MINING SOFTWARE
Modular Mining ’ s Lourens Du Plessis says the company has begun taking steps to foster increased integration , interoperability and communication with relevant third-party systems
steps to foster increased integration , interoperability and communication with relevant third-party systems .” acQuire Technology Solutions Director of Product , Steve Mundell , said a key part of the company ’ s product strategy for its flagship geological data management software , GIM Suite , is having connectivity with third-party systems for people to access and use their data across mining departments and the mining value chain .
“ We have a long history of developing industry partnerships with the major mining software solutions ,” he told IM . “ This has resulted in a mature and robust interoperability strategy for GIM Suite . It means customers are able to easily share their data between systems and avoid data silos .”
Dylan Webb , CEO of Datamine , says his company has been working on integrating its expanded offering , which now includes products from Minemax and Snowden , into the wider mine value chain .
“ Integrated solutions for our clients are one of our core differentiators ,” he told IM . “ We see the significant time savings to be had and the bottom-line impact this has for our clients .”
Paul Beesley , RPMGlobal ’ s Chief Technology Officer , says the introduction of enterprise software applications into the mining space was a key building block towards the company integrating with other solutions across the mining value chain .
“ RPMGlobal ’ s software not only integrates together , but with other industry solutions to ensure the exchange of real-time information across all areas of a mine site ,” he told IM . “ The key is enabling customers to move data between applications at a resolution and frequency that makes sense .”
Maloney , who states Seequent has been looking to collaborate with others in the software space since it was launched in 2010 ( as ARANZ Geo ), says software vendors are realising there are plenty of benefits that come with this industry collaboration .
“ Companies are finding out they can have a much bigger impact if they stick to the solutions they ‘ own ’ and ‘ breathe ’ on a daily basis and not worry about the other parts of the mining process , instead interoperating with other businesses that have those complementary focuses ,” he said .
The proof
One does not have to look far for examples of where breaking down interoperability barriers can pay off . Seequent ’ s 3D geological modelling software Leapfrog started integrating with Maptek ’ s Vulcan 3D geological modelling , mine design and production planning solution all the way back in 2016 , with the two companies agreeing on “ seamless interoperability ” between the two software solutions , Maloney says .
“ The link our products have with Maptek solutions is universally popular with our common customers ,” he explained . “ The fact that they can move measures and formats backwards and forwards between an engineering-focused major vendor and a data science software solution is providing incredible value to the mining industry .”
Maptek ’ s Coloma references another collaboration that sees PETRA ’ s latest digital twin performance models come into the Maptek Evolution mine schedule optimisation platform as evidence of the increased value of interoperability .
“ The digital twin and artificial intelligence ( AI ) technologies from PETRA integrate optimised mining and beneficiation processes and the resource model , mine design and scheduling capabilities ,” he said . “ We make it as easy as possible for customers to access the machine-learning apps by launching them from within Maptek products .”
Coloma argues the software integration process must go both ways .
“ We ’ re also proactive in opening up our software for integration with customer systems through application extension toolkits ,” Coloma explained . “ Workflows , APIs and software development kits in scripting languages allow our users to expand the capabilities of Maptek software products .” acQuire ’ s Mundell points to a recent collaboration agreement the geoscience software company struck with cloud-based image capture and management tool Imago as evidence of industry interoperability .
“ This was released as part of our GIM Suite 4.3 product update and gives GIM Suite customers the ability to view high-quality images alongside their geoscientific data within the GIM Suite interface ,” he said . “ Geologists find value in having the data and imagery displayed together so they can quickly validate and verify any anomalies or find issues , and it is one of the most streamlined ways available in the
“ Openness and interoperability are driving forces at Seequent ,” Shaun Maloney says . “ Our cloudbased model management platform , Seequent Central , brings teams and data together across the lifecycle of a mining operation to improve decision making .” Pictured : Leapfrog Geo 3D model view of underground mine development and exploration drilling , shown in Seequent Central
International Mining | FEBRUARY 2021