Mining consultancy and software sol-utions provider RungePincockMinarco (RPM) last month released a commodity-based software solution focused on scheduling in the cement and aggregates quarrying industry, the Quarry XPAC Solution.

The product is configured to the requirements of the quarrying industry, with specific focus on cement and aggregates. It is built on RPM’s scheduling solution, XPAC, and uses a standard, process-driven interface to make quarry planning activities easier to master and more cost effective to maintain.

“For the first time, quarry planners will have access to a streamlined, simplified, interactive and process-driven solution that provides scheduling visibility across the quarry with the ability to react to changes in product delivery schedules and evaluate multiple scenarios to achieve optimal exploitation of the quarry deposits,” RPM CEO and MD Richard Mathews notes.

“When schedulers can get to the job of scheduling more quickly, they can spend their time comparing and analysing different options, including blending capabilities, to get the best out of their quarry in the most time- and cost-effective manner. This affords the scheduler and, consequently, the quarrying company a deeper understanding of what the quarry is actually capable of,” Mathews says.

Further, quarry planners can achieve optimal exploitation of a deposit through the use of RPM’s scheduling capabilities, which enable them to make use of advanced blending capabilities, ensuring significant savings in excavation costs, notes RPM scheduling product manager Alun Phillips.

Meanwhile, RPM’s Quarry Solution integrates with enterprise system SAP, enabling quarry planners to pull product delivery targets directly into a production plan. In addition to its integration with SAP, the solution is fully integrated with RPM’s trademark mine haulage software product, HAULSIM, and financial modelling tool, XERAS.

“The present demand in the quarrying industry and depleting resources have resulted in the need for cost-effective, smarter and simpler systems. RPM’s Quarry Solution is the answer and presents a software solution that can respond to any change in the market in a timely manner for cement and aggregates mine planners,” says Phillips.

The launch of RPM’s Quarry Solution is the sixth commo- dity-based solution to be launched as part of the company’s product suite, following on the Open Pit Diamonds and the Oil Sands solutions released in 2014 and the 2013 releases of RPM’s Open Pit Metals, Open Cut Coal and Underground Coal commodity mining solutions.