This week we are excited to celebrate 30 years of bringing innovation to the mining industry.
Join us as we reflect on our contributions of “firsts” with fond memories of mining technology from Surpac and Minex to ECSI, Gemcom Software, and now GEOVIA. As a Dassault Systèmes brand, we look forward to our continued journey at the forefront of mining innovation in the future. Throughout the week, we will feature highlights and memories from both our long-standing employees and executives. We encourage you to read and share your own memories of GEOVIA’s innovations. How have we helped you in the last 30 years? How can we help you in the years to come?
Today, we are pleased to hear from Dr. Tony Diering, the founder of our PCBC/PCSLC software, Marni Rabasso, our VP of Natural Resources, Fiona Carew, our Industry Sales Director Natural Resources, Gavin Low, our R&D Senior Development Engineer, and Felix Walraven, our Natural Resources Industry Solution Technical Senior Manager.
When you look back on your career that spans over 30 years in mining, what are your most exciting moments with the company?
We were the first company to develop mining technology for IBM PCs, as opposed to SGI, which was what everyone else used at the time. From a visual standpoint, our original software was not graphically pretty, but it’s simplicity in providing results that people needed made it invaluable to users. It was the first mining software to actually do what it stated, opposed to hiding behind SGI graphics. Our software now supports large data and utilizes the improved processing speeds of the PC of today. We were the first mining software company to use a SQL server and the first to use 3DS Volumetrics.
The movement to the cloud is forward thinking for the mining industry. Looking forward to the future of mining, our software has always been used for mine and geological planning, but now, as part of Dassault Systèmes, it is exciting to see that we can integrate with the technology of our many brands to create amazing mine design.
Tony Diering, VP Caving Business Unit, Inventor of PCBC & PCSLC
Looking back on the innovative technology available to the mining Industry, what stands out and What excites you about the future?
Gemcom was the first company to market with a database-based mine planning system that was not only designed for but also succeeded in breaking down operational siloes around mine planning. Then with the ProdTrak (now GEOVIA InSite™) acquisition, the concept of full digital continuity started. It was a great start to realizing the vision of full value chain visibility and management in an industry not known for technological leadership.
And now with the great wealth of solutions leveraged from years of best practice from other industries, Dassault Systèmes is in a unique position of providing a business management platform to the industry, that no one else has the platform we do.
Marni Rabasso, VP Natural Resources, GEOVIA
As someone who has spent nearly 20 years with the company, what stands out most when it comes to our innovation in mining?
The last 20 years has been quite an adventure! I am most proud of our leadership position in delivering innovative software solutions FIRST, demonstrated in our early days with PC-XPLOR, GS32, PC-MINE and PCBC, which were all first generation mining software solutions on PCs. Real game-changing moves followed when we were the first to go to Windows and leveraged that technology to add a database for mine operations where workflows demanded a single secure central database shared by all mine departments. Mine production management was a natural next step with the introduction of the precursor for GEOVIA InSite™.
Leadership in software architecture has always been our strength, which will only continue now that we are a part of Dassasult Systèmes. We will be the first mining software company to the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. I am very proud to be associated not only with Gemcom, GEOVIA and Dassault Systèmes, but also with the mining industry.
Fiona Carew, Industry Sales Director Natural Resources
When you look back on your over three decades of working in mining software, what stands out for you?
In 1998, ECS, the company that founded our Minex software, was awarded the Austmine Emerging Exporter of the Year and the NSW Premiers Award for Exporters of the Year. It was an exciting time as it showed how Gemcom’s software was the front runner of innovation in mining technology. Throughout the past 30+ years working in mining software, I have always been excited by how we are first to adopt the latest technology.
Working with highly skilled and talented colleagues, our company has excelled in producing solutions for some of mining’s most difficult problems. We have a long and strong history of exporting worldwide to both coal and metal-based markets, and I look forward to seeing our innovation in mining continue in the years to come.
Gavin Low, Senior Development Engineer, GEOVIA R&D
Looking back on your 15 years with the company, what stands out as exciting moments of mining innovation?
“The acquisition of Surpac by Gemcom Software was exciting at the time, as we could cross pollinate tools between multiple products, which improved our offering and differentiated us in the market. I have fond memories of visiting client sites with them impressed by the small things in our software such as a toolbar.
Now that we are part of Dassault Systèmes, there is a quantum leap happening with our products. What the futures holds is exponentially more than what we have been used to in the past. I can really appreciate the transformation that we will drive in the mining industry with Dassault Systèmes tools. The launch of the Industry Solution Experiences revolutionizes the whole industry, and the users of our software will be blown away by what we can bring to the table in the future.”
Felix Walraven, Natural Resources Industry Solution Technical Senior Manager
Be sure to check back tomorrow as we share more highlights and “firsts” from our 30 years of innovation in mining. UPDATE: Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4 are now online.
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