Maptek has more than 320 employees and generates more than A$100 million a year of sales. The 40-year-old business has enjoyed strong growth in the past three years on the back of its broad global customer base, and sales and support network, and new product releases.

Peter Johnson told Mining Journal earlier this year: "Overall it's a very exciting time to be working in this space. We enjoy very productive collaborative relationships with some of the leading miners in the world and have an excellent set of solutions upon which to build. There are a lot of new ideas and new techniques being applied to mining challenges, and we will be investing further to help bring these to our customers."

He said this week Coloma, who has worked in various roles at Maptek in South America and Australia, was the right internal choice to replace him.

"This appointment will allow for further global growth in our business," Johnson said.

Coloma, a Chilean mining engineer and Australian citizen with a degree from the University of Antofagasta and executive MBA from Adolfo Ibanez University, both in Chile, is described by Maptek as someone with a "hands-on understanding of the needs of the industry [who] is keen to see Maptek take the development and implementation of innovative technology to the next level".

"Advocating for customers is our core commitment," Coloma said. "A clear vision of the role technology plays in mining will ensure we offer solutions that help mines work in the easiest, safest and most effective way. Close alignment with customer needs is our hallmark.

"Maptek helps our customers to visualise, analyse, model and optimise every component of the mining process.

"Today, mining is all about how to transform data into information to support the decision making process in a timely manner."