AST-A receives Avgold contract

JSE-listed Advanced Software Technologies-Abraxas has been awarded the contract to deliver the production management systems for Avgold`s Target mine, situated in the northern extent of the Welkom gold fields. The Prostar project has an estimated value of R35 million.

Geoff Bamber Manager Finance, Administration and IT Services at Avgold TARGET Division says, "in order to be recognised as the world`s leading deep level gold mine, we have to meet or better the production and cost performance of the world`s leading producers."

"Accordingly, the division is implementing leading edge mining technology and aims to control production, productivity and resources by means of the implementation of a highly sophisticated IT driven production control system," adds Bamber. "This system will ensure that the division achieves consistently high productivity at the lowest possible cost."

"The philosophy of the project since inception has been to reduce costs and enhance productivity through mechanised mining methods," says Jan van Zyl, CEO of AST-A. "The massive ore body, contrary to the majority of mines found in the Witwatersrand basin, lends itself to high degrees of mechanisation and the overriding principle has been to maximise productivity and compete with international gold mining operations."

The Prostar System is an integrated, operations management system consisting of various, best-of-breed packages. The system is made up of five packages, which includes materials management, maintenance management, operation management, operations planning and supervisory control data acquisition system (SCADA).

As the main contractor, AST-A has been responsible, together with Avgold staff, for directing the project, architecting the technical solution, business analysis, change management, systems integration and the implementation of the Protean system.

The project consists of four business releases, which relate to set business objectives. Release one has already been completed and involved getting the various technologies in a standalone format. Due for completion early 2000, release two integrates the technologies and expands the business technology. Releases three and four focuses on SCADA, as well as improving the planning and maintenance of the project.