LEADERSHIP & STRATEGY

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— Friska Wirya Head of Change , Newcrest Mining

futile without the correct integration and an understanding of what constitutes optimal behaviour in the business .”

With Industry 4.0 at the forefront of Wirya ’ s mind , she believes what sets Australia ’ s number one gold miner apart in the mining industry is its intent to leverage digital to unlock values . “ Where some of our rivals have chosen to do a narrow , deep dive into a particular area , our digital program is comprehensive . We ’ ve got initiatives spanning data science , machine learning , IOT , AI , augmented reality and virtual reality ,” she explains . “ Besides our crowdsourcing platform at Lihir , a gold mine in Papua New Guinea , we ’ re using augmented reality in the open pit mine planning process , so 3D visuali- sations allow stakeholders throughout the world to have a shared understanding of stage cutbacks of the phasing approach . It enables key risk mitigation , protects against rework and redesign , it improves engagement and the next step for that is to test augmented reality ( AR ) in providing remote support .” Wirya explains that with the AR approach it ’ s possible for an expert on a video call in Melbourne to mark a screen with an overlay of an exact spot to instruct a technician . “ This reduces travel , saves time and increases efficiency ,” she confirms . “ It also improves collaboration between site and head office .”

Newcrest employs dozens of digital initiatives across its sites with most falling into two categories : predictive algorithms and optimisation models to provide actionable insights . “ At Cadia , we use a model that anticipates equipment failure for our mills ,” reveals Wyria . “ We fed the model two years ’ worth of data on several variables for accuracy and this has given us a better understanding of equipment wear and tear . It enables preventative action rather than reactive maintenance and the best part is it ’ s scalable . Once the

JULY 2019