Mining consultancy and software provider RungePincockMinarco (RPM) in January announced its acquisition of end-to-end spatial solution provider PrimeThought Software Solutions’ intellectual property rights for its specialist software products used in the management and reporting of geospatial information and the structuring of geospatial databases in mining projects, says RPM CEO Richard Mathews.

He says the acquisition is aimed at providing greater depth to the capability of the company’s enterprise software platform and solutions, adding that this is in addition to the company’s acquisition of a mine design product in August last year, which extended its product offering across the mining value chain.

“This acquisition will provide RPM with the underlying capability to structure, inventorise, manage and share geospatial data right across the mining enterprise,” says Mathews.

He states that the constant productivity and cost challenges facing the mining industry are driving closer alignment between companies’ enterprise resource planning systems and technical mining products, as miners look for better visibility, optimisation and control over their operations.

While RPM’s enterprise mining software products address the transactional integration between the operational mining environment and the corporate systems, this acquisition of the specia- list software products will equip it with the ability to address the sharing of spatial data across the enterprise, which changes every time an operational event occurs in the mine, he says.

“The mining world deals in spatial information, which is changing all the time. By being able to manage, share and link both transactional and spatial data through an enterprise platform, we believe we will change the way mining companies make business decisions.”

In addition to mining, PrimeThought’s software products are used in a variety of industries, including logistics and engineering. Under the terms of the acquisition, RPM has acquired nonexclusive rights to rebrand, commercialise and exploit the geospatial management software code and any successor products developed by RPM, says Mathews.

PrimeThought develops, sells and distributes spatial and engineering components with high-end functionality that empower users and enhance access to data and information mining tools. The entire mining spectrum is covered from geological modelling to mine design and scheduling, surveying and reporting.

RPM is a global publicly listed independent group of mining technical experts, with a history that goes back to 1968. The company has local expertise in multiple mining regions and is experienced across all commodities and mining methods.

RPM is a global leader in the provision of advisory consulting, technology and professional development solutions to the mining industry.

“We have global expertise achieved through our work in over 118 countries and our approach to the business of mining is strongly grounded in economic principles,” concludes Mathews.