MINING
The system at
Renison will also help to reduce heat load and congestion on the decline.
energy. That implies higher-efficiency motors and also intelligent digital controls to use them to best advantage: hoist operation must be integrated with the rest of the underground production system to avoid product pile-up and delays. It’s also essential to increase operator safety as mining has always been a hazardous operation and remains so today. This might be one of the lower-hanging fruits for mining operations to gain. As recently as 2021, the Digital Acceleration Index, produced annually by the Boston Consulting Group, found that the metals and mining industry was 30% to 40% less digitally mature than comparable industries such as automotive and chemicals. One example of developments to remedy this comes
from mining giant ABB with a suite of three systems. Their NGX Hoist Control is an optimised and unified hoist
control system; it works together with their Smart Hoisting system which identifies, categorises and prioritises hoist KPIs such as capacity flow, motor speed and others. If deviations exceed site-specific thresholds, alarms are triggered that notify site personnel and ABB experts who are monitoring the system remotely. All emergency stops are analysed to ensure a
controlled and approved retardation. A too high retardation can result in rope slip and a too low retardation can result in over winding, both of them highly undesirable. Hoist control monitors position checkpoints, overspeed margins and the like; field data – speed, position, brake pressure, temperature, time, actuator position and so on – and test results can be sent to the Smart Hoisting suite for analysis to allow site engineers to identify any discrepancies or opportunities and take remedial actions.
Mines like this one in northern Ontario, Canada, provide vital minerals necessary for the world economy.
www.hoistmagazine.com | May/June 2026 | 29
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