Company insight


Rockwell Automation’s Mining Operations Management suite transforms complex, siloed data into actionable insights, enabling miners to achieve real-time, informed decision-making and seamless integration across all operational systems.


correct any calculations or results that may be omitted from historians during outages.


Data source from many different systems


Information systems pull data from many different sources, including near real-time data in historians and control systems, and fewer real-time systems such as laboratory information systems (LIMS). The time stamp of data in these various systems becomes very important. While LIMS data may only become available a day or more after the sample was taken in the field, it still needs to be accurately correlated with the truck, train, flowmeter or belt-weight that supplied the data.


Data validation


Many source systems will have their own data validation, correction and management processes. This means data, which has already been introduced into calculations (for example, from a week ago), may be changed at the source, modifying results used in ongoing critical operational decisions. Fleet management systems are notorious for this, not only changing the time of an activity, but also changing the load and unload locations, resulting in different stockpile balances and weighted grades in different locations. This is also the case for LIMS, where tests can be resampled and results modified, causing altered data to populate in historical records.


The challenge is to detect data that has World Mining Frontiers / www.nsenergybusiness.com


changed at the source and automatically reprocess any dependent results, including stockpile balances, weighted- grades, yields, recoveries, efficiency KPIs and throughput rates.


Manual data entry


In almost all mining and mineral processing operations, there will be some data that is not available electronically and needs to be manually entered by operators. This could be by field staff during operator rounds on mobile devices, or control room personnel on desktops. Either way, this process needs to be simple and intuitive, notifying appropriate personnel when a scheduled inspection is required.


Defining a best-in-class: What is a mining operations management solution?


Simply put, a mining operations management (MOM) solution connects disparate systems and aggregates data – and delivers a single version of truth by providing information in the same context across the mining operation. It integrates and models data from your traditional operations and business systems then delivers fit-for-purpose applications designed for mining that interact, share and cooperate on the same platform to deliver new insights.


Design and operation


Instead of creating dashboards, templates and forms that require heavy coding and


product knowledge, a MOM solution delivers seamless visualisation and data entry, is tailored specifically for each module, and can be updated by operations personnel.


Integration


Any MOM solution needs to be able to connect and integrate databases from different systems in a seamless easy way, rather than employing strategies that use generic SQL procedures and dated REST API Web Services of varying complexity.


Genealogy


One of the major issues is the use of manufacturing-based models that take hours to reprocess. Good quality data is not available until that reprocessing has finished (one or more days). A MOM solution delivers a genealogy component.


Data modelling and corrections Often systems store the source value in different “modules”, resulting in duplicate data storage and complex management when correcting or reconciling data. A MOM solution uses integrated data from a single source for all application data across all models within a module. This means that data changes are reflected across all models and calculations simultaneously.


Modules built for mining A MOM solution should also offer a rich collection of out-of-the-box/fit-to-purpose modules focused on mining. Some standard


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