Tag Archives: Snowden

Datamine establishes dedicated mining ESG business unit

Environmental, IoT, Mining industry recognition, Mining services, Mining software, Sustainable mining, Water management, , , , , , , ,

Datamine says it has established a dedicated environment, social and governance (ESG) business unit focused on the specific needs of the mining industry.

The new ESG business unit will bring together existing technologies and services under the leadership of Chris Parry.

Dylan Webb, CEO of Datamine, said: “We’ve observed that our customers are increasingly interested in managing ESG and its component systems as part of a single scope, led by senior executives.

“By establishing a dedicated business unit for ESG, we can now work closely with our customers on transformation strategies across the ESG spectrum, drawing on our deep domain knowledge to ensure the solutions provided are tailored to the mining industry.

“We are excited to have a leader of Chris’s calibre engaging with our enterprise clients to deliver improvements in ESG performance.”

Parry said he was impressed with the breadth of technology Datamine already has addressing the ESG needs for the mining industry.

“I look forward to working with Datamine’s global customer base to develop comprehensive ESG strategies underpinned by proven technologies,” he added.

Some examples of Datamine’s ESG technology portfolio include:

  • Discover GIS solution for geochemical, water, erosion and vegetation modelling and management;
  • Strategic planning tools to optimise extraction plans with minimum rehandle and intelligent waste dump design;
  • Qmed for workforce health management, COVID testing and vaccine administration; and
  • Centric Mining Intelligence for real-time transparency and governance across multiple sites and systems, including ESG key performance indicator reporting.

Beyond its technology suite, Datamine’s Snowden advisory division recently developed an in-pit crushing and conveying mining strategy for a customer that saved over 1 Mt of carbon emissions and A$700 million ($499 million) in cost savings, according to Datamine.

Webb said Datamine will continue to expand its ESG technology suite by investing in R&D and acquiring complementary solutions.

“It’s satisfying to see real momentum and desire by industry participants to improve ESG performance,” he said. “The community is increasingly realising that mining is essential for a low carbon future, but there is more we can do to minimise our impact along the way.”

Snowden’s Supervisor geostatistics software receives an upgrade

Mineral exploration, Mining software, , , ,

Snowden has released new features and enhancements for its advanced geostatistics software, Supervisor.

Supervisor v8.14 now comes with a new Multivariate Conditional Simulation component that, the company says, allows users to perform conditional sequential gaussian simulation over multiple variables while maintaining complex compositional correlations.

It added: “A feature-rich workflow allows for multiple compositional and gaussian transformation techniques with automated data handling and validation plot generation to ensure robust results for all data types.”

The software also comes with enhancements to its GCoS Grade Tonnage Curves, which can now be displayed at once on the Predicted Grade Tonnage Curve component. Alongside this, the theoretical grade tonnage curve can also now be displayed on the Conditional Simulation Grade Tonnage Curve component.

Other enhancements to Supervisor include the ability for the Conditional Simulation QQ plot to be filtered by domain, and updated help documentation for several components.

In terms of user interface improvements, Datamine listed off “Global Topcut Analysis”, “Contact Analysis” and a “Model Validation stats table” as examples.

Snowden, which was recently acquired by Datamine, says Supervisor helps solve practical geological issues in the shortest possible time, providing geologists with everything they need to optimise resource estimates.

MACA eyes up Downer’s Open Cut Mining West division

Mining mergers and acquisitions, Mining services, , , , , ,

MACA Ltd, in response to recent media speculation, says it is currently considering the potential purchase of Downer EDI Limited’s Mining West division.

The contractor says such a move for the open-pit mining business is consistent with statements made at its Annual General Meeting in November 2020, which outlined that it continued to explore and pursue growth opportunities that will deliver “value to shareholders on an ongoing basis”. This exploration, it said, may include investments in new businesses or acquisitions where considered appropriate.

MACA added: “The process is ongoing and MACA would only pursue a binding offer to acquire the business if it were to align with its strategy and deliver value for the company’s shareholders.”

Downer has previously announced it is seeking expressions of interest in the various parts of its portfolio of mining businesses.

It has already announced the sale of Downer Blasting Services, the Snowden consulting business and its share of the RTL Mining and Earthworks joint venture, while also stating the company is in active discussions with several interested parties in relation to the rest of its mining portfolio.

Datamine adds mining consultancy expertise to portfolio with Snowden buy

IoT, Mining mergers and acquisitions, Mining services, Mining software, , , , , , , , ,

Datamine, a wholly owned subsidiary of Vela Software, has acquired mining consultancy and software business Snowden.

As part of the transaction with Datamine, the Snowden brand will be retained, it said, with the company explaining: “We are dedicated to maintaining consistent high levels of expertise and support that you have come to expect from Snowden.”

Being part of the Datamine group will provide long-term benefits for Snowden, its staff and customers, according to the company. “We will have the opportunity to strengthen and grow our business by leveraging resources including an office network across 20 countries, and deep software expertise.”

Tarrant Elkington, Global Manager, Snowden, said: “Snowden has a proud 33-year history, evolving from a geological consulting company to a diversified advisory consulting, software and training business. This acquisition marks the next step on our growth journey.

“The software expertise and global footprint of Datamine offers tremendous opportunities for the growth of our business and to improve the experience of our clients. For example, we will now be able to offer in-country support to our supervisor clients in South America. And we can easily and cost-effectively expand our consulting business to other countries.

“This is a great day for our business, and our people, and we look forward to exploring the synergies that Datamine offer.”

John Bailey, Executive General Manager at Datamine, said: “We are excited to acquire the Snowden business which aligns closely with our existing offering to the mining industry. Snowden has a strong, expert brand with a wealth of experience and has developed industry-leading products that complement Datamine’s software portfolio.”

Snowden refers to Datamine as the world’s leading provider of technology to seamlessly plan and manage mining operations.

“With operations in 20 countries, Datamine provides solutions spanning exploration, resource modelling, mine planning, operations, logistics and marketing to over 6,000 companies worldwide,” Snowden said.

Supervisor is a complementary solution to Datamine’s existing resource estimation suite, offering a simple intuitive interface and workflow, advanced local and global estimation optimisation functionality and compatibility with all major mine planning software packages.

Reconcilor provides a robust system to identify differences between grade and tonnage estimates, plans and actual mine production. The Reconcilor solution is highly complementary to Datamine’s inventory tracking and metal balancing solutions, with several customers already using the combined systems.

MICROMINE open to integration in the face of interoperability hurdles

Automation, Communications in mining, Mineral exploration, Mining equipment, Mining maintenance, Mining safety, Mining services, Mining software, , , , , , ,

MICROMINE says its digitisation strategy is focused on ensuring clients are able to use its products in tandem with those from other third parties, alleviating any potential interoperability issues.

The company said it places a strong emphasis on integration and ensuring its software solutions can fully integrate with various third-party systems in a mining environment. “It is something the company prides itself on and sees as key to not only making the client’s job easier, but also advancing technology and innovation across the industry,” MICROMINE said.

“As mining companies continue to advance their digital transformation strategies, the ability for different systems to integrate and share data with one another has become a critical success factor. Integration has been a key theme for the METS sector in recent times and it will continue to be a focus for the industry in 2019.”

Data management solution Geobank Mobile has led the way in this area, according to MICROMINE, offering integration across barcode scanners, magnetic susceptibility devices, GPS and scale devices and DSLR cameras.

MICROMINE’s fleet management and mine control solution, Pitram, includes Pitram Restful Integration Services (PRIS), which allows third party software applications to submit and retrieve Pitram information without having to directly access the Pitram database, according to the company.

Micromine Product Strategy Manager, Mark Gabbitus, said: “Whilst we would love everyone to use only Micromine, we know there will be preferred solutions for certain applications, so it is in everyone’s interests for us to enable the efficient transfer of data between packages. We have always had this approach to data integration and that is why Micromine has been the market leader in this space for many years.”

Three dimensional modelling and mine design solution Micromine has also made significant progress in the integration space, according to the company. A recent example is the latest release of mining consultancy group Snowden’s ‘Supervisor’ resource estimation tool, which now includes added functionality for Micromine users. This means users can now directly export variogram parameters directly to a Micromine control file, according to MICROMINE.

“This new functionality will save time and effort for exploration geologists when conducting resource estimation and streamline the process for exchanging data between the two platforms,” the company said.

Gabbitus said: “When Snowden first came to us to discuss how we could integrate Supervisor with Micromine, we were only too happy to help. Snowden have been doing some great things in the mining software space recently and we wanted to make sure that our mutual clients had a good experience when transferring data between the two systems.”

Micromine is an exploration and mine design solution, which offers integrated tools for modelling, estimation, design, optimisation and scheduling. The latest version of MICROMINE’s exploration and mine design solution, Micromine 2018, comprises 10 modules.