• Latest
  • Trending
  • All
  • News
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Science
  • World
  • Lifestyle
  • Tech

Technology Ready to Create South Africa’s Mines of the Future

May 28, 2021
Uganda Inaugurates First Oil Drilling Project – Targets 2025

Uganda Inaugurates First Oil Drilling Project – Targets 2025

February 7, 2023
Energy Revolution Paves Way for African Mining

Energy Revolution Paves Way for African Mining

February 7, 2023
advertisement
ADVERTISEMENT
Kleemann │ Interlinked PRO plant train impresses in the Caribbean

Kleemann │ Interlinked PRO plant train impresses in the Caribbean

January 27, 2023
EXPANDING THE VALUE PROPOSITION OF THE PDS

EXPANDING THE VALUE PROPOSITION OF THE PDS

January 19, 2023
2023 to Usher in Strong Growth in Mining and Industrial Private LTE Networks

2023 to Usher in Strong Growth in Mining and Industrial Private LTE Networks

January 19, 2023

Wirtgen South Africa holds annual dealer conference

January 17, 2023
Eriez-India Granted ISO 9001:2015 Certification

Eriez-India Granted ISO 9001:2015 Certification

January 13, 2023

Eurasian Resources Group and the University of Kolwezi develop curriculum to meet mining skills demand in the DRC

December 13, 2022

Another successful turnkey modular construction and transit solution from thyssenkrupp Uhde delivered to a key customer

December 13, 2022
Epiroc to acquire leading provider of collision avoidance systems for mines

Epiroc to acquire leading provider of collision avoidance systems for mines

December 13, 2022
New Cat® bolt-together buckets for underground loaders lower costs for assembly and transportation, reduce machine downtime

New Cat® bolt-together buckets for underground loaders lower costs for assembly and transportation, reduce machine downtime

December 11, 2022

EPSA and Immersive Technologies Partner in Global Mining Workforce Development

December 11, 2022
  • About AMB
  • Magazine Archive
  • Contacts
Wednesday, February 8, 2023
African Mining Brief
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • Home
  • News
  • Events
  • Industry
  • People
  • Projects
  • Press Releases
  • Magazine Archive
MAGAZINE ARCHIVE
ADVERTISE
  • Home
  • News
  • Events
  • Industry
  • People
  • Projects
  • Press Releases
  • Magazine Archive
No Result
View All Result
African Mining Brief
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Events
  • Industry
  • People
  • Projects
  • Press Releases
  • Magazine Archive
Home Africa

Technology Ready to Create South Africa’s Mines of the Future

by Jimmy Swira
May 28, 2021
in Africa
0
491
SHARES
1.4k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Three major trends – electrification, digitalisation, and automation – offer South Africa’s mining industry the opportunity to increase safety and productivity, and shape ‘the mine of the future.

By John Manuell

 

South African mining houses must tap into three transformative trends – electrification, digitalisation and automation – as they look to drive greater safety, productivity and sustainability in their operations, while extending the life of their mines.

 

Globally, the mining industry is already seeing a clear shift from diesel to electrification at mining operations. Greater digitalisation is resulting in increased productivity and more sustainable use of resources while lowering input cost, while automation is increasing productivity and changing the way mines work. Together, these three trends are shaping what we call ‘the mine of the future’.

 

These three trends are critical success factors for the mining industry to continue its modernisation and meet increasingly stringent environmental and sustainability goals while staying globally competitive. They offer real possibilities, which weren’t available previously, to overcome today’s challenges and ensure a bright future for the mining industry.

 

Electrification gaining traction

As mines step up their efforts to cut costs and increase efficiency, the supply of energy emerges as one of their biggest challenges. On top of the expense of delivering diesel fuel to remote sites, come also costs for the service, repair and replacement of diesel-powered vehicles and machinery.

 

The move towards electrification of mining operations is well under way in Europe and South America. An obvious starting point for several miners is to invest in fully electric or hybrid-electric vehicles to lower diesel usage and cut costs and pollution. The Swedish company, Boliden, is to install an additional 3km of trolley line at its Aitik mine after a successful 700m pilot project plus 1.8km at Kevitsa – and says it will reduce its diesel consumption by 5.5 million litres when its investment is complete.

 

Other miners going this route include Copper Mountain Mining in Canada. ABB will install its haul truck trolley assist infrastructure to help Copper Mountain achieve a reduction in carbon intensity by more than 50 percent in medium-term with a final target of zero by 2035. The installation, which includes engineering, supply and construction management for a DC substation and an overhead catenary system (OCS), combines ABB’s electrification and automation expertise in the mining industry.

Data: the most valuable resource of all

Data is key for the mine of the future to oversee critical processes and increase the useful life of mines by improving cost efficiency, ore recovery and asset management. Mining companies collect huge amounts of data from their equipment and operations, but this information is hardly used at all to generate insights.

 

It is crucial for mining companies to have a solid digital strategy in place to ensure well-informed decision-making that will help them maximise energy usage, productivity, reliability and safety, while minimising outages, emissions and costs.

 

Polish coal miner, Bogdanka, is developing an Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) solution that will connect various systems, devices and services. This will allow the mine’s engineering team to predict failures, solve machine and equipment failures and reduce equipment downtime, thus reducing high maintenance costs of mining assets. Cost optimisation is particularly important for the company’s plans to increase production.

 

The automation imperative

Automation has immense potential to reduce operating costs, improve operations and take people out of harm’s way. Many South African mines are experimenting with technologies like automated drilling and blasting, but they’re only scratching the surface of what’s available.

 

McKinsey estimates that innovations in artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and IIoT have the potential to save the mining sector an estimated $373 billion by 2025 by automating machinery operation, facilitating predictive maintenance, improving traceability, harnessing the power of real-time data and analytics, and providing visibility across the mine-to-market value chain.

 

The mine of the future isn’t one where robots do all the work. Rather, it’s a connected operation where all assets are linked and smart, decision makers can see exactly what’s happening across their operations on a dashboard, and asset management is proactive.

 

The biggest challenge facing local mines is to get buy-in for the transformation. Because mining is a major employer in communities across the country, there’s a perception that automation and digitalisation will result in job losses. The reality is, profitable mines don’t reduce headcount. If a mine is profitable, the shareholders are going to want to expand and that creates numerous opportunities downstream.

John Manuell is local division manager for process industries, ABB South Africa

Tags: AutomationdigitalisationelectrificationSouth Africa's mining industry
Share196Tweet123Share49
Jimmy Swira

Jimmy Swira

Jan - March 2023 Magazine

  • About AMB
  • Magazine Archive
  • Contacts

© 2022 African Mining Brief I All Rights Reserved Powered by Clivo.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Events
  • Industry
  • People
  • Projects
  • Press Releases
  • Magazine Archive

© 2022 African Mining Brief I All Rights Reserved Powered by Clivo.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In