Australian-based mining software solutions provider, MICROMINE, has secured a foothold in Central America - installing its fleet management and mine production solution, Pitram, at Fresnillo in Mexico.

The introduction of the solution, Pitram, is a first for the company in the region and follows a robust six-month procurement process and three-month onsite implementation.

Fresnillo (FRES:LSE), which is the world's leading producer of silver and Mexico's largest producer of gold, installed Pitram to enhance operations at its 465-year-old Fresnillo minesite and nearby Saucito operation. The sites produce approximately 37,000koz of silver and 108,000oz of gold annually.

Pitram Systems Specialist Team Lead Josue Fajardo said the software solution would help Fresnillo identify and achieve operational efficiencies across both of the vast sites.

"Pitram's real-time technology solution allows data capture and data review and management during each shift, so Fresnillo does not have to wait until shifts end to make production improvements," said Mr Fajardo.

"At an operation like Fresnillo and Saucito, which are extensive, complex and involve thousands of machines and more than 1,800 staff and 3,500 contractors, the time and cost savings should be considerable."

Pitram records data from equipment, personnel and materials to provide an overall view of mine status and productivity. Greater information allows minesites to pinpoint opportunities to increase production, reduce costs and improve safety and business intelligence.

At Fresnillo, all control rooms monitoring the mines have representatives from the Maintenance, Service and Operations team so they can make informed decisions as a group, in a timely manner, based on the information gathered and presented via Pitram.

"Fresnillo is able to manage a vast amount of information that comes from the mine operations in real-time and make immediate changes. They also benefit from increased business knowledge across the many sectors of the production pipeline," Mr Fajardo added.

Following the successful implementation in January 2019, MICROMINE is currently working with Fresnillo to implement a second mobile Pitram solution, which will allow data to be captured directly from the field via tablets installed in equipment.

Plans are also underway to implement Pitram at Fresnillo's new brownfield project, Juanicipio, which is located in the same area of north-central Mexico.