Outlook 2010
December 21 - 27, 2009
DECEMBER 9: THE world turned flat for mining information technology vendors in 2009. However, things are definitely looking up in 2010. Here, senior executives from 10 of the world’s leading mining software companies explain why.
What's new in 2009, and 2010
December 21 - 27, 2009
DECEMBER 9: THE GLOBAL economic slowdown gave many mining service and technology companies – with able balance sheets – an opportunity to focus on better positioning themselves for what some believe will be a sustained upturn in knowledge and technology based mining industry investment in the next decade. R&D, at least for mining IT firms, has not been shelved this year.
Underground scheduling software at new juncture
March 9 - 15, 2010
WORK on new underground mine design software overseen by the head of mining engineering at the Western Australia School of Mines, Professor Erkan Topal, is progressing with the aim of producing a tool comparable to those available to opencut mine engineers. But a key advance still has “a bit way to go”, according to Topal.
Lumps and bumps for recovering Runge
March 2 - 8, 2010
A SOON to be completed large-scale implementation of its mining enterprise software could help clear the blockages in Runge’s sales pipeline, managing director Tony Kinnane said after the company posted 14% lower first-half revenue compared with a year ago.
Short-term payback for planning software
March 2 - 8, 2010
DATAMINE’S aggressive product roll-out will continue this month with the formal launch of its new Interactive Short Term Scheduling (ISTS) software, developed with input from Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines.
Mart and co map a new course
March 2 - 8, 2010
THERE are many small operators on the fringes of the pack fighting it out for big chunks of market share in the global mining software business. Seldon Mart has been there, on the sidelines, for nearly 40 years and he’s seen a lot of changes. Now he and his partners have got a second wind.
Micromine makes geo-logical updates
March 2 - 8, 2010
STRONG sales of its flagship MICROMINE software in the past four months have given Western Australian-based Micromine the ideal lead-up to this week’s general market release of MICROMINE 2010.
MineWare plugs into BMA draglines
March 2 - 8, 2010
THE Queensland-based company MineWare has claimed the turf of a highly-credentialed former Australian-owned company in winning a preferred supplier agreement with BHP Billiton-Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) to supply its dragline monitoring and intelligence solutions across all BMA sites.
MineScape changes IT landscape, says Mincom
February 9 - 15, 2010
MINCOM has done the “heavy lifting” with its overhaul of the MineScape product architecture to be confident of increasing its penetration into the wider mine planning software market, according to the company’s vice-president mining solutions, John Jessop. That ultimately means the metals market in countries such as Australia.
Datamine lands big Fisher
February 9 - 15, 2010
THE dominant supplier of underground mine planning software to Australian metal mines, Datamine, has achieved what it sees as a significant breakthrough at the Mount Isa complex in north Queensland.
IT Notebook: Cube Consulting, Mintec, Snowden
February 9 - 15, 2010
CUBE Consulting’s INX workforce management software is popular. How popular? Two measures are the current shipping rate and a growing who’s who delegate list for next month’s user conference in Perth.
Mincom launches MineScape 5
January 19 - 25, 2010
MINCOM has described MineScape 5, its latest software release, as the most advanced mine planning and modelling solution in the marketplace, a claim that’s sure to set off debate in the industry. The product is expected to be generally available by the end of March this year.
Mintec vision intact after four decades
January 19 - 25, 2010
FORTY years is an unusually long life for a mining technology company. It is at least a couple of lifetimes for most mining IT companies. US-based Mintec has defied convention with a very conventional business plan.
IT Notebook: Micromine, MineWare
January 19 - 25, 2010
MICROMINE is ringing the management changes following the departure of CEO Peter Rossdeutscher before Christmas.
SKM ready to roll with Cintellate
January 19 - 25, 2010
ENGINEERING firm Sinclair Knight Merz will next month start rolling out a customised version of the Cintellate safety management software that has become a staple feature of many other companies’ operations. The new software is expected to automate 20% of relevant business processes and will be a paperless repository for vital health, safety, environment and community (HSEC) data.
Maptek updates pit scanner
January 19 - 25, 2010
AUSTRALIAN company Maptek has followed up the release of new modelling software for its I-Site laser scanners late last year with the introduction of the I-Site 8800 “extra” long-range scanner.
IT diary
December 21 - 27, 2009
ALL the latest news on upcoming information technology events around the world.
Mine simulation breakthrough could open floodgates
December 21 - 27, 2009
DECEMBER 9: DAVID Beck and his team at Beck Arndt Engineering will continue to work on better integrating their new hydromechanical (HM) simulation capability with available mine planning tools in a bid to get the new advanced mine slope stability and water pressure modelling product as widely deployed as possible.
Australia key today, and tomorrow
December 21 - 27, 2009
DECEMBER 9: NO SURPRISES here: the world’s major mining software and IT markets are Australia, Canada, the USA and South Africa. What is interesting though is that Russia, nominated as a key growth market by a number of the 10 leading software companies surveyed by HighGrade, is already regarded as an important established market by at least two of the leaders.
User survey helps improve I-Site
December 21 - 27, 2009
DECEMBER 9: AUSTRALIAN technology firm Maptek says improvements to its I-Site Studio 3.3 laser scan modelling software are designed to streamline routine mine surveying tasks. The company now has 150 I-Site Studio licensees in at least 20 countries.
CFD models to further reduce pilot time
December 7 - 13, 2009
THE use of advanced mathematical modelling to aid mineral processing plant design and operational enhancements is expected to continue to grow and improve, according to the CSIRO’s Dr Phil Schwarz, particularly with the advent and honing of multi-scale computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling tools.
Datamine builds on PRIMO result
December 7 - 13, 2009
NOVEMBER 30: A PRODUCTIVE partnership between Datamine and respected mining software author Chris Alford earlier this year turned a long-term project into a product that has achieved rapid market uptake despite the patchy 2009 spending of mining companies and consultants.
Scaling up
November 23 - 29, 2009
INFORMATION overload might be a problem at some mines but not for the 20-year-old Queensland company Transcale. The Australian leader in the field of vehicle weighing systems says new technology and emerging “technology support” services have been a hit despite the slowdown in mine spending over the past 12 months.
Runge frustrated by software sales delays
November 16 - 22, 2009
SOFTWARE and consulting group Runge has confirmed at least 10 $A1 million-plus software sales opportunities are sitting in its “leads inventory”, though closing the deals is proving tricky.
IT Notebook: QMASTOR, Intercad, Modular Mining
November 16 - 22, 2009
ASX-LISTED QMASTOR has reaffirmed its intention to grow internationally amid firming mining industry demand, with expansion in the Americas and Africa key to its mid-range goal of $A30 million of annual revenue by 2012. This year it expects 10% revenue growth to about $A10 million after a slow first half.
A framework for change
November 9 - 15, 2009
FORMER WMC and Woodside information systems manager Brian Spence will continue the formal unveiling of Gemcom’s Mining Process Framework at a mining symposium in the Philippines this week. It is a campaign, he says, that could redefine Gemcom as a mining software supplier as much as it helps to sharpen customers’ profit focus.
IT NOTEBOOK: Jigsaw/Leica Geosystems, Gemcom
November 2 - 8, 2009
YOU need a pretty good tracking system to dig out financial information on Hexagon “precision in everything” AB business unit Jigsaw Technologies, the tiny American firm Hexagon bought for (one would assume) next to nothing in 2007.
Long haul starts again
October 26 - November 1, 2009
THIRTY years old this month, Modular Mining Systems says it’s not far away from another significant milestone. This is a mark the world’s major supplier of mine fleet management software probably would have reached a lot sooner but for a radical shift in ‘haul road’ conditions in the second half of its journey.
Vale confirms major software deal
October 19 - 25, 2009
DATAMINE’S announcement of a significant GDMS software contract with Brazil’s Vale has happily coincided with the world’s second biggest mining company detailing plans for a major expansion of its iron ore operations in the next five years.
ICT on Rio's cake
October 12 - 18, 2009
THE technological shift set to underpin future expansion of Rio Tinto’s Pilbara iron ore operations – and inevitably those of BHP Billiton if their iron ore joint venture becomes reality – is entering a new phase following the opening of Rio’s Perth remote operations centre (ROC).
Go ahead, make his day
October 12 - 18, 2009
RUNGE managing director Tony Kinnane has the guns loaded and cocked. Judging by the confident smile and air it seems he’ll have no hesitation in opening fire on the first rival to violate the company’s unusual mining technology patent, and even that he’s looking forward to a (inevitable) transgression.
MineWare founder says Brisbane to grow as mining technology Mecca
October 12 - 18, 2009
THE YOUNG CEO of a Brisbane-based mining software firm says the city’s position as a global mining technology hub is set to be enhanced as the industry becomes a bigger user of advanced information and communication technologies. This probably won’t harm the growth prospects of 33-year-old Andrew Jessett’s MineWare either.
IT Notebook: Sedgman/ASE, Micromine
October 12 - 18, 2009
LEADING coal plant builder and operator, Sedgman, expects to complete the initial roll-out of its SCORS operations reporting software by the end of 2009. The product, which has just won an Engineers Australia (Queensland) Excellence Award for Control Systems, Networks, Information Processing and Telecommunications, is now being offered to non-Sedgman coal plant operators.
HighGrade/Gartner team up for survey
October 12 - 18, 2009
PORTENTS for stronger mining industry information technology investment were good before the global financial crisis, but not in its immediate aftermath. What about now? HighGrade has joined with Gartner Inc to conduct a major survey of the industry to gauge the outlook for mining IT investment in 2010.
IT Notebook: Datamine, GBI, Micromine, Maptek
October 5 - 11, 2009
ANDREW Lingard is already up to his neck in coal – not the norm for a Datamine employee.
IT Notebook: Runge, Gemcom, Coffey-Virtalis, Maptek
October 5 - 11, 2009
RUNGE has taken steps to defend its Mining Dynamics IP against friend and foe alike by securing patents “related to the methodology” underpinning its enterprise solution. The move to protect the IP in Australia and South Africa, initiated two years ago, creates something of a barrier between Runge’s work in the area and that of a couple of its heavyweight technology partners.
acQuire to grow faster
September 28 - October 4, 2009
WANT a job in exploration or mining that will still be there when your company cuts its profit from $3 zillion to only $2 zillion? Then you might consider joining a technology and services company such as the Australian firm, acQuire.
Where there's a will ...
September 28 - October 4, 2009
IF AUTOMATION and true ‘remote’ control over product delivery and quality are technological themes that will define the mining company of the future, then the calibre of value-stream management within these companies is what will separate the leaders from the also-rans.
Seeing is believing
September 21 - 27, 2009
MINE Planning 2009, Dunsborough, Western Australia (no, it is not a new mining hub!). The mining software conference had polylines, semi-transparent fill and DGN files galore. But it also hit on mining’s really big IT themes of the new millennium: visualisation, integration and optimisation.
Nickel miner develops own planning culture
September 21 - 27, 2009
ONE of the success stories of the Western Australian mining industry of recent years, Western Areas, is ready to add a second high-grade nickel mine at its Forrestania stronghold, less than eight years after it bought into the belt. But the company’s transition from explorer to low-cost nickel producer was anything but smooth, according to operations director Dan Lougher. Water and black boxes produced major hiccups.
GijimaAst targets offshore growth
September 21 - 27, 2009
GIJIMAAST Global Mining Solutions, aspiring to be No.1 in the world in the mining technical systems market, can treble revenues outside South Africa in the next five years without acquisitions, according to senior executive Pieter Nel, who maintains the company is in no hurry to pursue M&A that could elevate its standing sooner.
Ventsim Visual to blow away competition
September 21 - 27, 2009
CRAIG Stewart’s days as a part-time software developer and vendor are probably over.
Barker looks to rebuild Datamine dimensions
September 21 - 27, 2009
DATAMINE Australia general manager Brad Barker might be using the standard line of a new business leader when he says he plans to do things differently. Naturally, with a company like Datamine, he won’t fully explain the comment. But there were some clear signals at a conference jointly sponsored by the software supplier last week.
Bend it like Beck
September 21 - 27, 2009
FORMER Mount Isa mining engineer David Beck advises mining companies around the world on mine design and scheduling in high stress, high displacement or seismically active conditions. The principal of Beck Arndt Engineering addressed Mine Planning 2009 in Western Australia last week, and later spoke to HighGrade.
Silo breakers
September 14 - 20, 2009
THE prize for unlocking, and connecting, mining’s data silos is great – for mining companies and the IT firms with the new generation tools to turn data into reliable, real-time information worth its weight in gold.
Silo breakers: the war of words is underway
September 14 - 20, 2009
OUR report, Silo Breakers, wasn’t out long before the salvos from mining software suppliers started.
IT NOTEBOOK: GijimaAst, Runge, Gemcom
September 14 - 20, 2009
DELEGATES at a mining technology conference in Western Australia this week will get an update on a major southern hemisphere underground mine communications installation – in Zambia.
Global positioning critical
August 31 - September 6, 2009
NEWCASTLE-based QMASTOR is among a flotilla of Australia mining technology and service (MTS) companies seeking to make regular international docks new centres of business before the next major upswing in mining investment.
IT NOTEBOOK: Margaret River mine plan, Micromine, Runge
August 31 - September 6, 2009
THERE can’t be too many better places to plan a mine than Margaret River, or nearby at Dunsborough, not that we’re likely to see too much digging in the scenic wine growing and tourism district. That won’t stop (in fact it will no doubt encourage) a big troupe of miners gathering at Bunker Bay in a couple of weeks to compare mine development notes.
Jansen spells out the need for change
August 24 - 30, 2009
IF traditional metal balancing and reconciliation are dark arts and modern metal accounting is the key to unlocking real value from mineralised ores, then University of Queensland professor Rob Morrison may well be mining’s new-age Merlin. The sorcerer’s apprentice? Well that would be Will Jansen, seen here performing the neat trick of getting power out of a tree in the middle of Africa.
CAT the IT consolidator?
August 24 - 30, 2009
MINING machinery giant Caterpillar is the world’s dominant supplier of mining trucks, loaders and bulldozers but is a bit player in mining technology, an industry of a thousand small and often disparate pieces. That hasn’t stopped speculation that the company is building more than just a technology platform on which to expand the service and support offering it provides to miners, construction contractors and other key users of its equipment.
IT Notebook: Mincom, Strategic Thought, Leica
August 24 - 30, 2009
PRIVATELY owned American rare earth producer and technology company Molycorp Minerals LLC says mining software supplier Mincom has delivered on its promise to streamline delivery of its new enterprise asset management (EAM) platform.
Modular builds on Anglo-Latin American ground
July 27 - August 2, 2009
THE US-based mine information management systems vendor Modular Mining Systems has extended two mine contracts with Anglo American Corp in Chile. One of the big openpit mines, Los Bronces, is completing a $US2 billion expansion.
Change is coming down the line
July 20 - 26, 2009
CHRIS Fischer left the burgeoning telecommunications sector and mainstream information technology industry to work in one with a poor track record of IT deployment, but one in which he is seeing clear change signals that go all the way back to the mining technology company he works for.
Dynamic shift in prospect
July 20 - 26, 2009
WHILE not confirming or denying analyst speculation about a $A10 million pipeline of software sales, Runge’s Mining Dynamics manager Glen Kuntz remains confident factors outside and beyond the GFC-induced economic hardship impacting mining investment are working in favour of the company and its potentially “company changing” product.
The spinning wheel
June 1 - 7, 2009
BIG private investors have positioned themselves for it. The capital intensive mining industry is crying out for it. The time is well and truly right for it. It is mining’s IT revolution, but unfortunately it’s going to have to wait.
Low hanging fruit
June 1 - 7, 2009
GRAND visions of automated mines and city-based operations centres are meant to impress investors, but miners have many cost-saving, and efficiency and safety enhancing opportunities already within their grasp, according to IT experts. And the means to clearly and accurately report the benefits.
My name is ERP
June 1 - 7, 2009
ENTERPRISE resource planning systems have attracted the lion’s share of mining IT investment in recent years and the IT sector is divided on the benefits, and on whether greater focus should have been elsewhere.
The usual suspects
June 1 - 7, 2009
THE companies leading the industry’s push to mine data more effectively include Alcoa, BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, Barrick Gold and Goldfields – with mining contractors seen by some, perhaps surprisingly, as a touchstone for change at the coalface.
Mining IT on investment menu
June 1 - 7, 2009
THE recent mining boom saw the value of mega-mining deals top previous benchmarks in the sector, while new M&A and equity raisings in global mining services and manufacturing also exceeded past high-points. Mining IT is a diminutive sector by comparison, but moves could be afoot to change that.
Barrick casts wider net to unlock value
March 17 - 23, 2008
CANADIAN gold giant Barrick Gold Corporation’s quest to unlock the vault to $US3.6 billion worth of silver at a gold project in Argentina is another internet-based mining experiment in the Goldcorp Challenge vane.
