Physical asset management service provider Pragma has completed the implementation phase of an asset care centre (ACC) at diversified miner Rio Tinto’s Benga mine.

Currently, Pragma is executing the optimisation phase, which will take 24 months to complete.

The contract, which entails the establishment, implementation and execution of an ACC, was awarded to Pragma in 2012 by the Benga mine, situated in the Moatize basin of Mozambique’s Tete province.

Pragma has allocated three full-time personnel – one on-site asset care (AC) engineer, two on-site AC planners and one off-site AC manager – to take charge of the delivery of this contract. They have been trained by Pragma in AC best practice. The company also flies in AC engineers from South Africa to support the various improvement initiatives on-site.

“Having already worked with mining clients in Mozambique for the past 20 years, we believe we can add value to the country’s mining industry,” says Pragma northern regional manager Johannes Coetzee.

Meanwhile, Pragma has started with the implementation of an ACC at Irish mining company Kenmare Resources’ Moma titanium mine, also in Mozambique. “The implementation will be completed by the end of February 2014,” he says.

This will be followed by a year-long optimisation phase. Pragma also has three on-site personnel at this site.

Coetzee adds that both contracts are renewable.

The ACCs integrate best practice business processes, enabling the integration of technologies and personnel know-how and skills into a unified system that delivers enhanced levels of asset management, which it entrenches into the client’s business strategy, says Coetzee.

He explains that Pragma’s asset care service is an outsourced service solution, whereby a team of Pragma engineers, planners and schedulers assist the in-house team at the client’s site, using agreed daily maintenance management activities provided by the ACC.

“The method and best practices used to execute this function are British Standards Institution’s Publicly Available Specification 55-aligned and meet international and local accounting reporting standards, including international financial reporting standards, generally accepted accounting principles and generally recognised accounting practice,” says Pragma solutions engineer Johan Alberts.

The implementation and execution of the ACC service is based on Pragma’s asset-management business processes, which include ACC foundations, asset-management improvement planning, work planning and control as well as asset register administration.

“We use Pragma’s enterprise asset management system (EAMS), On Key, and Pragma’s asset management improvement planning framework to improve asset performance,” says Coetzee.

Implementation of the On Key EAMS and Pragma business processes for both contracts have been completed.

“We are in the execution phase, during which the ACCs are responsible for the maintenance administration and maintenance management of their respective projects,” says Alberts.

Main Operational Challenges
Key challenges associated with these projects include the logistics of travelling to and from the mines, the relocation of a skilled workforce to, at times, harsh living conditions and the potential language barrier when working with locals.

“Since the inception of the ACC service in 2005, Pragma has refined the solution into a highly effective vehicle to drive change in the area of asset management in clients’ organisational environment. The key benefits of our involvement at Rio Tinto and Kenmare Resources include accurate asset data, entrenched standardised work planning and control procedures, upskilled employees and easier, more effective decision-making based on accurate real-time information,” explains Coetzee.

Alberts notes that three Pragma representatives will attend the Mozambique Coal 2013 conference, the fourth such yearly conference, hosted by Australia-based Informa at the Avenida Hotel, in Maputo, on July 15 and 16, where the company aims to secure potential clients.