• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Joint Venture Inkai Signs Multi-Million Dollar Software and Services Deal With Mincom

Posted on: Thursday, 3 April 2008, 18:00 CDT

Mincom, a leading global software and services provider to asset-intensive industries, has signed a multi-million dollar software and services agreement with Joint Venture Inkai (JV Inkai) for its new in situ recovery uranium mine in Kazakhstan.

Cameco, the world's largest uranium producer accounting for 20% of world production from its mines in Canada, US and soon Kazakhstan, owns 60% of JV Inkai and the Kazakh government owns 40% through its state-owned nuclear holding company, Kazatomprom. Commercial production at the green field mine site is expected to begin in 2008 and ramp up to 5.2 million pounds annually by 2010.

JV Inkai has purchased the Russian language version of Mincom Ellipse, the core of the Mincom Enterprise Mining Solution to provide Materials/Supply Chain Management and Financial and Human Resources functionality.

Mincom Ellipse will provide visibility across JV Inkai to create a single, integrated, business-wide solution while providing a platform for growth and expansion. The solution will increase JV Inkai's asset utilization, reduce operating costs, help it to meet regulatory standards for audit compliance, ensure supply chain availability and visibility, allocate skilled resources appropriately and mitigate risk.

Allen Vaughn, Executive Vice President of Mincom, said, "This is a significant new win for Mincom as it extends our footprint in Central Asia. With customers in Mongolia and Russia, we have expertise and a number of years of experience working in this part of the world but this is our first Kazakh customer."

"As a green fields mine, it is important that JV Inkai builds its business on solid technology that enables efficient operations. Mincom Ellipse will provide JV Inkai with a system that is rich in functionality and marries the operational mining functions with its corporate requirements including HR and financials. JV Inkai will be able to concentrate on in situ uranium mining and leave the back end business operations to Mincom Ellipse."

According to Kim Schindler, Director of Finance and Accounting, JV Inkai, Mincom was chosen for a number of reasons. He said, "To ensure the success of our mining venture, we need to have the right technology supporting our efforts. Mincom's extensive experience in the mining sector globally and specifically in Russia and Central Asia was a key factor in our decision to purchase its products and services. This coupled with Mincom's ability to meet our project timeframe with Russian language products made the company a perfect solutions and implementation partner for this project."

An international team comprising Mincom experts from Australia, UK and Russia are working on site in Kazakhstan on the Mincom Ellipse implementation. The project is scheduled to go live in June 2008 in order that JV Inkai can meet its Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) audit requirements for 2008.

About Mincom

Mincom Limited is an international company based in Brisbane, Australia, with nearly 30 years' experience in providing business solutions to asset-intensive industries such as mining, utilities, transport, defence and government in more than 40 countries. The company has more than 1,250 staff in 18 offices across Australia, North America, South America, South East Asia, Africa, and Europe.

Mincom Ellipse, the core of the Mincom Enterprise Mining Solution, is modular, fully integrated, and provides extensive functionality for Materials/Supply Chain and Maintenance Management, as well as world-class Financial and Human Resources functionality. The solution provides real-time visibility of operational and financial metrics across the organisation, enabling them to make proactive management decisions. With a single central repository of all information and limited interfaces, Mincom Ellipse supports complete data integrity and real-time reporting.

For more information about Mincom, visit: www.mincom.com.

About Joint Venture Inkai

Test mining at Inkai began in April 2002. In 2004, JVI decided to proceed with construction of a full-scale in situ recovery mine and mill and doubled the original scale of the project. In 2005, the partners received regulatory approval to construct mining facilities with capacity to produce 5.2 million pounds of U3O8 annually. The project is expected to begin commercial production in 2008 ramping up to full production in 2010.

The Inkai project is located in a remote part of south central Kazakhstan. The site is about 20 kilometres by road from the nearest village and 370 kilometres from the regional capital, Chimkent. Inkai is essentially staffed by Kazakh nationals. Training and education opportunities are provided to ensure the safe and efficient operation of the mine. The operation follows Western standards for worker safety and environmental protection. Cameco maintains a solid relationship with Kazakh authorities through the joint venture partnership and is familiar with the country's laws and procedures related to mining developments.

Uranium mineralization at Inkai occurs in sandstone aquifers 400 to 500 metres below the surface. The uranium is recovered using the in situ recovery mining method, which produces no waste rock or tailings and results in minimal disturbance to the surface and underground areas being mined. Using a grid of injection and production wells, a mild acid solution is circulated through the ore body to dissolve the uranium. Uranium-bearing solution is then pumped to a surface processing facility where the uranium is removed using a chemical process. When commercial production begins, the uranium will be processed, dried and packaged as yellowcake at the site.

Fast facts for JV Inkai:

Location - Kazakhstan

Ownership - 60% Cameco, 40% Kazatomprom

Proven & probable reserves - 114 million pounds U3O8

Average grade - 0.06% U3O8

Capacity - 5.2 million pounds U3O8 annually by 2010

Expected mine life - 17 years

Employment - 350-400 during construction, 340 at full production

Source: Business Wire

More News in this Category