The word ‘digitisation’ is on the lips of speakers at conferences. The term ‘4.0’ has been popping up – a reference to the fourth industrial revolution, a harbinger of the notion of the total connectivity of mining businesses across the supply chain, with mineworkers potentially knowing as much as directors in boardrooms. What is being done with technology, and not technology itself, is the essence of 4.0, which has at its core the use of data and the ability to analyse and apply that data. Step one is vertically integrating the supply chain from the mine stope to the boardroom and step two the digitisation of mined products using technologies that have already become mainstream.