PRESS RELEASE: Wenco stated that this contract further strengthens its relationship with Nordgold  - Nordgold’s Lefa mine has used the Wencomine fleet management system since 2011.

Bissa and Bouly are two different open pit operations located roughly 5km from one another. Bissa launched in early 2013, about 85km north of Ouagadougou, the capital city of Burkina Faso. Bouly, a newer operation commissioned in September 2016, expands on the flagship Bissa mining operation.

The fleet management selection process included a trip to an Australian mining operation using similar Wenco technology, which confirmed the potential value to the mining operations of Wenco. A 20% improvement (reduction) in material movement costs, half of which was directly attributed to Wenco, was a significant factor in the selection of the Wenco solutions.

The Wenco solutions being implemented at Nordgold Bissa will include fleet management, dispatch optimisation and maintenance applications at both sites. Wenco solutions will be installed on the loading and hauling fleets and auxiliary equipment across both mine sites. Wenco will be integrated with SAP to allow the sharing of data between the fleet management and enterprise resource planning systems.

Bissa-Bouly is focused on optimising its loader utilisation at the crusher where the loader would load from different material stockpiles directly into the crusher. This is anticipated to greatly improve plant output. Their spotters at the loading area will use ‘toughpads’ to connect directly to Wenco in the loader to assist the operator with loading material.

In addition to the above-mentioned applications, Bissa-Bouly will also use PitNav, Fleet Awareness, and Wenco’s newest product, the Avoca Intelligence Suite. Avoca provides the data storage and exploration power that helps mines to discover insights and track trends in productivity, operator performance, and safety. One area of safety concern is excessive dust and its impact on visibility within mining operations; the Wenco technology will add a fleet awareness capability to reduce the associated risk with high levels of dust.

Finally, Bissa-Bouly will benefit from a reduction in manual paperwork when it is able to automatically generate Wenco’s system reports. This allows for more time for data analysis and operational improvement focus, rather than data collation and report generation.

Ruan Knoetze, sales manager with Wenco, said: “To elaborate on the specific tasks, Bissa-Bouly is a large mining area with many common challenges. Connected and well-informed operators will be enabled to enhance production, operate safely, and add real business value to operations. We look forward to a long and beneficial partnership with Bissa-Bouly, the newest operation we are working with from the Nordgold organisation.