Barnstone Mining Solution goes live at African Exploration Mining and Finance Corporation

The implementation of the Barnstone Mining Solution has successfully gone live at African Exploration Mining and Finance Corporation (AEMFC). The Barnstone Mining Solution is a SAP-certified version of SAP's All-in-One enterprise resource planning software, pre-configured to allow rapid implementation following best practices for mid-market mining houses.

Barnstone's team completed the implementation in three months, with the go-live performed in July 2012.

“One of our big advantages was that we are a young company with a young and enthusiastic team, so we had little baggage in terms of legacy systems and processes,” says Sicelo Sikakane, General Manager: Strategy and Planning, AEMFC. “The attitude of the Barnstone team was another key success factor: they were behind us all the way and were totally flexible when it came to devising workarounds to accommodate specific business processes.”

As part of the implementation, Barnstone undertook in-depth training at various levels for AEMFC's users, and developed user manuals to ensure complete transfer of intellectual capital.

With some 25 users at present, AEMFC is expecting the new solution to support its ambitious growth plans. AEMFC was launched by the South African government to secure the security of the country's current and future energy supply, and recently to support the country's beneficiation strategy. It already has exploration rights in several areas, and launched its first coal-mining project in Ogies, Mpumalanga, in 2011. The project is ramping up to produce 1.6 million tons of coal per annum for the next 15 years.

“Provided we can obtain the right kind of mining rights, we aim to become one of the top five coal producers in the country by 2020,” says Sikakane. “We see the implementation of the Barnstone Mining Solution as a key foundation stone in that strategy: it gives us, as a mid-sized mining house, access to the best practices embedded in SAP. This pre-configured solution puts us on par with the major players from Day One at a fraction of the cost.”