[Sydney, AUSTRALIA] A new business-to-business (B2B) mining industry exchange based in Australia and Oracle will enable real time transaction between suppliers and buyers worldwide.

Oracle Australia and developers MiningXchange today announced the launch of what is claimed as one of the first live and operational exchanges to service the mining, oil and mineral processing industry, aiming to enable real-time transactions between buyers and suppliers, better prices and faster delivery.

Both suppliers and buyers are expected to be able to save substantially in procurement prices, overhead costs, paperwork and transaction processing through the exchange.

The initiative has been praised by the Minister for Industry, Science and Resources, Senator Nick Minchin, who said Australia was leading the world in development and innovation in the local mining industry.

"Sixty percent of the world's mines are using software created by Australian companies," he said. "Exports of mining-related intellectual property totaled over one billion dollars in 1998-99, representing the sixth largest export from this sector."

Based in Australia, the new exchange is initially focused on Australia and the Pacific region, but plans to soon expand its geographical scope to include Africa, North and South America and Europe.

MiningXchange, an independent business-to-business (B2B) exchange developed by a combined Asian e-business effort known as Unifize, is intended to be an open, neutral marketplace Oracle's B2B exchange technology, Oracle Exchange.

The marketplace will provide participants online auctioning, reverse auctioning, contract and spot buying capabilities, as well as collaborative supply chain planning functionality that facilitates accurate capacity and demand planning for members.

"The Oracle Exchange will give all members the ability to streamline and lower operational costs and eliminate supply chain inefficiencies," said Oracle Australia's regional managing director Phil Kiely.

During its initial phase, MiningXchange will target up to 600 buyers and suppliers in the Asia Pacific mining sector with its own Market Participating Acquisition Team.

"Along with the rationalization that is currently underway in the mining industry, the development of eMarkets, such as MiningXchange, is set to fuel the pace of change and profitability in the industry through enhanced process performance and supply chain optimization," said John LaVacca, Australasian eMarkets leader of PricewaterhouseCoopers, who provided business planning and strategy advice.

"The launch of MiningXchange offers greater industry choice in what is set to be the largest emerging opportunity in B2B e-business in the future," he said.