Why we created MinPlat, a customised platform for the mining industry

Imagine working in the mining industry, where engineers, operators, designers,  and consultants openly share their knowledge across different segments of the industry without limitations of location, language or organisation.

At MinPlat, we believe in this bright future and our ability to build it together.

As an industry, mining is often criticised for being way too conservative. In the era of digitally connected friends and family, on demand television and online shopping, the engagement level in the industry is still not great. If you have ever been in any of the following situations, you can relate to the above statement much more than others.

1. While trying to solve a problem, realised you have very limited sources of information

2. Silently tried to “google” a solution to a problem without much success

3. Ever found it hard to differentiate between products from different suppliers as the product brochures have similar if not the same value propositions

4. As a METS company/ consultant, struggled getting your innovative ideas across especially when you are limited by number of people on ground

The industry has a wealth of information but most of it is trapped in the form of experience in people’s heads, or stored in people’s C: drives, or buried in books and papers that only experts can access. People on site (mainly remote areas) still have limited options to gain/share knowledge and small to medium supplier companies/ consultants still struggle to get their message across to the right people on site (inspite of having all the knowledge).

A lot of knowledge leaves the industry as people retire and/ or move to other areas. Moreover, the cyclical nature of the industry doesn’t really help.

But does it have to be that way forever? 

We believe that there needs to be a fundamental shift in the way mining community interacts and if everyone made an effort at an individual level, we can together challenge the status quo. With this belief, we started our journey to create MinPlat.

The foundations

When we started shaping MinPlat, we asked ourselves, what will it take for a platform to be really productive for someone working in the industry. We went out to seek feedback from over 40 industry professionals and concluded that for meaningful conversation to occur, the platform needs to reflect specific areas people work in.

An operator of a dragline will be interested in discussing/ learning about mining heavy vehicles, automation but may not really be interested in industry events, mineral processing or procurement. Similarly, someone working in a copper smelter will be interested in pyrometallurgy and control instrumentation but less interested in blasting equipment or geotechnical services.

MinPlat is structured to have topic based discussions (with 50 topics and more to come). As we evolve, the content/ discussions will get customised to members’ specific areas of interest.

We wish to improve productivity

We see MinPlat being used as a productivity and knowledge enhancement tool by people during their work hours. When you are working to solve a problem on site or during a project study, there exists a high probability that someone in the mining community has tackled the issue before. By sharing your problem, you can learn from their experiences, improvise and adapt to your specific situation. Similarly, you can help others by sharing your experiences.

For consultants/ METS companies, you can publish your ideas in form of relevant articles, case studies and videos aimed towards solving specific problems in your niche areas (More to come on this soon). 

This way we together create a knowledge centre that everyone can refer to when needed.

We understand that retaining knowledge is as important as gaining or sharing it. So every user on the platform gets an independent area (Knowledge Base) where you can save any relevant information you read or is of your interest, allowing you to have your own library of information that you can refer to whenever you need it.

We can’t do it alone

The current version of the platform is just our first step towards what we wish to achieve. We realise in order for us to make a difference, we need to provide enough value in people’s day to day work life so we are working on a number of other features. We are fully committed to building a holistic solution for knowledge sharing and retention in the mining industry and driving meaningful industry interactions digitally. But we can’t do it alone. If you believe in our vision, please join us, provide us your feedback and help spread the word in the community.

Come onboard, we have a lot to cover together.