News Releases

Novariant and Wenco Partner to Deliver Next Generation Positioning Applications to Open Pit Mines

Menlo Park, Calif, USA—February 14, 2006

Working to provide mining customers with the most compelling high-precision GPS applications, Novariant and Wenco today announced a partnership that integrates Wenco’s BenchManager suite of applications with Novariant’s Terralite™ XPS system. The integrated solution will support virtual ore control and guidance applications for shovels, dozers, and drills with positioning uptime approaching 100 percent.

The combined offering of Wenco’s BenchManager Plus application and Novariant’s MX100 receiver delivers the most accurate – and most available – bucket positioning solution on the market. The system determines cuts and fills, orientation and dig limits. It also sends data to the host system and collects asbuilt data. One of the unique features of the Wenco system is the ability to determine the precise bucket location by measuring joint angles with accelerometers. When combined with Novariant’s MX100 receivers, operators and mine planners can accurately determine the position of each load, ensuring all assignments and ore qualities are based on the
latest dig block model.

“Wenco’s goal is to bring the most compelling mining solution to our customers,”
said Phil Walshe, president at Wenco. “We explored a range of alternatives to deliver a
system that could operate 24/7 and concluded Novariant’s unique approach to the
problem was technically sound and proven to work in the challenging environmental
conditions of openpit mines. By partnering with Novariant, we have the opportunity to
add value by integrating our BenchManager suite of products with the latest in
positioning technology.”

Novariant’s Terralite XPS delivers over 99 percent GPS position availability in openpit mines, even in areas of the mine where GPS positioning alone is problematic. Machine-mounted MX100 receivers are capable of reception of both GPS and XPS signals from Terralite Transmit Stations set up around the rim of the pit.“Openpit mines present numerous challenges for GPS-only or GNSS-enhanced receivers, these challenges have been overcome by Terralites,” said Anthony Bruno, general manager for mining at Novariant. “We designed the system to work with any
application that requires constant positioning information. Wenco’s BenchManager is an excellent example, as it provides tremendous utility to the mine, especially when combined with accurate, reliable positioning data from Terralites.” The combined system will be commercially available in June 2006.

Click here for a printable document of this news release.

For more information, visit www.novariant.com/mining or www.wencomine.com

About Autofarm
AutoFarm, a division of Novariant Inc., is the premier solutions provider for precision
positioning and intelligent control systems. AutoFarm manufactures and markets Global
Positioning System (GPS) receivers and precision agriculture solutions for automatic
steering and leveling based on its experience in advanced aviation landing systems.
AutoFarm can be found on the web at www.gpsfarm.com or reached at +1-866-428-8632.

About Novariant, Inc.
Novariant is the premier industrial solutions provider for precision positioning, intelligent control systems and positioning infrastructures.  The company’s precision solutions are enabled by the Global Positioning System (GPS) and other patented location and communications-based technologies to automatically steer equipment, map terrain, and land aircraft. Founded in 1994, Novariant can be found at www.novariant.com.

Media Contact: Travis Murdock
travis.murdock@gpsfarm.com
+1-650-644-1408
Web Newsroom: www.novariant.com/go/newsroom