The near adulation of the IT industry is in stark contrast to declining perceptions of mining. We hear constant reminders of minings desperate need to innovate. That we must launch a hackathon through the corridors of conservatism; surf the big-data lake to reach the digital mine; deploy minimal viable products to fail-fast to our future. OK, like talking hip to teenagers, we cant do the terminology. But we surely can agree that the mining industry is hopelessly conservative, incorrigibly old-world, and glacially slow at adopting innovation. There. Thatll motivate the graduates. Is the nature of innovation in minerals the same as for information technology?
How have our past successes been shaped by industry characteristics?
Does this suggest approaches to future advances? Above all, how do we motivate young professionals to employ the rigour and perseverance needed to succeed in minerals innovation?
How can we make them proud of their job and their industry?
CITATION:Pease, J, 2019. Mining Silicon Valley, in Proceedings MetPlant 2019, pp 8695 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).