The Luxembourg-headquartered miner and metals company said it has signed letters of intent with technology research and advisory firm ARC and with software giant SAP to advance its Industry 4.0 plans.

Together with consultancy Oner Mind, ARC will perform an independent technological audit of ERG's entities in Kazakhstan and develop an action plan for business process optimisation.

"ERG's entities differ by industry and size; that's why we need a world-class independent audit to maximise the effectiveness of production process management," ERG chief information officer Galymzhan Akhmetov said.

Group chairman Serik Shakhazhanov said the cooperation with SAP would lead to implementation of a new system focussing on repair and maintenance management and equipment reliability.