Barrick Gold hosted a first of its kind event in Las Vegas this March.

The inaugural BattleBorn Hackathon and Startup Exchange attracted entrepreneurs and competitors from all over the world, bringing mining and tech leaders together. We spoke with Barrick Innovation Analyst, Nicolas Westgate to learn more about BattleBorn and what it means for the future of mining.

Some responses edited for clarity.

What was BattleBorn?

Westgate: BattleBorn was both a hackathon and a startup exchange. The hackathon was a 54-hour competition where participants developed solutions for four real-world problems facing Barrick operations. Those solutions were presented to a panel of judges at the end of the weekend.

The Startup Exchange brought in 25 high potential ventures, both within and outside of mining, to present to industry leaders. The ventures were selected with an eye towards the trends mining companies are looking at, like automated equipment, exploration technology, drone tech, and virtual reality.

It was one of six events we held throughout the world between 2017 and 2018. BattleBorn was the largest because of Nevada’s significance to Barrick.

What types of groups competed in the Hackathon?

Westgate: We had people ranging in age from 19-65, representing several U.S. states, Canada, and as far away as Colombia. Students from UNLV, UNR, the University of South Dakota, Missouri Science & Tech, USC, and the Colorado School of Mines participated. We also had teams made up of aspiring entrepreneurs from the Vegas area and independent developers. Even some of the ventures from the Startup Exchange competed. One of the startups, Modular Mining, actually won the Hackathon.

What challenges were teams given?

Westgate: Teams were given four high-level problems:

1. IoT (Internet of Things) Technology involving maintenance.
2. Tracking power consumption. How can we be smarter about where we utilize the amount of power our mines use?
3. Creating a geo-political model to help Barrick make better decisions when considering opening a mine or exploring a deposit in a different country.
4. Real time tracking of bulk commodities in operations. How can we track the rate of consumption and communicate that back to our suppliers so we always have enough to run our mills and plants to full capacity?

How were winners decided?

Westgate: It depended on the challenge. A lot had to do with how creative the solution was, yet still be usable and implementable. Was a solution presented as lines of code, or an app that an employee could use with ease?

How will Barrick use the solutions from BattleBorn?

Westgate: We’re engaging with different stakeholder groups to see if there’s an interest in continuing to work with some of the teams, pair them up, and offer internships to students. Alternatively, we’re looking to pair teams with incubators and accelerators based in Nevada and California, so we can build them into a spin-off and help them implement their solutions at our operations. We want to help IT flourish. We don’t need to keep all of the solutions to ourselves either. We want to promote creativity and entrepreneurship within our industry as a whole.

Why is it important for mining companies to host hackathons?

Westgate: Obviously, we want to solve the operational challenges our mines around the world are facing, but there are other reasons why we host these events.

We want to change the perception of mining, both outside and inside the industry. From the outside, we want to communicate what our culture looks like and change minds about what mining is. The skills that are involved. What our sustainable approach looks like. How we’re using technology and driving value long term.

We also want to change the culture internally. If you can implement culture change around technology, then you have a competitive venture long-term. We can give employees all the technology in the world, but if they don’t see the value in it or don’t know how to use it, then it doesn’t lead to anything. So, we bring Barrick employees to all of our hackathons to meet participants, share ideas, and learn from each other.

Another reason we host hackathons is to find talent we can potentially hire. A challenge the mining industry faces is that we aren’t the most appealing industry to work for out of school if students are not a field-specific graduate. We want software and electrical engineering students to look at Barrick the same way they view working for Amazon and Google. With BattleBorn, we’re showing the world the technological opportunities that exist within our organization.

Want to learn more about the BattleBorn Hackathon and Startup Exchange? Visit BattleBorn.tech. You can also check out Barrick’s podcast about the event on iTunes.