ALROSA expands mine management system

ALROSA Diamond Co. has recently decided to expand on the software applications of its Wenco system for monitoring and dispatching production equipment, and expand the system onto four drills.

Russia’s largest diamond company commissioned Wenco’s mine management system at the Jubilee mine in Q4 2004. The system was installed on 81 pieces of mobile mining equipment including HaulPak, Terex and BeLAZ trucks, Demag, EKG and LeTourneau loading equipment, and SBSH drills. ALROSA has been using Wenco’s “MineVision” and “Fleet Control” software to make use of real-time information regarding equipment status and productivity.

Jubilee mine has successfully employed automatic dispatching, speed control, payload monitoring and other features of the Wenco system. ALROSA has reported that the Jubilee mine increased the volume of truck haulage by 13% in the first year allowing for a savings of US$2.8 million in operating costs as a result of the Wenco system.

Wenco’s local specialists will continue to provide full-time onsite support for system software and hardware. Additional remote technical support is being provided from Wenco’s head office in Vancouver.