Can you elaborate on Minetell’s latest technology designed to help companies mitigate the risks of COVID-19?

As we saw the spread of COVID-19 globally, our team asked ourselves one simple question, how can we help. Since we already have an enterprise risk management platform that is in use at several mining operations, our team created a focused version to exclusively monitor COVID-19 risks and control performance to help detect potential cases and prevent it from spreading. Our platform delivers actionable and reliable information into the hands of decision-makers so they can ensure their workplaces are safe for their employees and their families, contractors and community partners. We estimate that there more than 300 million people in essential services that are still going to work each day. The concern they have – along with their families – is that they do not know how safe and healthy their workplace is right now. This is a very human problem, and it’s a problem we are ready to help solve.

How much does it cost, and what will you do with the data that is generated?

We are sensitive to the challenges organizations globally are facing during this pandemic. People are finding it difficult to think about tomorrow let alone next week or next month.  We also know that contracts and procurement are a major bottleneck within any organization. We will be offering our COVID-19 risk management platform free of charge for 2 months to any organization located anywhere. The data we collect will be analyzed in real-time to help organizations detect possible COVID-19 cases and determine if their controls are working effectively. We will also be able to learn what works well and share that information with our clients. 

What was the inspiration for the idea, and how was it developed? 

I mentioned before about us asking, how can we help and a number of organizations were simply offering their same product but we didn’t see that as really addressing the critical problem. We tested out some ideas and got to work.  I knew we were making the right decision when speaking with a contact in the mining sector.  His wife is also in the sector and he shared with me that for the first time, she was concerned about his health and safety on a work trip.  I thought, ‘if a miner is concerned, then how much all of the family members feel watching their loved ones go off to work every day not know what they might bring back’. This is a group of stakeholders that I had not really given much thought to until now.   That is why this such a human problem.

How do you intend to deploy this technology, and how quickly can you get this to mine sites in Canada or foreign jurisdictions?

We are aiming to be up and running at a site within a matter of days. We’ll aim for 14 days and then rapidly decrease that to 12 hours as we eliminate the friction involved with engagement, deployment and use. If we can assist people in Canada at that pace, we don’t see any additional barriers to doing the same outside of Canada.  Minetell has always adopted a lighter touch when considering resources required for deployment.  Our remote deployment model has been working for us for the past couple of years so the new realities of today don’t change a lot for us.

As mining companies ramp up production when quarantine restrictions are loosened, how scalable is the product to maintain safety standards for larger workforces?

While quarantine restrictions may be loosened, I don’t see people taking their focus off their workplace.  Whether that is from a health and safety standpoint, environment or operations, all manager are going to want to know the same three things:

1. What is important to maintaining resilient opeations?
2. What am I doing about those things?
3. How well are we doing those things?

What type of mining companies and environments is this technology suited to?

The Minetell COVID-19 platform is scalable making it easy to support a variety of companies. We have to work together to determine how their organization is structure.  Once we have gone through that we can help out.  Whether we are working with remote and disparate exploration teams or a local or fly-in fly-out operation, having this information in real-time will help to detect areas of concern, intervene to address any problems that arise, and inform employees, their families and stakeholders that a company is doing what it says.

Is this industry-specific to mining, or could it be applied in other heavy industries such as oil and gas?

We are industry agnostic. If your company is an essential service and you have people at work every day,  we are here to help.