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Coert Du Plessis appointed CEO of MaxMine

Desiree Durrani
Desiree Durrani
Coert Du Plessis
// // Former BHP and Deloitte minetech pioneer will take charge of the 6-year old company

Former BHP Global Data Strategy Lead and minetech pioneer Coert Du Plessis has been appointed the CEO of MaxMine on 1 July 2021, after a year of serving as Chief Operating Officer.

During his time as COO, he worked with MaxMine’s management team behind the scenes to configure and guide MaxMine through its significant Series A funding round announced in May with Viburnum Funds.

MaxMine was founded in 2015 and has grown rapidly with teams in Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane and Sydney in Australia, as well as Pretoria and Cape Town in South Africa. 

MaxMine is a purpose-built service for open pit operations that sustainably improves safety, volume and cost performance of the load and haul fleet. On average, MaxMine increases the load and haul performance by 9% per year in the first two years and 5% per year thereafter.

Unlike traditional solutions, MaxMine is designed from the ground up to deal with mining’s high levels of variability in human performance of operators and leaders relying on variable quality data. The company also prides itself on the cost of its technology, avoiding hefty upfront fees, and backs the value of the product with a monthly subscription model, worry-free automatic upgrades to the latest versions and a regular coach check-in.

Viburnum Funds

The round saw Viburnum take 25% of the company, with the funds being used to grow sales, accelerate product development and scale.

Du Plessis’ professional career includes time spent working on big projects in companies such as Deloitte and BHP. At Deloitte, he moved up the ranks to become senior consulting partner before the age of 40 and was one of the pioneers that established and led the firm’s WA data analytics practice. He subsequently joined BHP to accelerate the adoption of digital technologies and cultivate collaborative ways of working.  

He joined MaxMine in July 2019 after visiting the Adelaide office, citing that the visit ultimately “convinced” him. He gave three reasons for the move

“One, the calibre of the existing leadership team and their adaptive business mindset as demonstrated in successfully raising growth capital in a year disrupted by covid. 

“Two, generating industry leading data quality and confidence in their results, an order of magnitude better than incumbent FMS. It means MaxMine users transition from teams arguing about the validity of data to knowing what needs to be done next, and Three, the ability to overcome digital inertia and drive technology adoption with front-line operators and operational leadership teams month in and month out,” he said.

MaxMine’s outgoing CEO, Tom Crawley will transition to Executive Chair, focusing on adjacent business opportunities for the company and setting up the board to support the company’s growth. 

Mr Cawley said Mr Du Plessis’ extensive experience at the executive and board tables of mining organisations as well as his ability to translate pioneering technologies into real-world solutions for mining operations across the world is invaluable in setting MaxMine up for operating at scale.

Our team has really taken to Coert, and we are already seeing value from the early building blocks he created to help us scale. He has energised the teams in building a stronger product focused on our customers.

Tom Crawley, MaxMine outgoing CEO and Executive Chair

To find out more about MaxMine, click here.

Read more of the latest news from the startup ecosystem here

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Desiree Durrani

Desiree Durrani

When not working on a creative project or typing away behind a screen, Desiree can be found watching the football (the round one!), volunteering at motorsport events in Western Australia or listening to "Rock DJ" on repeat.
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