are typically resolved by political and economic coercion, which create injustice and trauma.

We believe there are better ways to decide and design projects in hypercontested spaces. Ways that are more inclusive, more respectful, and more consensus-based.

We exist because the technocracy that has captured the design process is not innovating enough, and cannot be expected to weaken its business model for altruistic motives. So we are going to the heart of the design process and retooling it for universal participation.

"You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete."

R. Buckminster Fuller

How we got here

Inspire Resources® was founded in 2019 to meet the need for systemic innovation in response to a changing social contract around mining. We envisioned a new business model for mining that we called Mineral Impulse™.

We anticipated that local communities would increase their influence over mine development, including as rights-holders and shareholders. We built an ecosystem of miners, mining equipment and service providers, and policy-makers who helped us to understand how mining should innovate to become more nimble and responsive to community interests. Our aspiration was to be the first Mining as a Service company, leading a collaboration of equipment providers bringing modular, scalable solutions to large numbers of small mines owned by communities.

The community ownership idea has since taken root in Canada in response to critical minerals development imperatives, but more as an economic inducement to accelerate major projects than as a shared governance framing to improve local outcomes. Our thoughts on why the MaaS idea was out of reach (or perhaps ahead of its time) are here.

What kept us alive was a niche in the techno-economics of flexibility, starting with sustained interest from a strategic customer called OZ Minerals from 2021 until their acquisition by BHP in 2023. We developed modelling and simulation capability to quantify the value of flexibility in a mining project, leading to a whitepaper. We also proved that we could facilitate model-based co-design of a complete mining value chain by a diverse group of industrial partners.

More recently, we have delivered custom-coded modelling and simulation tools to Novamera Inc. in a strategic partnership beginning in 2025. We reduced their project evaluation lead time from weeks to hours, and have evaluated over 50 potential Surgical Mining™ projects for them. We continue to develop tools that give their customers more insights and more options in a more volatile world.

We have become known for our ability to see the connections between engineered systems, business models and societal change, particularly in the Canadian context where the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) will accelerate the transformation of mining into both an economic and social good. We are involved in a number of collaborations that are experimenting with technologies to empower marginalized groups to play a more meaningful role in project design.

Who is we

"We" is Andy Reynolds, founder and President (and sole employee) of Inspire Resources, and anyone he can draw into collaboration from an extensive network of extraordinary people.

Andy's ongoing journey has brought him to the intersection of organizations, engineered systems and human relationships. During his 23 years as an engineer in the UK’s Royal Navy, he gained a grounding in Systems Engineering, and took on complex leadership challenges ranging from engineering the ship-helicopter interface, through multinational logistics collaboration in Afghanistan, to the system architecture and electrification of future frigates.

After migrating to Canada in 2009 he managed R&D in government labs for almost a decade, ultimately as Director-General for Energy, Mining and Environment at the National Research Council of Canada.

Andy gives guest lectures at universities and business schools and has been an evaluator for many innovation challenges in mining, where he tends to focus on business models, system architectures and integration strategies. He has recently been recruited as an EIR by Foresight Canada and as an Investigator by Creative Destruction Lab.