From Ore to More Orezone Gold Corporation Uncovers Efficiencies with Mining ERP Solution
Mining companies understand patience. More than perhaps any other industry, miners know that it can take years of exploration, evaluation, and development before (figuratively) striking gold. Orezone Gold Corporation (TSX: ORE) worked patiently and diligently through the early mining cycle stages before literally pouring first gold in 2022 in West Africa’s Burkina Faso. As activity, spending, and investment ramped up, Orezone Gold was unphased. Through its partnership with Caron Business Solutions, Orezone has the operational and financial management solution to help it scale and extract value at every phase of its operation.
Rock-Solid Foundation to Build On
Because of its scalability, Orezone selected Sage 300 as its financial reporting software during its exploration phase. As the company moved from exploration to construction and operations, its needs became much more complex — growing beyond essential accounting.
“We needed additional functionality to support our progress,” recalls Gareth Withers, CPA, CA, and Director of Finance for Orezone. “For example, we needed procurement, parts management, approval workflows, and advanced reporting capabilities. We also wanted a solution to extend to our users across locations in Canada and Burkina Faso.”
Orezone set out to find a single, robust solution that could handle its Canadian corporate and West Africa operations and, in particular, the complexities of developing and operating a productive gold mine. Fortunately for Orezone, a broad range of capabilities are available for Sage 300 and supplemented by authorized development partners.
Agility to Dig Deeper
The company needed to move quickly to support its momentum, so it turned to its trusted technology partner, Caron Business Solutions, for advice. Caron specializes in working with mining companies, helping them optimize and streamline complex operations. Caron first recommended adding the Sage 300 Purchase Order module to provide the foundational controls and visibility over the company’s construction activities. This was followed by implementing the Sage 300 Inventory Control module as part of the operational readiness planning.
“Orezone was in an excellent position to scale quickly,” says Gareth. “Sage 300 is a solid platform to build on. Had we been using a simple, entry-level accounting application, for example, we would have had to start over — costing us valuable time and resources.”
In addition, Caron proposed extending the robust accounting power of Sage 300 ERP with workflow solutions, including those from PacificTech Solutions. PacificTech is an authorized Sage 300 development partner with many clients in the mining industry. The PacificTech Purchasing Workflow application incorporates a solid approval engine that meets Orezone’s requirements for increased control over their purchases with clear audit trails and improved visibility over purchase requests, purchase orders, and invoices.
To provide reliable and secure access to users in different locations on a single platform, Caron recommended that Orezone shift its Sage 300 installations at corporate and West Africa to Cloud at Work, a cloud hosting provider specializing in Sage ERP applications.
Scalability and Control
As a publicly traded company, rock-solid auditable financial statements are not optional for Orezone, and Sage 300 continues to deliver on this task. To further streamline global accounting operations, Orezone relies on another authorized development partner, TaiRox. TaiRox publishes a suite of add-on capabilities for Sage 300 users, including accurate currency exchange rate downloads and automated general ledger consolidations.
As expenditures ramp up during mine operations, Orezone keeps tight control and accountability using the purchasing workflows and approval capabilities provided by PacificTech. Configurable workflows keep the approval process moving, routing requisitions to the appropriate approvers, sending automatic reminders, and ultimately creating a purchase order while maintaining a log of every event.
Shifting its Sage 300 instance to Cloud at Work’s private cloud hosting platform increases the security of Orezone’s vital systems by automating backups. Plus, it provides fast, 24/7 access to business applications from anywhere users are located.
Unearthing Efficiency
With Caron’s guidance and industry experience, Orezone has assembled a best-of-breed solution that solves its challenges and provides a solid platform for growth.
“Caron Business Solutions has been an ideal partner for Orezone,” concludes Gareth. “They combine technical and accounting knowledge with mining industry expertise and wrap it up with careful project planning and execution. With their guidance, we equipped ourselves with the technology tools to help us successfully navigate the journey from the exploration stage through construction and into operations.”
“Orezone’s finance and operations teams are excellent,” says Caron CEO Paul Caron. “The leadership that Gareth provided during this operational readiness and the active, cooperative attitude of the Orezone team were a major reason for the project’s success.”
