Timetric asked 100 Australian mine managers and other senior decision-makers currently working on operating mines across the country, to identify the different mining software platforms currently in use on their sites.
The respondents nominated the software used in five main mining processes: “geological mapping and block modelling”, “surveying”, “drill and blast”, “mine scheduling” and “mine planning”
According to the survey, Maptek's Vulcan software dominates in the three out of five categories: geological mapping and block modelling, surveying and drill and blast.
This platform was used by 33% or more of respondents for each category, and nearly half (44%) of respondents cited using Vulcan for geological block modelling purposes.
The third-most used platform differs for each category, with 5% of respondents using Datamine for geological block modelling, some 8% are using Trimble for surveying purposes, and 10% are using Shotplus software by Orica for drilling and blasting.
RungePincockMinarco's (RPM) XPAC software solution is cited as the most-used for scheduling purposes with 25% of the respondent nominations; followed by Vulcan with 19%.
The latter is once again cited as the most widely used software, this time for mine planning purposes with 32% and was followed by XPAC with 18%. Deswick featured in third spot for both scheduling and mine planning software categories.
Timetric senior mining analyst Nez Guevara said: “Conditions in mining industries around the world remain challenging amid falling commodity prices along with new technologies that continue to shape the industry.
“Opportunities exist but a company's success will be dependent on the speed at which its operations can adapt to ever evolving technologies that help to increase efficiency.”
