Momentum builds for K2fly tailings software solutions

ASX-listed mining software-as-a-service provider, K2fly has wasted no time picking up contracts since its acquisition of the Decipher for Mining business from Wesfarmers subsidiary, CSBP earlier this year. Decipher recently secured a three-year, $250,000 contract with Evolution Mining for the implementation of a tailings storage software system at its long-life Lake Cowal open-cut gold mine in NSW.

Perth-based K2fly’s all-scrip $3.7 million purchase of Decipher saw CSBP assume major shareholder status on K2fly’s share register, now speaking for some 10 per cent of the company’s expanded issued capital.

Decipher for Mining provides cloud-based software-as-a-service technology and compliance solutions for the mining industry, including those in relation to mine rehabilitation and closures and tailings storage governance and monitoring.

Latest stated open-pittable and underground reserves at Evolution’s Lake Cowal mine currently stand at a substantial 137.8 million tonnes of ore grading an average 1.04 grams per tonne gold for 4.59 million ounces of contained gold.

Tailings storage management planning will be paramount as Evolution looks to expand gold production from the current 2020-21 financial year guidance level of 205,000-230,000 ounces per annum to a whopping 350,000 ounces a year over the next three years.

Evolution, who boasts a market cap of $8 billion, also owns and operates the Mt Rawdon and Mt Carlton gold mines in Queensland and the Mungari gold mine in Western Australia.

Decipher’s tailing storage monitoring solution has also been adopted recently by South African Energy Coal in a contract worth more than $70,000 to K2fly.

South African Energy Coal has four coal mining operations and operates three processing plants, producing energy coal for the domestic and export market.

K2fly says it has also received a purchase order from BHP division, Hunter Valley Energy Coal for an initial proof of concept for the Decipher mine rehabilitation solution.

According to company management, the pipeline of projects for Decipher solutions is set to grow significantly as stakeholder pressure builds and the international push for environmental, social and governance outcomes continues to sharpen the focus of resource companies on their tailings storage facilities.

K2fly Non-Executive Chairwoman, Jenny Cutri said: “By acquiring Decipher for Mining, K2fly will have the only end-to-end solution in the market today that can cover monitoring, disclosure and governance in support of the Global Industry Tailings Standard (GITS).”

GITS, also referred to as the “Standard”, has been formally endorsed by the co-convenors of the Global Tailings Review comprising the London-based International Council on Mining and Metals, the UN Environment Program, and the Principles for Responsible Investment.

Late last year, the Church of England Pensions Board and the Council on Ethics of the Swedish National Pension Funds wrote to more than 350 mining companies asking them to confirm their support for the Standard and to set out a timeline for their intended compliance with it.

These pension funds hold a gargantuan combined $20 trillion-plus in assets under management on behalf of investors.

When the Standard was launched last year, all member companies of the International Council on Mining and Metals indicated that all tailings storage facilities with “extreme”’ or “very high” potential consequences will conform with the Standard by August 2023 and all others by August 2025.

Next week, the International Council on Mining and Metals will be launching its protocols for GITS conformity – no doubt a move that will send a number of companies into the warm embrace of K2Fly.

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