The mining industry is on the cusp of business transformation similar to what manufacturing experienced decades ago, says Dassault Systèmes VP for natural resources Marni Rabassó.

During the time that mining was able to ride the commodity price curve without feeling too much pressure to change, the more pressurised manufacturing sector was making significant advances, which are now available to help mining’s push forward.

One of these is in the area of simulation, which highlights problems ahead of physical delivery and renders designs executable first time around.

“It’s not hard to imagine the kind of visibility that simulation can add to mining, which is rife with not being able to deliver on its plans,” says Rabassó, who spoke to Mining Weekly from Vancouver.

Simulation also has the potential to reduce verification time materially and present more possibilities for innovation.

Decisions no longer have to be taken on a restricted number of options that traditionally require considerable time to evaluate.

Modern three-dimensional (3D) and even 4D simulation provide mining with the potential to study a great variety of options quickly and know for certain which is best.

Many operations oversize plant as a precaution against the difficulties of increasing size once it is built.

“But, again, if you can simulate, it can save a lot of money and boost efficiency,” says Rabassó.

With many mining companies looking at technologies proven in other industries, Dassault Systèmes has launched the ‘lean mine construction’ and the ‘perfect mine and plant’ industry solution experiences to provide mining companies with decision-making agility.

The global Dassault Systèmes’ holistic input is able to connect people, data, ideas and solutions in a single business thrust that provides boardrooms and management with unprecedented clarity in navigating the future.

In a presentation earlier this year at a planning conference organised by the South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (SAIMM), in conjunction with the University of the Witwatersrand’s (Wits’) School of Mining Engineering, Dassault Systèmes’ Neto Kapalata outlined how his company’s products had added value to the diamond tailings dump at the Finsch diamond mine, in the Northern Cape, where it made use of 3D technology and smart algorithms to provide a year-by-year account of recovery prospects.

On the sidelines of the same SAIMM conference, Dassault Systèmes Africa business unit MD David Osborn told Mining Weekly of the company’s capacity to string together the entire mining value chain through the establishment of common data centres and the use of niche applications to arrive at the best cost efficiencies.

Meanwhile, mining companies are viewing themselves increasingly as industrial companies, not only in the way they operate but also in the manner in which they sell and deliver their metals and minerals, with Anglo American CEO Mark Cutifani among the mining leaders who have reiterated the need for mining processes to catch up commercially and logistically.

Those attending the Deloitte in Conversation conference, in Johannesburg, last month heard that a complete step change is required in South Africa’s mining business model if the industry is to survive.

At a separate Swedish mining meeting in Pretoria, Wits Centre for Mechanised Mining Systems director Declan Vogt spoke of it being imperative for mines to modernise in order to increase product value.

With a total of 13.5-million people dependent on mining-generated jobs in South Africa – some 25% of the population – South Africa has no option but to strive for maximum efficiency in mining, which is acknowledged at the highest levels as the flywheel of the local economy.

An important part of the transformation is making sure that there is adequate change management as well as systems integration.

“We can actually transform someone’s business and make it better for the shareholders and the people who work at the company,” Rabassó promises.