Deswik, the Australia-based mining software developer, has stepped up its overseas expansion push by taking a minority stake in its longstanding Brazilian reseller partner, MCB Services and Minerals.

MCB has been Deswik’s exclusive reseller partner in Brazil since 2012. Established in 2006 in Belo Horizonte, it sells mining software and services to local customers including Nexa, Vale, AngloGold Ashanti, Yamana, Kinross and many others.

Deswik says it is expanding its presence across South America and opened offices in Chile and Peru in 2015 and 2018, respectively. Sales across the continent accounted for 27% of Deswik’s turnover in 2018.

Deswik Managing Director, Matt Chilcott, said Brazil was a key growth market, which contributed 8% of Deswik’s global software turnover in 2018.

Acquiring a stake in MCB would cement Deswik’s presence in the country and allow it to offer local clients enhanced technical support and greater input into the Deswik development and roadmap process, Chilcott said.

“MCB is a like-minded company with an approach to servicing the mining industry that’s very similar to our own,” he said. “Our culture and values are extremely compatible. That’s why we’ve worked together so successfully for such a long time. We couldn’t find a better partner and we’re delighted to be able to formalise our relationship in this way.”

Chilcott said he was upbeat about Deswik’s prospects in the region: “Brazil is a large and mature market and we think we’ve only just scratched the surface in terms of demand. We’re excited about working with the MCB team to help more customers in the region experience the productivity and efficiency gains the Deswik suite of products can deliver.”

As part of the deal, MCB will be rebranded as Deswik Brazil.

MCB’s senior management, Mauro Servulo, Cesar Machado and Francisco Bittencourt, will remain at the helm of Deswik Brazil and local customers will continue to receive support from the company’s 35-strong team of geology and mine engineering consultants, Deswik said.

Within six years, MCB has grown from six to 35 people, according to Deswik.

In addition to having 11 offices across Australia, North and South America, Canada, Africa and Europe, Deswik works with a select group of technology, education, reseller and certified partners.

Deswik Partner Manager, Patrick Doig, said on these partnerships: “Fostering a healthy eco-system of partners has allowed us to extend the reach of our software internationally and provide customers with a consistent ‘Deswik experience’ wherever they are in the world.”

Founded in 2007, Deswik develops specialist solutions covering all aspects of mine planning. Its flagship suite of products, Deswik.CAD, Deswik.Sched, Deswik.LHS and Deswik. MDM, are used by miners on six continents, across the underground metals, open-pit metals, open-pit coal and underground coal sectors.

Deswik employs a team of 300 across 13 offices worldwide and derives more than 70% of its revenue from overseas markets.