If you would like to organise an interview or demo of Xact 1.4 with John Hives, mining consultant at Runge, please contact:
Mia Huikuri, Runge Australia, on 02 8248 1575 or mhuikuri@runge.com.au
Brisbane, 18 June, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Runge releases a new version of Xact short-term scheduling solution
New tools to provide greater flexibility and improved accuracy in mine planning
Runge Limited, a global mining consulting and technology services company, today announced the release of the latest version of its short-term scheduling solution, Xact 1.4, in Australia. Targeted at coal, metals and underground mining operations in particular, the solution provides tools to create more detailed and accurate mining plans in less time.
John Hives, Mining Specialist at Runge, said "Mining operations grapple daily with a variety of challenges to meet their production targets. While long-term and medium-term schedules provide the guidance needed for mining operators, there is often a lack of detail about short-term schedules. Every shift brings new short-term challenges such as equipment failure, labor changes, weather, and many other variables, and the impact of these changes needs to be carefully considered so that medium and long term goals are not compromised".
"Xact 1.4 has an improved tool set including graphical scheduling capability, multiple stockpiling options and charting ability. These allow mining engineers to react quickly and decisively against changes, which is key to the success of today's mine operations. We've also made it simple and easy to use and the system's intuitiveness allows minimal set-up and training time".
Xact is designed to address the dynamic nature of short-term scheduling, allowing operational staff to monitor and report on work progress of mining operations. The solution is designed to be used for all types of mines and mineral deposits, providing users a short-term scheduling tool kit that provides a central repository for short-term scheduling data and logic. This allows mining engineers to construct, analyse and update short-term mining schedules on a regular basis using databases, Gantt charts, plots and reports. The powerful presentation and reporting tools mean that inventory and quality reports are easily created, updated, and run using any time scale.
Ian Neilsen, Senior Mining Engineer of Ensham Resources, said, "Today more than ever enhanced cost management is crucial to the profitability of mining operations. We have been using Runge's Xact solution for 2 years to improve our inventory control. Asset utilisation management issues, such as analysis of equipment availability, are imperative to mining operations as they minimise disruption to the business. The ability to have daily quality reports with the new system provides enhanced visibility to identify and resolve quality variances. This brings flexibility because changes to blocks and task re-sequencing update the schedule happens automatically and re-evaluation of any part of the schedule automatically flows through the schedule. The model allows for a quick and accurate evaluation of alternate detailed mine plans in reaction to major strategy and advance changes of the mine directly translate into cost savings".
Click here to view the demonstration videos.
Xact also provides input into other Runge products including XPAC (medium to long-term planning software), XERAS (a financial modeling and re-forecasting application) and Mining Dynamics (an Enterprise management solution for the mining industry).
-ends-
For further information, please contact:
Mia Huikuri
Runge Australia
Ph: +61 2 8248 1575
Mob: +61 427 275 883
Email: mhuikuri@runge.com.au
About Runge:
Runge Limited is a leader in the provision of technology products, consulting services, and training courses to the global mining industry, delivering solutions and services across a range of commodities.
With expertise across a range of mining disciplines, its approach to the business of mining is strongly grounded in economic principles and delivering mine planning solutions that are tightly coupled with technological support and training. Through these solutions, mining professionals gain access to technology and knowledge that allows them to optimize their business planning process. Runge provides expertise from corporate advisory and strategic planning through due diligence and related financial services to resource and reserves management.
Runge currently owns and operates 18 offices in 10 countries throughout the world. Its team includes the wholly-owned subsidiaries Pincock Allen & Holt, Minarco-MineConsult, MRM Mining Services Pty Ltd and GeoGAS.
For more information, please visit www.runge.com.
