African Exploration Mining and Finance Corporation signs with Barnstone

African Exploration Mining and Finance Corporation (AEMFC), the South African government’s mining company, has engaged Barnstone to implement the Barnstone Mining Solution. Preconfigured specifically for mid-market mining houses, the Barnstone Mining Solution is a SAP-certified version of SAP’s All-in-One enterprise resource planning software.

The AEMFC was launched by the SA Government as in an attempt to secure the security of the country’s current and future energy supply and recently to support the beneficiation strategy for the country. 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 at a steady state for the next 15 years.

“The huge advantage of the Barnstone Mining Solution is that it comes preconfigured, thus allowing clients to take advantage of Barnstone’s years of experience in implementing SAP for the mining industry,” says Conrad Steyn, Director of Barnstone, a professional services firm. “The use of templates greatly reduces risk for the client and speeds implementation time.”

Barnstone has already begun implementing a SAP Mining ERP solution including Financial Accounting, Management  Accounting, Procurement, Inventory Management and Plant Maintenance modules for AEMFC. The Mining Solution includes process flows, process documentation, authorisations and workflows, based on industry-leading practices, thus reducing the need for customisation to the minimum.

“We have considerable ambitions to grow our business, and want to take advantage of the industry best practice embedded in SAP,” says Arthur Thando Dladla, AEMFC. “Barnstone’s solution offers us a great way to access SAP within a much shorter timeframe and at an affordable cost. The great thing is that it is scalable and so can accommodate the growth that we expect.”