Executive Summary
Prominent Hill is a remote underground copper-gold operation in South Australia, then owned by OZ Minerals and expanding through the ~A$600 million Wira Shaft development. Micromine was engaged to deploy Pitram — a mine-production and fleet-management system — to give the operation material tracking for grade control through its ore passes and to measure the productivity and effectiveness of a growing underground fleet, running over a newly installed private underground network. As Micromine's Senior Mining Solutions Manager (Global) and commercial lead for Pitram in APAC, Callum owned the engagement end to end: offsite scoping and requirements analysis conducted remotely under COVID travel restrictions, the commercial negotiations, and implementation across roughly 50 pieces of heavy mobile equipment over an 18-month programme. Midway through, two things changed at once — OZ Minerals was acquired by BHP, requiring the relationship, key stakeholders and contractual terms to be re-established; and Micromine moved to a full subscription commercial model that materially increased the ongoing cost of the software. Callum managed both, keeping the client and the commercial position intact and making Prominent Hill one of Micromine Pitram's most significant and complex Australian engagements.
The Challenge
Prominent Hill is a long-life copper-gold mine in a genuinely remote part of South Australia, roughly 130 kilometres south-east of Coober Pedy. As the operation transitioned deeper and expanded — the Wira Shaft underground expansion was approved in 2021 to extend mine life toward 2036 — it needed far better visibility of two things: where material was going and at what grade as it moved through a series of ore passes, and how productively and effectively its heavy mobile fleet was working. Pitram was the system chosen to provide that, deployed onto machines and run over a newly installed private underground communications network.
Four things made the engagement demanding. First, complexity: this was a combined hardware-and-software deployment across roughly 50 pieces of heavy mobile equipment in a live, expanding underground environment, not a desktop software rollout. Second, remote scoping: the initial scoping and requirements analysis had to be conducted offsite because of COVID-era travel restrictions, without the usual ability to walk the site. Third, a change of owner mid-project: OZ Minerals was acquired by BHP, which meant re-establishing the relationship, the key stakeholders and the contractual terms with a new and much larger counterparty partway through delivery. Fourth, a change of commercial model: during the same period Micromine moved Pitram to a full subscription model, significantly increasing the ongoing cost of the software — a difficult conversation to hold with any client, let alone one going through its own ownership transition.
Callum's Role
Callum led the engagement for Micromine — the technology provider — as Senior Mining Solutions Manager (Global) and the commercial lead for Pitram across the APAC region. He owned both the commercial relationship and the delivery of the system.
His responsibilities ran from first contact to steady-state operation: scoping and requirements analysis; the commercial negotiation and structuring of the agreement; oversight of the implementation across the fleet; and ownership of the client relationship through two significant disruptions — the acquisition of OZ Minerals by BHP, and Micromine's transition to a subscription pricing model. In practical terms, he was the person accountable for the engagement delivering for both the client and the company: the technology landing and being used, and the commercial arrangement remaining sound.
Approach
Remote scoping and requirements analysis
With COVID travel restrictions preventing site access, Callum ran the scoping and requirements analysis offsite — defining what the operation needed Pitram to do for grade control and fleet productivity, and how the system would map onto Prominent Hill's ore-pass material flow and equipment, without the benefit of being on the ground.
Commercial negotiation and structuring
He led the commercial negotiations and structured the agreement for a substantial, multi-year engagement — balancing what the client needed against a sound commercial position for Micromine.
Implementation across the fleet and network
He oversaw the deployment of Pitram — both the in-cab hardware and the software — across roughly 50 pieces of heavy mobile equipment, leveraging the newly installed private underground network so that material tracking for grade control and equipment-productivity data flowed from the machines back to the control room in a live operating mine.
Holding the relationship through an ownership change
When OZ Minerals was acquired by BHP, Callum re-established the relationship and the contractual terms with the new owner and worked through a materially changed set of key stakeholders, keeping the engagement on track rather than allowing the transition to stall it.
Managing a commercial-model change with stakeholders
In parallel, he managed the shift to Micromine's full subscription model — a significant step-up in the ongoing cost of the software — with stakeholders on both sides, so that the change was absorbed without losing the client or the commercial value of the engagement.
Outcomes
- ✓The system was delivered. Pitram hardware and software were implemented across roughly 50 pieces of heavy mobile equipment over an ~18-month programme, giving the operation material tracking for grade control through its ore passes and visibility of equipment productivity and effectiveness.
- ✓Delivered on the new underground network. The deployment ran over the mine's newly installed private underground communications network, moving operational data from machines to the control room in a live, expanding mine.
- ✓The relationship survived a takeover. When OZ Minerals became part of BHP, the relationship, key stakeholders and contractual terms were re-established with the new owner without the engagement stalling.
- ✓A difficult pricing transition was absorbed. Micromine's move to a full subscription model — a significant increase in ongoing software cost — was managed with stakeholders on both sides while retaining the client.
- ✓Delivered for client and company alike. The engagement stands as one of Micromine Pitram's most significant and complex Australian projects, delivering value across both the technology and the commercial relationship.
Why It Matters
This profile shows an executive who can hold a complex, high-value engagement together across both its technical and commercial dimensions — and, more tellingly, through two simultaneous disruptions that were largely outside his control. A corporate takeover changed the counterparty mid-delivery; his own company changed its pricing model at the same time. Either can derail a project. Managing both at once, in a remote underground operating environment, while still landing a hardware-and-software deployment across a fleet of machines, demonstrates the intersection of commercial judgement, delivery discipline and stakeholder management that separates an account manager from a genuine commercial operator. It is directly relevant to any organisation that needs someone to protect a customer relationship and a commercial position when the ground shifts beneath a project.
Capabilities Demonstrated
This profile describes work delivered by Callum in his role as Senior Mining Solutions Manager (Global) and Pitram APAC commercial lead at Micromine, for the client operation at Prominent Hill (OZ Minerals, subsequently BHP). It does not represent work delivered by Nausicaa Consulting.
Sources
Public sources establish the operation, the technology, the underground network and the corporate context; they do not verify Callum's personal contribution, which rests on the authority of his role. Commercially sensitive figures (revenue, pricing) are kept qualitative at Callum's direction.
- PublicInternational Mining, "Micromine Pitram helping Prominent Hill mine more efficiently" (8 May 2023). im-mining.com — Micromine at Prominent Hill since 2020; Pitram Mobile in-cab units; Wi-Fi / Peer-2-Peer data sync to the control room.
- PublicMicromine — Pitram product overview. micromine.com/pitram — Material Management (material type, grade and flow) for grade control; equipment Time Usage Model for productivity; ore-pass monitoring; network-enabled deployment.
- PublicGlobal Mining Review, "OZ Minerals approves Prominent Hill Wira Shaft Mine Expansion" (Aug 2021). globalminingreview.com — ~A$600M underground expansion; construction from 1Q22; mine life extended toward 2036.
- PublicInternational Mining, "OZ Minerals Prominent Hill joins Aqura 5G Underground Initiative" (24 Jun 2022). im-mining.com — private 5G/LTE underground communications network at Prominent Hill; works from August 2022.
- PublicBHP / Mining.com.au, "BHP completes $9.6 billion acquisition of OZ Minerals" (2 May 2023). mining.com.au — completion date and value of the acquisition; Prominent Hill among the acquired South Australian copper assets.
- Company-suppliedRole and title; ~50 heavy mobile units; ~18-month duration; offsite/COVID scoping and requirements analysis; commercial negotiation; management of the ownership change and stakeholder transition; management of the subscription-model change; and the engagement's qualitative significance — supplied on the authority of Callum's role at Micromine. Not independently publicly verified.