Digging Deep Dialogue 14: Why you need Hevi's AI to manage mining contracts in Africa

Digging Deep (DD) treks across the continents landing in Sydney, New South Wales to catch up with Brad Gyngell (BG), Co-Founder and CEO of Hevi , a software platform that enables mining contractors to administer mining contracts more effectively. The African mining market size is projected to reach $799.66 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 6.60% from 2023 to 2030. This growth is synonymous with administration of mining contracts and their dire need to be managed properly as this could be the difference between profitability and insolvency. Let's dig deeper and find out more from Brad.

DD: Welcome to the Digging Deep Dialogue, Brad, it’s a pleasure and honor to have you. Can you please tell us more about yourself and your role as Co-Founder & CEO of Hevi??

BG: Thanks Digging Deep it's great to be here. I started out on a relatively traditional path studying Mining Engineering and working on mine sites all across Australia and the US in drilling and blasting. While I was in the US however, I saw the potential for drones and AI to dramatically improve safety and efficiency of mining operations, so I helped launch a software company called Strayos to enable this. This is what shifted me into the world of software and AI.?

I then did an MBA and worked for 波士顿谘询公司 for several years with a focus on the Mining and Energy industries. This gave me deep insight into the biggest challenges and opportunities facing companies in these sectors. In particular, understanding where companies stand to make or lose a lot of money.?

My Co-Founder Paul came to me with the idea for Hevi. He had been working in the commercial side of Mining for his entire career and was now CFO of a mining company. He had seen first hand how contract administration issues can lead to millions of dollars being lost for contractors or clients. This is why we started Hevi. Site teams are busy and most people didn't get into Mining because they like reading contracts. It's natural that things can slip between the cracks. This is why companies need a fit-for-purpose system for supporting workers with contract administration. Can you imagine if we didn't have proper systems for managing safety?

DD: Mining contractors can find themselves in sticky situations, if things slip between the cracks and this can lead to missed or rejected claims. Can you please unpack Hevi’s unique value proposition to mining contractors?

BG: Hevi makes it easy for Mining teams to properly manage contracts. The unique value proposition is that Hevi uses AI to do this.

For example, users can upload their contracts and then chat with AI to find answers and explain what they mean in simple terms. This works for all documents like regulations, procedures, manuals etc. as well as contracts. Hevi can even do this across different languages, we have users on mines in Brazil where the documents are all in Portuguese and they can chat to them in English and get English answers back.

We've also got automated AI which can scan emails and daily reports in real time to flag potential issues. For example, if a supervisor agrees to do some work which is out of scope, the AI will flag it and tell the commercial team "Hey, you might need to claim this as a variation".?

Finally, once the issue has been flagged, Hevi provides a claim workflow management module that allows everything to be tracked in a single source of truth. It automatically notifies people about what they need to do by when, ensuring no time bars are missed. It also means that if a new project manager comes onboard, they know exactly who everything is sitting with and when it is due.

DD: Properly following contractual processes can mean the difference between profitability and insolvency in mining contracts. How does onboarding Hevi mitigate significant commercial risk when things change during a project??

BG: It's a great question. It's common in Mining for Project Managers to want to avoid getting out the contract when dealing with the client. And this is totally understandable. Mining is about long term relationships and you don't want to appear hostile and contractual if things are going well.?

The problem however is that if your client counterpart changes, or the project starts losing money, suddenly all that good faith can go out the window. At this point everybody wishes they had been properly following the contract from the beginning to ensure they get paid what they are entitled to.

The solution is to get into good habits early for understanding your contract and scope, notifying the client on time, keeping records etc. Essentially, following the contract in black and white. If you normalize these things while things are going well, it doesn't come across as offensive. Importantly, it doesn't mean you have to actually?claim every little thing. It just protects you in case things go wrong.

DD: What are some of the challenges that are faced between site teams and contract managers? Why is it important to create a single source of truth for contractual activity in the mining industry??

BG: Turnover is a big challenge in the industry. There is a lot of work on at the moment and not many people to do it. This means people like Project Managers and Contract Managers are coming and going from projects part way through. There's never enough time for handovers and so the incoming Managers are often walking in blind. For example, if the client had previously agreed to pay for some extra work, the new PM may have no record of that and so not know they need to charge for it.

Another big challenge is the communication link between site teams and Contract Managers. Contract Managers have a great understanding of the contract, but they may be looking after multiple sites at once, so they rely on information from others to know if a particular clause has been triggered. Site teams often don't realise they need to communicate things to Contract Managers until it's too late. This is why we built the AI Monitor module, to automatically flag issues from site. Contract Managers don't have time to read through every single email and daily report and compare it against the contract, but AI does.

DD: How do you see Africa as an opportunity? What market entry challenges do you face with Africa? What sort of assistance or guidance do you think you would need to overcome these challenges???

BG: Yes Africa is a huge opportunity. It is a massive market for Mining and our AI is already able to speak many languages that are used there.?

We actually have a trial starting now with our first contractor in West?Africa.

Brand awareness will be the main initial challenge. We have good recognition in Australia and we need to replicate that in Africa by connecting with the right people and companies.

DD: Taking a giant leap into the future. What is on the horizon for Hevi and where can mining contractors get hold of you and the team??

BG: In the next few years, we will be as well known in Africa, and every other continent, as we are in Australia. It will be crazy to think that we didn't always use a fit-for-purpose platform for administering contracts.

We welcome all who want to join us on this journey. For anyone who wants to get in touch, they can email us at [email protected] .

Digging Deep are leaders in connecting mining businesses through a vast network of chambers, contractors & mining companies in Africa.

We specialize in connecting you to decision-makers in the African mining industry, and we do this through:

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