THE Association of Mining and Exploration Companies has added another string to its bow with the launch of a new mine supply and logistics service.
AMEC chief executive officer George Savell said the alliance with Supply Direct followed a year of negotiations and hoped to take advantage of the critical mass purchasing power of AMEC’s members.
The service is the second to be unrolled and stems from a review of AMEC’s operations in 1998, which was brought about by a decline in membership.
Mr Savell said the review concluded that AMEC needed to keep its traditional stream of services, such as member support, policy and lobbying, while adding additional services, which could directly help its members.
“In 1998 we endeavoured to identify services which we hadn’t previously provided to our members,” he said.
“We looked at travel, accommodation, insurance, finance and mining supplies. We started off with travel and accommodation in July 1999 because we found that travel costs were the third biggest cost in any budget.”
Globetrotter Corporate Travel won the contract and now organises travel
and accommodation for 75 corporations.
With the travel service bedded down, AMEC then looked at ways to use the buying power of its members to provide cheaper mine supply and logistic services.
“In keeping with AMEC’s desire to deliver high-quality services to its members, the alliance with Supply Direct is a significant development and a real cost control measure, using state-of-the-art technology to deliver an essential service to mine sites and other remote locations in a cost effective manner,” Mr Savell said.
Supply Direct general manager Steve Armstrong said the system of supply chain management was well tested by the company in Australia and overseas and provided high levels of efficiency for mining companies.
