4Sight Holdings and Minopex, a wholly owned subsidiary of DRA Global, have signed a joint memorandum of understanding (MoU), to develop a distinctive service and solution offering for the mining and minerals industry.
Minopex services customers operating in the base and precious metals, stones and bulk commodities sector
“Our work involves large, highly complex systems and data sets, and 4Sight provides technology platforms that are designed for the minerals/ bulk commodities sector, which we believe will allow us to work across the entire value chain,” says James Smith, executive vice-president Minopex and advisory at DRA.
“Through the use of data, simulation and automation, we will be able to improve productivity in a sustainable way – reducing plant and process variations, improving efficiencies and asset reliability and increasing performance. Such platforms allow the free flow of data that can be used for highly sophisticated analytics,”. “4Sight are experts in utilising systems to exploit all this data, something that humans cannot hope to do unaided.”
Wilhelm Swart, MD of 4Sight BluESP, agrees that the 4Sight/ Minopex collaboration has great potential for the industry. “In the mineral resources sector generally, the big opportunity is to bring Operational Technologies (OT) and Information Technologies (IT) together, to realise the benefits of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
“When you combine our expertise in the OT/IT space, where we have a growing number of our own solutions, with the in-depth industry and process knowledge from Minopex, then you have something with extraordinary potential to change the game for our customers,” he says.
Swart says there are numerous opportunities where the collaboration between the two companies can yield substantial benefits. Key opportunities include simulation modelling and digital twins, prescriptive and preventative maintenance, and advanced process control. In all of these, exceptional analytics and modelling tools use data from the operational and IT systems to optimise complex operations. Taking into account Minopex DRA’s execution capabilities, the partnership’s solutions can quickly be taken from concept into practice, with a focus on delivering tangible results.
Cost reductions of up to 20% and capacity increases of 10% and more have already been achieved for customers. More importantly, sustained performance excellence is underpinned by continuous improvement, further enhancing the value proposition for customers.
Both companies have deep roots in Africa and a focus on global expansion, with existing customers across the Middle East, Australia and the Americas.