Digital disruption a key trend in mining
Smart mining is happening in South Africa and around the world, and it is impacting the local mining industry positively.
Marc Ramsay
The distinct transition from early to widespread adoption of digitalisation in the mining industry was an interesting development between last year’s and this year’s Mining Indaba conferences. There was clear focus on digitalisation in many presentations across all technologies, which highlighted the growing trend of digital disruption in mining.
The reality is that technology is contributing to an evolution within the mining industry. Two or three decades ago, barriers to entry into the mining industry were huge but smaller mining companies are burgeoning today.
Digitalisation has developed to the stage where it is widely accessible, in terms of both cost and ease of use. In the past, mining machinery was generally advanced and complex to operate, but newer technology ranges are “plug and play” and IoT-enabled and feature open and interoperable architectures while delivering real-time control and operational efficiency.
These technologies don’t require major academic qualifications to deploy and they enable smaller mining companies to play larger roles in the mining industry, certainly in South Africa.
Technology is introducing remarkable energy efficiencies in a wide range of areas, with the internet of things providing far greater access to data. Energy cannot be harvested once used, and the more efficiencies incorporated into processes through technology, the greater the savings.
For example, in the past, a certain amount of kilowatt-hours of electricity was used to produce 1o ounces of gold. The biggest consumer of electricity in mining is rock or substrate grinding, with a correlation between rock hardness and energy usage. Now, through the use of sensor technology, the parameters on crushers can be adjusted to work as hard as they need to according to the substrate being crushed. It’s smarter mining at work – and in Africa, we are seeing efforts to squeeze every opportunity to improve the efficiency of resources.
Exciting developments too, are evident in both augmented reality and virtual reality (VR) in the industry – adding vastly to the safety of individuals on mines and improving efficiencies, allowing IoT enabled communication with cellphones and tablets with the open standards technology in the case of augmented reality, alerting staff and contractors to potential hazards or, in the case of virtual reality, enabling interaction with mining technology from the safety of a control room with a VR-enabled device such as Oculus Rift or Holonens devices. We have applications of this type in South Africa, in the mining, utilities and water sectors.
The indaba also highlighted an increased emphasis on water management in mines, which was not restricted to consumption, but on the overall direct impact that mines have on the supply and quality of the water in local communities and on the immediate eco-systems. Of significant interest is that Anglo American has incorporated water usage as one of their key performance indicators, making it the first mining company we’ve been involved with that has placed water at such a high level, but it is a clear barometer of the growing value of water in mining worldwide.
Here too, the management, measurement and control of water are through technology and digitalisation – where flows and consumption points can be monitored and measured accurately, and sustainability strategies implemented to ensure minimal impact on the community and environment.
Training and skills development is another key focus area in mining, and products in the technology sector that are simpler to implement in a plug-and-play fashion are being developed. To play its part even further, Schneider Electric South Africa offers the online, free-to-all Energy University which offers training and certification in a wide range of comprehensive courses in electrical energy. These courses are aligned to local skills development needs and fill in a vital gap between unskilled labour and graduates.
There has also been a upsurge by mines in social development and upliftment initiatives in the areas where they operate, recognising the value of the communities that host their operations. Schneider Electric has also collaborated with mines in a number of investment programmes that have benefited the communities directly.
We have collaborated in an enterprise development project at a large open pit mine in Limpopo, and invested in solar street lighting for the local neighbourhood. Another mine received solar powered pumping systems to pump water from a local stream for the local bakery and a farming community.
Contact Prisca Mashanda, Schneider Electric, Tel 011 046-1900, prisca.mashanda@se.com
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