Micromine’s Brazil Partner, BNA Consultoria e Sistemas Ltda (BNA) has signed an Academic Licence Agreement with the Department of Mining and Petroleum Engineering of University of São Paulo (USP). Recognised as one of Brazil’s most well respected Universities, USP’s Laboratory of Mine Planning and Optimisation (LAPOL) has a team of lecturers dedicated to teaching modelling and mine planning applications as well as developing graduate research and innovation for the mining industry. LAPOL have undertaken this strategic partnership arrangement with Micromine and BNA, endorsing the use of their premier mine design solution, Micromine for teaching and research purposes at USP. The adoption of Micromine technology will enable LAPOL and USP the potential of joint research programs to be developed in specific areas of interest such as multithread and parallel computing, virtual reality and three dimensional mine planning.

BNA is a Brazilian private company established in 2008, which develops geological engineering applications for the exploration and mineral sector. BNA’s Founder and Managing Director, Beck Nader, says “Micromine has the most advanced technology in the world and we look forward to being part of its continuous evolution. Working with LAPOL will be a very rewarding technological experience, for the University, for the Students and Researchers as well as for us.”

Dr. Giorgio de Tomi, Associate Professor at USP, states “Our students will benefit deeply from the advanced functionalities and the user-friendliness of MICROMINE for their class projects, and USP is very excited with the research potential of this new partnership with BNA and Micromine.”

Commenting on the newly formed partnership with USP, Micromine’s Founder and Managing Director, Graeme Tuder, says “We are extremely proud to form this alliance with a world-class educational institution such as USP. In particular, we hope the strength and sophistication of MICROMINE’s technology will become a tremendous asset to both lecturers and students at USP.”

Earlier this month, Micromine announced the release of Micromine 2010, the latest version of its leading geological exploration and mining software. Popular for its user friendly functionalities, Micromine enables geologists and engineers to locate prospective regions, search for mineral indicators, model and visualise ore distribution patterns and design mining operations.