Listed IT services company Gijima is targeting mining houses across the globe with a new SAP application that allows the head office to see what is happening underground.
Gijima's mining arm, Gijima Mining Solutions International (GMSI), provides mining technical software, support and mining consulting services. The company's offerings include mineRP, which shares information across the enterprise by employing spatialDB and spatialDash.
Gijima CEO Jonas Bogoshi says the company is now integrating SAP into mineRP, which will allow the head office to see what is happening at a mining level.
At the moment, there is little integration between enterprise resource planning (ERP) and what is happening at the coal face, says Bogoshi. He says mining companies need to determine what the quality of ore is so that they can plan ahead, especially if resource grades drop.
Mining accounts for about 22% of Gijima's business. Its clients include De Beers, Anglo American, Rio Tinto and Kumba.
The company yesterday reported results for the year to June. It said revenue dropped 12.8%, to R2.57 billion, and it recorded an earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) loss of R211.8 million.
CFO Carlos Ferreira says Gijima wants to internationalise its mining operations and was in talks during the last financial year to implement this strategy. However, the parties could not agree on terms and the negotiations ended.
Underground info
Ferreira says GMSI already provides IT that analyses underground mining, such as what is happening at the stope face, and four-dimensional geological modelling.
This allows a mining group to see what is happening at the mine and predict output, for example. Ferreira says Gijima has spent “a lot” to develop the solution and intends taking it global. He says there is good demand for the solution as it can be incorporated into current SAP applications.
Gijima is targeting every mining company that turns over more than $100 million a year, says Ferreira. “If it's over $100 million, we'll work there.”
About 50 of the world's top mining companies already run on SAP, says Ferreira. He adds that there are only two global companies that offer SAP to the mining sector, one being GMSI, and the other is based in Australia.
So far, the company has run pilot projects and is selling the software, and takeoff is expected to be “huge”, says Ferreira.
The company will set up an office in Chile in addition to the six offices around the world, he adds. Gijima has completed projects in 30 countries, and runs African assignments from SA.
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