AngloGold Ashanti Ltd: Eliminating The Digital Divide And Reducing Overhead Costs With Satellite

 

When a corporation has production information that must be transmitted from remote sites in the field to its headquarters in an area lacking a traditional communications infrastructure, IT network managers face many challenges for overcoming such a daunting task. Add in client communication needs and information transfers that must remain secure from the developing world to the developed, and now you have a
scenario that seeks a far more complex solution than merely transmitting content from point to multipoint.
Such was the case when network executives were trying to close the communications gap and ensure return on investment for the Ashanti Goldfields Group, a mining company with its head offices in the African country of Ghana.
In 1897, the principals of the then newly formed Ashanti Goldfields Corp. led a team of engineers which dragged and carried 40 tons of equipment from the West African coast to a point nearly 120 miles inland to begin exploitation of the new mining area at Obuasi. Ashanti has undergone several changes since then, expanding from a single mine in Obuasi into an African-based international gold mining and exploration group with six producing mines in four African countries: Ghana, Guinea, Tanzania and Zimbabwe, as well as offices in the United Kingdom and Isle of Man.
Those gold fields remain in operation today, with both surface and underground operations located in remote regions of several countries, and in April 2004, AngloGold Ltd. and Ashanti Goldfields merged to form AngloGold Ashanti Ltd., a global gold company with 20 operations spread across four continents, a project pipeline and a worldwide exploration program. But it was not until this past decade and prior to the merger that a robust communications network platform became part of the company’s infrastructure.
In order to compete effectively within the global business arena, a communications solution was needed to ensure seamless transmissions of voice and data. In fact, one of the most significant challenges that faced the gold mining operation, particularly because its business is established in Africa, was that the road and telephone infrastructures within the various countries the company operates in were very limited, hindering its business growth. Such inefficiencies of information transmissions many times caused delays in communications and inaccurate data transfers. Before the advent of satellite communications in Africa and particularly in the areas AngloGold Ashanti operates, communications were either delivered by hand, through road transport or on occasion by conventional telecommunications that were few and far between.
“Before the network, the communications costs were high,” says former Corporate Telecommunications Manager Kwasi Amoa. Amoa designed, planned and supervised the implementation of the communications infrastructures and networks in Ayanfuri, Siguiri, Bibiani and the Geita mines. “The communications infrastructure was not as reliable as we needed it to be. The project consultants for the construction and operation throughout the mines and the team members of the construction companies needed reliable systems to obtain information and communicate with their home countries. Project management was hindered by the lack of telecommunications infrastructures. In spite of the foregoing constraints, frustrations and difficulties, we were able to complete mining projects on time and within allocated budgets due to the satellite communication network that was established,” Amoa added.

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