DIGGING THROUGH DATA TO UNEARTH SOLUTIONS
algorithms at Lihir mine in January .
“ Since then we haven ’ t had any overloads , and typically we have hundreds of overloads per year ”, Mr Bond said .
Another example of this substantial industry impact is Newton Labs , a mining technology company based in Australia , which was formed off the back of winning an Unearthed hackathon event in 2014 . Upon graduating from the pilot of the Unearthed Accelerator program in 2015 , the startup won a WA Innovator of the Year award and now deploy their technology for detecting the size of material in haul trucks on the sites of tier-one mining operators .
“ This specific case took longer to get to proof of concept and finding a working model , but is impacting on a problem that is worth $ 1billion in Australia alone ,” Justin explains .
In an industry that is supposedly slow at embracing technology , the response to hackathons has been extremely positive . It seems that the mining industry is well and truly ready to have the conversation regarding technology and the role entrepreneurship will play in enabling the technological future of the industry .
“ There is close to $ 1 trillion in economic impact coming to the global resources sector from disruptive technologies by 2025 ” - Justin Strharsky , Director , Unearthed Solutions
Major mining companies are welcoming the hackathons that Unearthed are rolling out . Newcrest and Austmine ’ s involvement with them is a testament to this , but for Strharsky , the industry is truly excited by the potential technology holds in reducing the bottom line .
“ Mining companies are completely on board and ready to support an international community of innovators , tapping into the digital
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