PERTH, Australia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Accenture (ACN) today announced it has been selected by Northern Minerals Limited (NTU.AX) to provide capital project management and procurement business process services to help the company achieve full visibility of its performance against its plan and budget for the Browns Range Project Feasibility Study.
Under the terms of the agreement, Accenture will collaborate with Northern Minerals to establish capital project services including integrated planning, more accurate estimating and cost control, document control and risk management. Accenture will also use its business process expertise, advanced analytics tools and the extensive delivery capabilities of its Global Delivery Network to help Northern Minerals standardize controls, improve transparency and achieve scale within the company’s operations.
By leveraging Accenture’s capabilities and assets, Northern Minerals will be able to immediately access resources and services that will enable it to become more agile and responsive in its project delivery.
“Accenture has teamed with Northern Minerals during the feasibility study stage to ensure the company can achieve the scale, accuracy and agility required for the next phase of the project,” said Nigel Court, managing director of Accenture’s mining business in Asia Pacific. “Using Accenture’s capital project and procurement services, small-scale miners can take greater advantage of the benefits associated with shared services opportunities.”
Northern Minerals selected Accenture based on its proven track record in helping companies drive improvements in the planning and delivery of capital projects, as well as generate efficiencies in procurement services.
“As we undertake the feasibility study into the Browns Range Project, it is critical that we are able to access deep capabilities and skills to achieve scale, certainty and control over costs and schedules,” said George Bauk, Northern Minerals Managing Director/CEO. “This agreement with Accenture will ensure we are positioned to become the next dysprosium producer of significance.”
Accenture will leverage capabilities from Procurian, a provider of procurement services acquired by Accenture in December 2013, to provide business process services in procurement analytics and procurement operations, as well as indirect spend, to reduce cost, improve compliance and operational quality and enhance supplier analytics.
About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with more than 305,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$30.0 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2014. Its home page is www.accenture.com.
About Northern Minerals
Northern Minerals Limited (NTU.AX) is focussed on the becoming a globally significant producer of the heavy rare earth (HRE), dysprosium. NTU has large landholding in Western Australia and, the Northern Territory that is highly prospective for this element. NTU’s flagship project is the Browns Range Project (the Project), where it has a number of deposits and prospects containing high value dysprosium and other HREs, hosted in xenotime mineralisation. Dysprosium is an essential ingredient in the production of NdFeB (neodymium iron-boron) magnets used in clean energy and high technology solutions. As result of increasing global demand for these applications dysprosium supply is critical. The Project’s xenotime mineralisation facilitates the use of a relatively simple and cost effective processing flowsheet to produce a high grade dysprosium rich mixed rare earth oxide. Exploration is also underway at the geologically similar John Galt and Boulder Ridge projects. For more information: www.northernminerals.com.au.