MAJOR and emerging resources players may dominate the conversation around the state’s mining boom, but many lesser-known yet highly innovative mining services companies are also reaping the rewards on offer.
Perth hosts a significant number of mining services firms that specialise in resources software, including locally controlled outfits Micromine, Scope Systems, and ISS Group; other such as Mincom, Datamine Australia and Maptek have offices in the city.
Brisbane-based Runge is another to have a local presence.
Runge provides integrated technology services, and in 2007 bought WA firm Fractal Graphics as well as AMC Consultants, whose geomechanical division has developed software to model granular flow involved in mining companies caving operations.
The local market also includes Canadian mine production management solutions provider Gemcom Software, which bought-out Surpac Minex Group for $15.8 million in cash and up to 13.5 million shares to make room for Gemcom Australasia.
Nedlands-based Micromine, which develops mining software, started in Perth in 1986 and now has nearly 12,000 clients with offices in 15 countries.
It provides a suite of software products involving each step of the mining process from its namesake Micromine exploration product. This manages and interprets mining exploration data for the Pitram software, which helps control mine operations.
The company’s general manager, Dean O’Keefe, told WA Business News demand for Micromine software remained as strong in WA as it was internationally.
“Pitram is like an air traffic control system for an airport, it allows you to control the mine and report on all the activities and efficiencies within the mine,” Mr O’Keefe said.
“For products like Pitram I would say in Australia the demand is very strong and around the rest of the world it is increasing because really they (clients) have adopted systems such as Micromine for exploration and resource estimation and mine design.
“But they are only now beginning to become aware of and take-up mine control systems, so it’s a different stake in the
market.”
Mr O’Keefe said the company broke into the Chinese market when the decision was made to take the company global during a downturn in the industry 15 years ago.
Micromine currently holds contracts with major mining companies including Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and China Gold International Resources Corporation, and implements its systems in mines around the world including Trafigura in Spain and Altain Khuder in Mongolia.
Despite having a global reach through its owned and operated offices, and nearly 240 employees, Micromine maintains operations from its head office in Perth as well as developing all of the software locally.
“It’s also very common for us to bring staff members from other offices to Perth for training or to contribute to something for development,” Mr O’Keefe said.
Another local business starting to make a name internationally is software company Scope Systems, which began as a one-man operation in Perth in 1994 with plans to service the regional mining industry.
The company has recently opened an office in Johannesburg to provide its African-based clients with its wide range of products, including Pronto, which acts as the management solution for mining and mining services companies.
Scope Systems managing director Troy Morrison said there was significant potential to take the product to market in Africa, and that the offshore office added to its branch in Brisbane.
“We have been in business now for 18 years and we’ve got roughly 20 clients in Africa, most of them are Australian mining companies abroad,” he said.
“In Queensland we had a significant number of clients up and down the east coast and also branching up into Asia, so we thought it was important to be on that time zone as well.”
Scope Systems was started by its founding non-executive director Norman Pater as Costing & Logistics Systems Pty Ltd and has since grown to a staff of 65.
The company also offers a suite of business intelligence products to work alongside Pronto, analysing and reporting on aspect of mining operations including financial metrics and budget-versus-actual incurred costs.
“We are looking at taking on another product which is a budgeting and forecasting tool that I think will be a very big help to mining and mining services companies, so we’re in the final stages of that,” Mr Morrison said.
Also in the Perth scene is ISS Group, which delivers operational management software. The company listed in 2004 and attributes the global expansion from its Perth operations to the funds secured when it went public.
ISS Group chief executive Richard Pang said there was strong demand for its BabelFish suite of products, which allowed companies to run their operations more effectively from their data management processes to real-time visualisation.
“We’ve been developing software for 15 years and everything we have done has been driven by customer demand … the majority of it has been born out of companies in WA in both the mining and oil and gas sectors,” Mr Pang said.
“The international demand is strong more so in oil and gas because we are focused more in oil and gas overseas, so I see there is great growth potential to look at mining outside of Australia.”
ISS Group employs 138 staff globally and holds contracts with BHP, Rio, Chevron and Woodside Petroleum.
Recent wins include a 12-month contract with Chevron to provide BabelFish at its Gorgon project and a similar contract with Karara Mining at its iron ore project.
The company posted profits for the first
half of the 2012 financial year of nearly $2.7 million, on net revenue of $11.6 million.
