RPM regional general manager Mike Evans said the Underground Coal XPAC Solution software was purpose built to focus on the planning intricacies of underground coal mines which meant more accurate, practical and relevant results.

“Our clients face risks from the traditionally complex mine planning solutions available until now, which means reliance on retaining niche technical skills,” he said.

“With a skills shortage continuing to affect the industry, we’ve addressed these concerns by launching Underground Coal with inbuilt mining intelligence that removes the need to have these niche skills, opening up mine planning to a wider audience.”

Underground Coal borrows the scheduling engine and database from the XPAC stable.

Its interface guides users through the business-critical stages of mine planning in a standardised and consistent manner.

Users can quickly and easily explore many scenarios while maintaining consistent and practical results.

Evans said it led to increased confidence, informed decision making and decreased risk, each adding extra value to the deposit.

“With Underground Coal, we’ve eliminated the need to learn scripting, meaning less time getting the hang of the software and more time planning the mine,” he said.

“Not only is it easy to become proficient, mastering Underground Coal is extremely high speed.

“By implementing Underground Coal, we remove the risk of loss of human capital from our clients’ business.”

Underground Coal will be officially launched at Mining Indaba, held in Cape Town on February 4-7.