Resource World Magazine

J U N E / J U L Y 2 0 1 9 www.resourceworld.com 63 MININGWORLD S teven de Jong is a mining guy with a passion for bringing dis- ruptive technology to the mining industry. As the former CEO of Integra Gold, de Jong stewarded that company from a $10 million exploration stage project to its ultimate sale for $600 million. It is now a producing mine. Today, as CEO of VRIFY, de Jong contin- ues to facilitate the development of resource projects by helping the industry apply rapidly developing technology. Started in 2017 and based in Vancouver, British Columbia, VRIFY is an interactive presentation tool that communicates a company's value by translating tough to digest data into 3D mod - els and facilitates virtual site tours of remote sites. Companies can present to anyone located anywhere in the world with VRIFY Connect – a conferencing feature. Instead of sitting around a table wearing head sets, participants simultaneously attend a presenta- tion from any type of device: lap top via browser, smart phone or tablet via an app available in the Apple and Google stores. Though de Jong does say, "It has a lot more functionality if you inter- act with a 3D model on a touch screen." Most people are already familiar with navigating a touch screen and use the pinch, touch and swipe functions without even thinking about it. Using the platform requires no special software; it includes Hotspots which are clickable or touchable icons that display various types of data points: 3D models, 360° panoramic photos, underground photography, PDF content, video content, text and still imagery. During a meeting, control can be granted to any user. The presentations are hosted on a cloud and can be accessed individually via the VRIFY website. Clients can also embed the presentation on their websites with one simple line of code. VRIFY also provides clients with training and access to the Virtual Project Editor, making it simple to keep the team and investors up to date on a project's progress. De Jong believes companies can do a better job communicat - ing with investors. "We need to present information so anyone can understand it, not just your traditional resource investor. We aren't dumbing down the information, we are making the gate- way to resource investing a little bit easier to enter." He said, "We need to start thinking beyond conferences and try to attract peo- ple who are not the traditional PDAC attendees." We need to tell a more compelling story because as de Jong says, "Whether we like it or not, there are lot of other industries that are more exciting right now…I am personally not a believer that there is one single pool of speculative money that just goes from one sector to the next. I think that pool is going to shrink and grow, and we need to do our part, as a resource industry, to attract that capital, whether we are taking it from other industries or just increasing the overall pool." He added, "I think we have got phenomenal content and it's a matter of how we serve it up to the world in a fashion that anybody can understand and digest easily." De Jong told Resource World, about the upcoming launch of some new features, including the VRIFY Deck. He said, "It is simi - lar to a corporate presentation where it's more linear and you go from one step to the next to the next … Think of it almost like a hop-on, hop-off bus tour. You have the route set out in front of you but at any point in time you can jump off and go interact with any of that content. But you'll have this sort of tour guide to take you through as you go as well." The VRIFY website can be viewed at VRIFY.com. De Jong said, "The interactive presentation we are creating is going to completely change how companies right across the entire industry present their stories." n VRIFY – Leveraging the power of technology for the mining industry by Kathrine Moore Images courtesy of VRIFY.

• Cover