OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
PREDICTIVE POTENTIAL T
Saskia Henn finds out how predictive maintenance and other technologies are boosting operational efficiency in mines
he mining industry is at a pivotal stage, with current mining conditions prompting many challenges.
A recent webinar titled ‘Upgrades
in Mining: Increasing Efficiency and Productivity’ highlighted some of these challenges, as well as potential strategies for overcoming them. Pressure to identify new mining
opportunities is mounting as current mines are being depleted. To accommodate increasing global demand for resources, miners are pushed toward lower grade deposits in more remote areas. Remote deposits mean further trips
to move the ore, and because ore grades are declining, the volume of material that needs to be moved for each ton of ore is increasing.
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MINING LABOUR At the same time, mining labour is declining as safety risks underline difficult-to-fill vacancies. Although mining encompasses 1% of the working population, it accounts for 8% of accidents. These challenges have led to an
increase in use of technology in mining that could not only offer respite from current difficulties but pave the way towards a new era of mining. Such digitalisation technologies include artificial intelligence (AI), virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR), as well as predictive maintenance and automation. These technologies are already being
implemented around the world, with the last ten years showing a considerable increase in technology investments.
GLOBALDATA SURVEY Last year, a GlobalData survey of 150 mine sites worldwide found that digitalisation of the mining process had been moderately progressed or was considered well advanced at 77% of mines. “Sizable shares of technology
spend is being directed to areas such as cloud computing, networking, communications and IoT, all helping sites to operate more efficiently and safely,” said webinar host and GlobalData research and analysis director David Kurtz. The introduction of predictive
technologies could have a positive impact on company expenditure, time spent on equipment replacements and safety of miners.
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