BHP posts second straight year of record iron ore production, beats estimates
The world's largest listed miner said iron ore output from Western Australia on a 100% basis was 76.8 million tonnes in the three months to June 30.
New York based Waybridge, a supply chain operating system for raw materials, this week announced a partnership with The Mercury Group, a supply chain management and consulting firm whose customers will gain access to Waybridge’s technology platform.
The Mercury Group’s 40 customers are responsible for moving more than 2 million metric tonnes of raw materials globally each year, touching nearly every dry cargo community in the world, the companies said.
Waybridge gives access to previously unavailable real-time data on the status and location of the materials it moves and manages on behalf of its customers, as well as reports and analytics — like automated proof of delivery and certificate of analysis documents — to reduce human error, the company said.
Waybridge’s eponymous platform addresses lack of digital infrastructure in the space and interacts with suppliers on every transaction point, Waybridge CEO Scott Evans told MINING.com, adding that the technology, since it launched in 2019 is being used within six plants in North America focused on non- ferrous metals.
Evans said the company’s first clients had been victims of cyber- attacks.
Last year, Waybridge completed System and Organization Controls (SOC 2) Type 2 certification, which ensures the company upholds industry standards for data security.
“We wanted to make sure had appropriate security protocols in place before we started managing their data,” Evans said.
“We’re exploring, how do we help companies in the mining and metals space start to really count and record the missions that are happened from mine to mill, or pit to plant,” said Evans. “Our tech is focused on that layer, that transportation, to potentially help offset emissions they may be incurring as material moves.”
When a product, whether its a concentrate or a cathode or a zinc ingot, leaves the premesis of the mine or the refinery, almost everything from that point of departure, whether its truck or rail shipment, Evans said, the entire process still involves pdfs and in some instances still fax machines.
“Its paper bills and operators and logistics in every organization within that supply chain doing manual data entry. We’re giving them an infrastructure to transact more efficiently.”
“The real focus of Waybridge, since our inception two years ago has been to help our clients become more proficient, resilient and sustainable through digitization of their supply chains,” Evans said. ” We’re finding its giving them visibility into incoming and outgoing supply chains in ways they have never had before due to the manual nature of all of these raw material supply chains have generally been run.”
Waybridge and The Mercury Group formally joining forces will improve the resiliency of the raw materials supply chain in the wake of these ongoing disruptions, the companies said.
“I think the [mining and metals] industry as a whole has been slow to adopt transaction technology,” Evans said. “The B2B sector hasn’t received the investment dollars…that the retail space has seen.”
“We’re providing a digital layer for them to transact more efficiently in our automated basis. We’re giving them visibility and clarity into the supply chain… which gives them more time to react proactively, to repair or make changes to make sure they don’t have plant shut downs,” Evans said.
