In an increasingly complex operating environment, mines and their quarrying counterparts are placing business improvement at the centre of their operations. Yet, traditional fleet management systems – the foundation for optimal operations and ultimately business improvement – have historically tended to exclude small-scale operations due to factors such as high costs, complexity and a one-size-fits-all approach.
With that in mind, two engineers – Anton Fourie (COO) and Jason van der Watt (CEO) – came together in 2015 to establish AVA Solutions, a provider of data-driven mine management solutions for operations of all sizes. In founding the business, the two engineers – who both bring a wealth of experience to the mining industry – asked a simple question: “Why should only the biggest mines get the data they need to make better decisions?”
“Over the years, we have spoken to several small-scale miners, quarry owners and contractors who have been told that their operations were ‘too simple’ for digital fleet management. Because of the small nature of these operations, they often do not have dedicated business improvement or IT teams, let alone multi-million dollar budgets for digital transformation. All they have are a few trucks, people and pressure to deliver,” says Fourie.
Based on this understanding, AVA’s operating philosophy is that visibility should be accessible to every operation, regardless of size and number of assets, and should not only be reserved for the Fortune 500 companies.
From the onset
While the AVA’s product portfolio has over the years expanded in line with customer needs, one of the major focus areas from the onset was load and haul, hence the development of the AVA Load and Haul system. AVA’s Load and Haul system transforms GPS data from any device into a detailed, second-by-second performance model, categorising all activity to show exactly where time is lost.
The system is hardware agnostic, and works with over 600 GPS devices, including the ones these small operations already have. AVA deploys a low-cost Software as a Service approach instead of the traditional large capital investment strategy associated with fleet management solutions. The system also keeps operator input to a bare minimum, while making every second of every hauling cycle visible, allowing mine managers to make data-driven management decisions.
System in detail
The AVA Load and Haul system automatically captures every haul cycle, tracking key metrics such as location, speed, queue times, and material loaded/dumped. This automated approach is significantly more accurate than manual tracking.
Manual cycle capture is said to be, on average, 10% inaccurate. By automatically counting every truck’s cycle, operations gain confidence in the performance of materials, operators and loading equipment. AVA audits system accuracy – maintaining over 97% – and alerts users when maintenance is needed or accuracy drops, with guidance on how to resolve it.
Lelanie Sutton, Chief Strategy Officer at AVA, explains that site supervisors and managers gain access to a cloud-based platform that provides live visibility into their operations. Customisable alerts notify stakeholders of exceptions as they occur, such as speeding, incorrect material dumping locations, or unscheduled activities, allowing for immediate intervention.
The system breaks down fleet performance into specific components, for example, travel speeds, cycle delays and operator behaviour, to pinpoint exactly where improvements are possible. This data is used to generate detailed reports and interactive dashboards for ongoing analysis and decision-making.
Mamonare Moseki, Commercial Account Manager at AVA, explains that, based on client-specific requirements, in-app, e-mail, WhatsApp or Telegram notifications can be created. These notifications are scheduled for different users or roles within the business. Tailoring the information flow, she says, ensures that each department receives only the data pertinent to their specific function, avoiding information overload and allowing for more targeted, effective action.
Key benefits
By providing accurate data and actionable intelligence, the AVA Load and Haul system helps mines and quarries increase production, reduce fuel consumption (by cutting idle time and optimising routes) and improve equipment utilisation and availability.
“The cloud-based solution can be accessed from any device – we are hardware agnostic and we use existing infrastructure. One of the major differentiators is that we integrate with any existing GPS model and our system can be operational and adopted in a matter of weeks. For smaller sites, with anything between 15 to 20 trucks and loaders, the deployment, with new installations, can be one to two weeks,” explains Sutton.
“For larger sites with 60 to 150 trucks, we typically follow a two-month project plan,” she adds. “AVA pairs the platform with mining specialists who work alongside site teams during rollout. We do not just hand over software and leave. We engineer adoption; the team knows how to use it, the data is driving better decisions, and the operation is more profitable.”
According to Fourie, the major benefit of the AVA Load and Haul solution is that it gives operations of all sizes real-time visibility into their operations, enabling them to track, analyse and intervene on an asset-by-asset level, removing all previous ‘blind spots’. All of this is at a cost that suits every operation, empowering them to make better decisions and improve productivity across their operations.
The integration with other solutions such as OEM telematic platforms, weighbridges, fuel management systems and payload management systems, significantly reduces the cost of implementation. Having spent years running business improvement projects on mine sites, the AVA team believes that the traditional barrier to digital transformation was never about technology, but about the costly infrastructure requirements – hardware, sensors, and connectivity – from technology providers.
“We took a different approach and chose to work with what is already there. The ‘work with what you already have’ approach is not only about hardware, but also data. Most mines and quarries already have the basic bits, but they are not just using them effectively. The GPS coordinates are there, the telematics are running, but they are just not turning the data into decisions,” says Fourie.
With the AVA system, it is just a matter of plugging into existing data streams, tracking cycles and starting improvements. Sites with less than ten trucks, says Fourie, have seen a 40% decrease in operating cost (per tonne) using standard GPS and basic connectivity.
“Business improvement as a concept in mining has always been associated with huge capital investments. For us at AVA, it is about making data available and visible at a cost that suits every operation. If our system stops delivering value, customers can cancel the monthly subscription at any time because they are not bound to long contracts. We have a 30-day notice period which safeguards the customer against any buyer’s remorse,” explains Sutton.
Why load and haul?
Commenting on why AVA developed a dedicated Load and Haul solution, Fourie says that on a typical surface operation, hauling has the most human operators of any process. In fact, hauling constitutes up to 70% of mining costs. Yet, traditionally, there has been an absence of high-quality actionable data and operations, especially at cash-strapped small-scale mines and quarries, that have had to contend with exorbitant capital costs to acquire production data.
While it is advisable for mines to pay attention to every function within the mining value chain to achieve optimal operations, Fourie believes that hauling should be treated as a principal area of focus. While, for example, blasting is considered to be the first operational unit and a fundamental activity that significantly influences all subsequent operations such as loading, hauling, and crushing, hauling constitutes a substantial portion of the total operating expenses and the incentive to reduce costs in this area is high.
“Every fleet operator is eager to cut fleet costs and one of the primary expenses associated with mining haulage is diesel usage. Fuel is often the largest cost driver, making up a significant portion of the total haulage costs – up to 67%. If such a big proportion of the costs is linked to the hauling fleet, which in most cases represents up to 80% of the entire yellow metal fleet on site, it is therefore imperative for mines and quarries to give principal focus to this area,” says Fourie.
Digitalising load and haul streamlines workflows and eliminates bottlenecks. Deploying fleet management and real-time data analysis optimises cycle times, truck dispatching and route selection, leading to more material moved in less time.
Uptake and the future
Commenting on the uptake of the AVA Load and Haul system in the local quarrying sector, Fourie tells Quarrying Africa that, initially local quarries were slow to adopt the system due to a combination of a risk-averse culture and the general resistance to change from the older generation.
In addition, many quarries using mining contractors did also not see the need to deploy the system themselves. However, with an apparent generational change in the industry that has seen many young people coming to the fore in the past few years, there has been a growing focus on technological advancement on South African quarries, leading to a growing uptake of the AVA Load and Haul system.
“The uptake of the AVA Load and Haul system in the local quarrying sector is encouraging, demonstrating that even the most traditional industries can change significantly with appropriate tools and knowledge,” says Fourie.
One company leading the AVA adoption in South Africa is Afrimat, which has to date rolled out the AVA Load and Haul system on about 544 assets across 31 sites. Speaking to Quarrying Africa, Andre van Heerden, Head: Operational Efficiency at Afrimat, says the results of putting data at the centre of load and haul operations have been remarkable, with the fleet’s throughput doubling at some sites because of paying attention to the basics, which is often where the biggest wins are.
Commenting on the strategic intent behind going the AVA route, Van Heerden says that from the onset, the goal was simple – Afrimat wanted to improve fleet output and bring down its cost per tonne. But once the company started using the system, it made the team realise where the real opportunities to improve lay.
“One of the biggest lessons was just how much value lies in getting the basics right. Parameters such as startup and shutdown delays, idle time and unproductive movements often go unnoticed, yet they quietly add up to huge losses over time. AVA helped us visualise those inefficiencies and tackle them head-on,” explains Van Heerden. At Afrimat’s Jenkins operation, for example, litres per tonne fell from 0,66 to 0,42 over a 24-month period – a 36% reduction in fuel consumption using the same fleet.
The pattern holds beyond South Africa. At a gold operation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), AVA data helped the team identify enough friction in their cycles that they ended up parking two trucks entirely – and maintained the same output. The savings showed up not just in fuel, but in tyres, maintenance and operator costs. Capacity found, not bought.
In future, says Fourie, AVA wants to play a major role in bringing African quarries on the journey to business improvement by helping the fast-tracking technology adoption. This will be done through creating opportunities for information-sharing between AVA’s overseas clients in markets such as Brazil, the United States and Europe, and their African counterparts.
With leading companies such as Imerys, L’hoist, Cemex, EMBU and Polimix all adopting and leveraging the AVA Load and Haul solution, this shows that this is not a lofty idea. Many quarrying multinationals are seeing the potential for small, centralised business improvement teams to have clear insights and prioritise the most valuable lever to focus on across a portfolio of quarries, driving impressive net gains in their profitability.
The visibility AVA provides is not the end point; it is the foundation for what comes next. As the mining industry moves towards AI-assisted decision-making and autonomous equipment, operations without clean, trusted data will find themselves locked out.
“You cannot automate what you cannot see,” says Fourie. “Mines that lack basic visibility today will struggle to participate in the next wave of technology. Our role is making sure no operation gets left behind on that journey, giving them the data infrastructure they need to move forward, regardless of size.”
