Insights from Kestel v Kimminco
October 15, 2024
Customer Success Story:
Iluka Resources & CCLAS
CCLAS enabled Iluka to improve operational outcomes -meaning less manual work, significantly minimised data errors and increasing processing capacity.
The customer
Iluka is an international mineral sands company with expertise in exploration, development, mining, processing, marketing, and rehabilitation. With over 60 years in the industry, Iluka is a leading global producer of zircon and the high-grade titanium dioxide, feedstocks rutile and synthetic rutile. Additionally, Iluka has an emerging portfolio in rare earth elements. Headquartered in Perth, Western Australia, the company’s portfolio includes mining and value additive processing operations in Australia and Sierra Leone, and a globally integrated marketing and distribution network.
The challenges
Prior to 2016, Iluka was running a very old LIMS across each of its three laboratories. Each of the local installations had been heavily modified overtime to a point where they could no longer use vendor support and reliability of the software was decreasing.
Local installations of their LIMS meant that inefficiencies in data transfer arose, and testing new methods and processes was near impossible. With their previous LIMS being an older platform that was modified significantly, breakdowns and slow speeds were a risk that the team were not willing to continue with. Without the required support to address these challenges, the team at Iluka decided to explore alternatives to improve their LIMS.
Later, further challenges arose which led to the transition from CCLAS being in use at one laboratory to expanding to multiple labs for Iluka. With a select few individuals holding the knowledge of the CCLAS system, there was a risk to the business if they left and issues within CCLAS needed to be addressed. Furthermore, since “each laboratory had developed their own methods independently, the definition of an analyte did not seamlessly apply throughout the business which often caused confusion,” said Shaun. Expanding their use of CCLAS across multiple systems was the next step in improving their laboratory processes.
Local installations of their LIMS meant that inefficiencies in data transfer arose, and testing new methods and processes was near impossible. With their previous LIMS being an older platform that was modified significantly, breakdowns and slow speeds were a risk that the team were not willing to continue with. Without the required support to address these challenges, the team at Iluka decided to explore alternatives to improve their LIMS.
Later, further challenges arose which led to the transition from CCLAS being in use at one laboratory to expanding to multiple labs for Iluka. With a select few individuals holding the knowledge of the CCLAS system, there was a risk to the business if they left and issues within CCLAS needed to be addressed. Furthermore, since “each laboratory had developed their own methods independently, the definition of an analyte did not seamlessly apply throughout the business which often caused confusion,” said Shaun. Expanding their use of CCLAS across multiple systems was the next step in improving their laboratory processes.
The solution
Datamine’s CCLAS solution gave Iluka the benefits of centralising a LIMS system across multiple sites and locations, whilst allowing for aspects of each individual laboratory to remain highly customised.
CCLAS is in use by major mining companies and commercial testing laboratories worldwide, across a wide range of operations, from simple stand-alone systems through to complex multi-site systems. CCLAS automates laboratory processes and the generation of analytical reports and commercial invoices. The system offers superior quality control functions that reference standards against specification and monitor operation product materials. CCLAS enables high-volume, complex analytical laboratory data to be captured, calculated, and stored with utmost confidence and reported to the client efficiently and on time.
CCLAS minimises labour costs, improves data accuracy, assists with the laboratory’s certification processes and enables regulatory compliance. All through increased laboratory automation, recording changes in a single, comprehensive, and standardised system, and quality control through the built-in QC and auditing process.
CCLAS is in use by major mining companies and commercial testing laboratories worldwide, across a wide range of operations, from simple stand-alone systems through to complex multi-site systems. CCLAS automates laboratory processes and the generation of analytical reports and commercial invoices. The system offers superior quality control functions that reference standards against specification and monitor operation product materials. CCLAS enables high-volume, complex analytical laboratory data to be captured, calculated, and stored with utmost confidence and reported to the client efficiently and on time.
CCLAS minimises labour costs, improves data accuracy, assists with the laboratory’s certification processes and enables regulatory compliance. All through increased laboratory automation, recording changes in a single, comprehensive, and standardised system, and quality control through the built-in QC and auditing process.
The Process
“The implementation processes with Datamine was probably one of the best projects that I have been involved with in terms of how well the project was structured and carried out,” said Shaun Baxter, Senior Chemist at Iluka Resources. Shaun’s team shared their feedback on the design and testing phase; it “was very comprehensive, with Datamine able to understand our requirements and construct CCLAS to the required design, as well as providing valuable input into available options.” The Datamine team was heavily involved in the testing phase with information flowing back and forth to finalise the design of the system such that it worked to Iluka’s network and speed requirements. When it came to the live rollout, this process “was also very well supported by Datamine, such that any unforeseen issues were immediately corrected. Lessons learnt in the rollout at each of Iluka’s laboratories was put into practice such that the last install was completed in a matter of hours,” said Shaun.The results
Iluka’s team shared that among other factors, “the highly competitive cost of implementing CCLAS against other LIMS was also a significant factor in selecting Datamine.”
Their results since the implementation speak volumes of the benefits. “Across the business we probably save $10 – $30k per year in time not spent troubleshooting issues with CCLAS,” said Shaun. These savings were also found in “the increased efficiencies in how our LIMS and production accounting systems now interact.”
Now with a centralised system for their LIMS, Iluka’s team has found a reliable solution in CCLAS that supports their need to implement new testing methods, and removing the need to do so from scratch for each laboratory – a process that was a significant time burden in the past.
Since the initial installation, Iluka has worked with the Datamine team to customise and add multiple features to CCLAS as their operational needs have evolved. “Being able to use the expertise of Datamine to develop and implement these new features has made this process smooth and efficient,” said Shaun. lluka has made some further, much-needed changes in their data processing between CCLAS and their production accounting system, improving the quality of their data integrity.
Their results since the implementation speak volumes of the benefits. “Across the business we probably save $10 – $30k per year in time not spent troubleshooting issues with CCLAS,” said Shaun. These savings were also found in “the increased efficiencies in how our LIMS and production accounting systems now interact.”
Now with a centralised system for their LIMS, Iluka’s team has found a reliable solution in CCLAS that supports their need to implement new testing methods, and removing the need to do so from scratch for each laboratory – a process that was a significant time burden in the past.
Since the initial installation, Iluka has worked with the Datamine team to customise and add multiple features to CCLAS as their operational needs have evolved. “Being able to use the expertise of Datamine to develop and implement these new features has made this process smooth and efficient,” said Shaun. lluka has made some further, much-needed changes in their data processing between CCLAS and their production accounting system, improving the quality of their data integrity.
Company
- Iluka Resources
Industry
- Mining
Region
- APAC
Software Solution
- CCLAS
Challenges
- Heavily outdated and modified LIMS system, which proved to be slow and unreliable
- Data inefficiencies
- Lack of the ability to make customization
Outcomes
- Centralised system with tremendous support
- Increased efficiencies meaning less manual
work - Significantly minimised data errors
- New features to improve data processing capacity and integrity
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