TECHNOLOGY
64
V
Rify aims to simplify the headache of site visits by offering virtual mining tours from the comfort of your desktop or tablet . The genesis of the company was born from the needs of the mining professional . Stephen de Jong , Founder & CEO at VRify , recalls the eureka moment : “ My experience with the industry is on the mining side . From 2012 to 2017 as the CEO of Integra Gold we embraced technology innovation in everything we did , culminating in a global million-dollar crowd sourcing competition , the Integra Gold Rush Challenge . We then started the Disrupt Mining event with Gold Corp which was a call for technologies that could impact the mining sector . In the last six months before Integra Gold was acquired , we used virtual tours to showcase our project to the world .”
De Jong recalls a simple approach incorporating panoramic 360-degree shots of Integra ’ s site via an iPad-driven PowerPoint presentation . “ We realised we were spending 80 % of our time at meetings walking through our site ,” he says , noting the traditional page flip through a corporate deck didn ’ t meet their needs . “ We learned the way we present and share information isn ’ t sufficient for the stories we ’ re trying to tell within the mining sector , so
APRIL 2019