acQuire’s EnviroSys solution enables miners to monitor the different aspects of their environmental impact against their obligations.
Efficient decision-making is arguably the beating heart of the global mining sector.
One poor decision can lead a company’s work astray, having a ripple effect on other aspects of the business.
As mining companies work to achieve positive environmental, social and governance (ESG) outcomes and sustainability goals amid the global energy transition, the need for accessible, timely and trustworthy data is especially important.
This is where acQuire Technology Solutions, a global software company that provides information management software, can help.
acQuire was founded in 1996 in Perth after co-founder Bill Withers realised spreadsheets weren’t suitable for managing complex geoscientific data in the mining value chain.
“He knew software would permit data-driven business decisions and good governance,” acQuire chief executive officer Alison Atkins told Australian Mining.
“Now, acQuire has four products within its suite of software solutions, and has five offices around the globe, with customer support centres operating in each major time zone.”
Image: acQuire
acQuire’s first software solution, GIM Suite, was developed to help the world’s largest mining companies manage their geoscientific information by enabling the capture, management and delivery of geoscientific observations and measurements.
“It encompasses web, desktop and mobile applications and is suitable for single mine sites or across multi-site and multi-commodity organisations,” Atkins said.
“The powerful data management capabilities in GIM Suite improve confidence in decision-making across the mining value chain because miners are working from a single source of truth for their data.”
Key benefits of GIM Suite include seamless integration across desktop, web and mobile, users having complete control over their data from the point of capture through to delivery, and users being able to configure their workflows to their company’s specific needs, regardless of the operation’s size.
“Miners are collecting and using more data than previously and are continually evolving smarter mining techniques and practices to efficiently access and mine more complex ore deposits,” Atkins said. “Geoscientific data is part of a wider mining ecosystem and when it’s properly integrated, it can inform optimisations elsewhere in the mining value chain.
“GIM Suite ensures there is a single, trusted version of a company’s geoscientific data that can be safely accessed across teams, with everyone working with the same information.”
Since joining Constellation Software via its operating group Vela Software in 2018, acQuire’s product suite has expanded to include EnviroSys, an environmental data management solution.
“acQuire’s strategic software solutions help companies tackle increasingly complex data challenges impacting ESG, as it relates to the earth’s resources, the natural environment, and their communities,” Atkins said.
“Each of our solutions are designed with specific information management challenges in mind and aim to maximise the value data provides to businesses, stakeholders and their compliance and governance obligations.”
Image: acQuire
EnviroSys captures, validates, assesses, analyses, and reports any type of environmentally related data from any number of sources at any frequency, whether that be from the field, a lab or consultant, or devices and IoT (Internet of Things) sources.
It also enables customers to provide compliance reporting with confidence and transparency.
“Users of EnviroSys can monitor the different aspects of their environmental impact including air quality, groundwater, surface water, potable water, noise, waste, emissions, land disturbance and rehabilitation activities, against their obligations in a single solution,” Atkins said.
“Monitoring and reporting on environmental compliance in mining can often be quite complicated, with data coming from a broad variety of sources, in a broad variety of formats, at differing frequencies.
“EnviroSys enables mining companies to handle all these requirements in one system, giving them a holistic and singular view of the environmental performance right across their business in real-time.”
acQuire is constantly looking for ways to improve its products and services.
“Since the release of GIM Suite 5, acQuire has continually evolved its web and mobile capabilities to a purpose-built web and mobile interface designed for a range of drillhole logging and sampling methods,” Atkins said.
“Our latest release, GIM Suite 5.3, introduced a secure REST API for seamless third-party system-to-system integration.
“Since the release of EnviroSys 9, the software has been enhanced through introducing a cloud-based licensing platform, a revamped and expanded support ecosystem with online help and on-demand learning, improved security and platform updates, and ongoing user requested enhancements to make EnviroSys easier to learn, use and manage.”
acQuire further supports the Australian mining industry through its Nova Network.
“The Nova Network enables acQuire customers to confidently choose from consultancy partners around the world with both the industry and software knowledge to support their data management needs and get the most value out of their acQuire solution,” Atkins said. “It’s our method of guaranteeing there’s always a skilled pool of data professionals with deep knowledge of acQuire solutions.
“We have Nova Network partners based in regions all over the world, and in many cases their language and cultural knowledge is just as sought after as their specialist domain experience.”
Atkins said data and strong data governance frameworks serve as the core of all acQuire solutions.
“We’re focused on delivering quality and sustainable software solutions that give our customers the tools to manage and own their solution, empowering confident decision-making and fostering dependable, long-lasting business relationships,” she said.
“We are forward thinking, ensuring our solutions can meet our customers’ current and future challenges.”
This feature appeared in the June 2024 issue of Australian Mining.
