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CASE STUDY | MINING| GENERATIVE AI

Exxaro’s Digital Transformation Journey Through Strategic AI Deployment

Solution overview

Industry

Mining

Solution

Generative AI LLM

Location

South Africa

Client

Exxaro is a leading South African-based resources company, specialising in mining and renewable energy, with a strong focus on sustainability and innovation.

Requirement

Exxaro sought to deploy AI-driven digital assistants to enhance operational efficiency, compliance, and decision-making across HR, safety, production, and investor relations.

Client Overview

Exxaro Resources Limited is one of South Africa’s leading resources companies, specialising in mining and renewable energy solutions. With a strong commitment to sustainability and innovation, Exxaro focuses on creating long-term value for stakeholders while integrating environmental stewardship into its operations. The company has embraced digital transformation as a strategic priority, leveraging technology to enhance operational efficiency, safety, and decision-making in a complex and evolving industry.

Executive Summary

Between April and September 2024, Decision Inc. partnered with Exxaro Resources Limited to enhance operational efficiency and compliance by implementing advanced AI solutions. This collaboration led to the development of four digital assistants tailored to streamline processes in HR, safety, production, and investor relations, leveraging Large Language Models (LLMs) and effective change management strategies.

Challenge Overview

Exxaro faced several operational challenges:

1. HR Accessibility: Dispersed HR systems hindered employees from easily accessing essential documents, affecting engagement and productivity.

2. Safety Compliance: A multilingual workforce struggled with comprehending safety documentation, increasing compliance risks.

3. Production Decision-Making: Manual processes for production queries delayed operational decisions.

4. Investor Communications: Gathering financial insights manually was time-consuming, delaying stakeholder communications.

The Solution

To address Exxaro’s operational challenges, Decision Inc. implemented a suite of tailored digital solutions, collectively transforming how key business functions operate. These solutions are designed to streamline processes, enhance accessibility, and drive efficiency across HR, safety, production, and investor relations. Each solution is purpose-built to align with Exxaro’s goals of improving operational effectiveness and employee engagement while ensuring compliance and agility.

Digital Solutions Deployed

  1. Xxoro People and Performance Digital Assistant: Centralised HR document access, using an LLM to interpret and present HR policies conversationally, enhancing employee understanding and engagement.

  2. Xxoro SHEQ Safety Assistant: Employed LLM technology to provide multilingual translations of safety procedures, improving accessibility and compliance, and reducing safety incidents.

  3. Xxoro Production Analytics Assistant: Integrated real-time analytics into production data, enabling faster and more accurate decision-making.

  4. Xxoro Investor and Liaison Newsletter: Automated the consolidation and summarisation of financial and media insights, facilitating timely investor communications.

Technology and Implementation

The deployment utilised Azure cloud services, initially incorporating OpenAI models for proof of concept. Key components included:

 

  • Data Handling: Azure Data Factory orchestrated data workflows, while Azure AI Search indexed documents for efficient retrieval.
  • AI and Chatbot Integration: Utilised vector databases and LLMs within a containerised application hosted on Azure, facilitating dynamic responses based on user queries.
  • Security and Compliance: Azure Key Vault and Azure Active Directory ensured secure data handling and user authentication, maintaining data integrity and regulatory compliance.

Challenges and Adaptations

During User Acceptance Testing (UAT), token rate limitations with Azure OpenAI models led to scalability issues. Decision Inc. addressed this by replacing OpenAI models with Meta Llama 3.1 LLM hosted on Azure Databricks, resolving scalability concerns and significantly reducing operational costs.

The Results

The integration of these digital assistants resulted in:

HR Efficiency:

Simplified access to HR documents reduced query resolution times and improved employee satisfaction.

Safety Operations:

Enhanced understanding and compliance with safety standards led to a reduction in workplace incidents.

Production Efficiency:

Real-time analytics streamlined production processes, allowing quicker adaptations to operational demands.

Investor Relations

Streamlined information processing improved the timeliness and accuracy of stakeholder communications.

Financial Analysis

Transitioning to Meta Llama 3.1 reduced daily operational costs from an estimated $2,000 per day with Azure OpenAI to $9 per day with Azure Databricks, demonstrating substantial cost savings without compromising performance.

Conclusion

The partnership between Exxaro and Decision Inc. showcases the power of digital transformation in the mining sector, achieving significant improvements in operational efficiency, employee engagement, and compliance through strategic AI integration. This initiative not only addressed immediate operational challenges but also established a foundation for continuous innovation and efficiency gains.

About Decision Inc.

Decision Inc. is a global leader in information-driven transformation with a core focus on data, digital and performance intelligence.

Our expertise in technology and industry specialisations have enabled us to help companies around the world make better decisions faster.

Our emphasis on local excellence and global scale enables us to bring clients best of breed technology solutions that enable significant improvement whilst leveraging our Global Research and Innovation teams to accelerate the time to insight. Our local consulting teams are experts in the implementation, support, and execution of these solutions and work with our clients to deliver real results and improvement.

To find out more about our AI offerings, click HERE