Technology & equipment
Left: VR training becomes more time and cost- effective as more staff at a company enrols into the training programmes.
Below: VR has the capability to put workers in digital environments that mimic real-life situations that they may face in their work.
decreasing cost of hardware, which has in turn become lighter and more comfortable. In addition, field-of-view, resolution and software have all dramatically improved, creating a more sophisticated and authentic experience. The basic requirements for the technology are now minimal: only a headset with wireless connectivity and a stable high-speed internet connection is needed. Within the mining sector, Rio Tinto has become one of the technology’s biggest adopters. In 2019, the company launched LEARN+, which it describes as ‘a single user-friendly interface’ providing access to augmented and VR learning experiences. Twelve months after its launch, it said 52,000 employees had engaged with the platform. Off the success of the LEARN+ platform, as part of a recruitment drive, Rio Tinto employed Viewport to develop an app that uses VR to place trainees in the middle of a vibrant, scaled- down mine site to give them an authentic experience of the mining environment. The videos included a variety of vehicles likely to be found on a typical mine site, including dump trucks, an ore-hauling train and support vehicles. The VR video was filmed on location at Rio Tinto sites located at Paraburdoo, Karratha. And Rio Tinto is not alone. Anglo American is also using VR and in 2023 engaged enterprise extended reality company Immerse’s digital platform to host, manage, measure and distribute almost 50 apps from seven content creators to its globally dispersed staff. In fact, industries with high-risk environments, like mining, have been early adopters of the technology due to the “critical importance of effective training for safety and operations”, according to Tom Symonds, CEO and co-founder of Immerse.
Normet, an underground mining technology provider that works with Codelco, among others, has been using simulators to train mine workers on how to use its equipment for about 15 years. Around six years ago, it decided to integrate VR to its programmes and now uses the technology on
World Mining Frontiers /
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two underground process training courses: concrete spraying and rock scaling. To build the VR application, the company fed digital twin data of both types of equipment – this is essentially a 3D digital model of every single component of a machine, such as hydraulic cylinders and tyres – into the VR simulators so miners are trained on simulations of real machines. “This creates a digital learning environment that reflects real life,”
Proximity; Next World
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