KINROSS GOLD
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“ There needs to be an IT strategy behind advances in mining . To make the most of the features available from the latest software and automated hardware the technology can ’ t exist in silos ”
— Néstor Alemán Esteban , Regional IT Projects Manager – Africa , Kinross Gold responsibility for the financial control of the capital budgets of the IT department . “ Much of my work has been focused on the expansion of the Tasiast mine in Mauritania ,” explains Alemán . “ We also run projects in the main office of Kinross in Mauritania ’ s capital city , Nouakchott , where we ’ re working on connectivity for employee accommodation .”
What challenges does the company face to develop and support communications infrastructure when establishing mining projects in such remote areas ? “ When you ’ re examining the status of the mining industry everybody is talking about innovation and automation but nobody speaks about IT ,” laments Alemán . “ It ’ s the communication behind the technology initiatives that makes them work . In developed countries IT is taken for granted , but what if you are in the middle of a remote area with zero coverage from any telecom provider ? In most cases that ’ s the story with a new mining operation and the company has to find a way of working around this . It ’ s important that IT and cybersecurity are not left behind , because without them you can ’ t support innovation safely . It ’ s a big risk .”
Kinross was fortunate that when
OCTOBER 2019