End-to-end mine solutions provider Micromine Africa has been awarded a R3,3-million contract from the Namdeb Diamond Corporation. The contract involves the installation of an automated mine-control solution at the Namibia-based mine, which is made up of Micromine’s PITRAM and DOME product offerings. Micromine GM Mark Williams explains that PITRAM is a mine production-management system that records and controls mine site operations and DOME, which is a relatively new product on the market, offers a Web-based information-management system that provides a flexible and efficient environment for validating, storing and acces-sing data from diverse softwar applications and sources.

The primary objective of the Micromine solution is to increase production at the mine, but more importantly, the system will decrease Namdeb’s costs by effectively manag- ing the mine’s resources and flow of information. Williams maintains that the project will be rolled out in a phased approach, with a fully trained live handover expected within four months.

He says that the solution that Micromine is providing will manage Namdeb’s fleet, equipment, personnel, and maintenance. In addition, the systems that are currently being used at Namdeb will be integrated into a single auto-mated system when PITRAM is installed. This provides the mine with a centralised data base system, thereby improving transparency and communication within the mine. What is more, the reporting function of the DOME solution will enable Namdeb to keep a record of everything that happens on the mine, allowing it to be proactive in its operations, and the real-time solution will allow engineers to react immediately.

Essentially, the solution will eliminate the need for the mine to capture data manually, as inform-ation is automatically captured and stored online, in real time and without human error. What is more, this data is immediately made available to the decision makers and it provides the user with 100% accurate information. Williams says that the Micromine solutions offer Namdeb Microsoft-based product development and make use of nonproprietary hardware, supplied locally by Storm Logistics, and thereby reduce cost and turnaround times. Once the project is complete, Micromine will provide Namdeb with its Micromine Support Solu-tion, which includes a 24/7 managed service offering, first- and second- level support, access to onsite qualified technicians and shared information from similar global clients who have already found answers to potential challenges. This ensures that the solution is running at optimum capacity. Micromine brings together global experience from 13 branches and more than 120 employees worldwide. This project marks Micromine’s footprint in the African market and it proves that there are cost efficient mine-control solutions available.

Williams concludes that most people know what value these types of systems add to an operation, but many believe that it is too expensive and difficult to justify. Micromine provides local support from an internationally-backed company that offers real-time, cost-effective end-to-end solutions to the African market.