Wenco, a technology solutions company, is expanding its South American presence with Thiess, the world’s largest mining contractor, selecting the Wenco Mine Performance Suite to run its operations at Antofagasta’s Centinela open-pit mine in Chile.
Antofagasta contracted Thiess to develop the Encuentro oxides pit, which is expected to contribute to the mine’s output of 50,000 tonnes of copper cathode per year.
Antofagasta contracted Thiess to develop the Encuentro oxides pit, which is expected to contribute to the mine’s output of 50,000 tonnes of copper cathode per year
To monitor and control the production process, Thiess is leveraging the Wencomine fleet management system.
This system will optimize productivity and efficiency across the pit’s 56 active units, including 12 high-precision loaders and five high-precision drill rigs.
Thiess selected the Wenco product due to its reputation in delivering strong production functionality and streamlined implementation with minimal impact on day-to-day operations.
“Wenco has worked with Thiess at various mining developments around the world and our solutions are ideal for the productivity improvements and ease of deployment they require.” Jose Eugenio Saravia, Wenco’s regional manager for Latin America, said in a release.
This follows recent Wenco sales to the Chinchillas and Pucamarca mines and a new partnership with Tecwise, a Brazilian mining solutions provider.
“Contractors like Thiess are a major growth area for Wenco and the industry as a whole. We’re seeing a great many more opportunities of this sort throughout Latin America,” Saravia adds.
“As well, we’re seeing more and more customers excited to partner with a Hitachi-owned company like Wenco, who can deliver the reliability and support only available from a major OEM and global mining leader.”
For over 30 years, Wenco has developed technology solutions to help mining companies increase productivity.
Wenco offers a suite of mine productivity solutions including fleet management, asset health, proximity detection, mining business analytics and high precision machine guidance solutions.
(A version of this article first appeared in the Canadian Mining Journal)