Mine operations could benefit by consolidating information

Maintaining high levels of productivity and efficiency are essential to both the sustainability and profitability of mines, and it is therefore imperative that mine owners and managers constantly explore new and innovative avenues that could improve mine operations.

With information technology increasingly becoming an essential part of modern mining techniques and processes, IT software developers are constantly exploring new products and ideas which could add value to existing processes and techniques, and thus developing solutions tailored specifically for today`s mining industry.

Over the years, mining operations, as well as businesses in general have realised the importance of consolidating information, as large amounts of fragmented information lead to duplication of effort and prevent effective knowledge sharing The rapid uptake of IT solutions by the mining industry has meant that mining IT systems are littered with fragmented information which impacts negatively on productivity.

Globally, software developers have therefore conducted extensive research and development on software products that enable the effective consolidation of information contained within these IT systems. However, although there are a number of IT companies still developing software, only a few have managed to offer a workable solution.

According to Migal van As, MD of Intervate, developer of the local intranet and extranet solution and development framework currently used to consolidate IT information at Anglo Platinum, consolidation is the main focus of software developers like Intervate. It focuses primarily on getting the information contained within the IT systems of a mine, or group of mines, to the right people, as quickly as possible, in order to reduce decision-making and process cycles and improve service delivery and productivity.

"Consolidation in the mining industry is all about giving mine managers a clearer picture of mine information as it relates to specific groups of people, as well as the ability to study this information," says van As. "This in turn allows them to effectively automate paper work and similar processes, and distribute relevant information effectively in order to improve productivity. Once you have the ability to fully understand the relationships between information, you can better understand the dependencies and relationships between key business drivers".

Consolidation adds particular value to mining operations that have large logistical concerns and compose mines at numerous different locations. Personnel at each location may have local information that is important to them, however, in many cases they would benefit from having access to the group, or other, site information. By consolidating all information and making it accessible to all relevant personnel in the entire operation, processes can be streamlined and information sharing can add value directly on a productivity level.

"If you can shorten the time and reduce the cost of sharing information between mines it will have huge benefit," continues van As. "Whereas one mine might be doing something a certain way, another could be doing it differently and more productively. Consistent information sharing could mean that processes are optimised as quickly as possible. In addition, it costs money to transport people and get them in the same room, whereas if you can promote an information-sharing culture over an IT network, the business will realise significant time and human resource savings," says van As.

Essentially effective collaboration involves grouping information that is relevant to individuals and groups. A personal desktop caters for an individual`s personal needs as they relate to his/her job function, and a team desktop concept focuses on employees being able to work with the information as it relates to a wider group.

According to van As, whereas having the right information available at the right time has a direct impact on productivity, it also allows users to interact around content, ensuring that processes, wins and learnings are optimised quickly.