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COVER STORY
March 2017
MODERN MINING
17
Cat MineStar System control
room.
that can be customised to the needs of every
customer.
Today success is all about knowledge.
While we know what capabilities Cat mining
machines are built for, are we using them to
their full potential? The DNA of all modern
Cat mining machines incorporates ways of col-
lecting digital data. This can be analysed and
transformed into solutions to make them more
efficient and profitable and less susceptible to
breakdowns.
“What Barloworld Equipment offers is the
implementation of the right Cat technology
with a clear understanding of the problems
we’re solving and the right team to execute,”
says JP Briggs, New Business Development
Manager, Caterpillar Digital & Technology,
at Barloworld Equipment. “Essentially we
are pairing iron and data in partnership with
Caterpillar to reduce cost per ton for our
customers. It’s about addressing a customer
challenge and adding value using mining
technology and analytics to provide usable
information and solutions.”
Historically mining machines were sold with
the offer of mechanical support in the form of
regular servicing and repairs by the dealer. The
performance and life of the machine were influ-
enced by the way it was used, but that was the
customer’s problem and the manufacturer and
dealer had no control over it. This meant you
could spend money on a product and never
unlock its true potential.
“The Cat mining technology products avail-
able today enable us to drive productivity, for
example, by focusing on making each mining
asset, regardless of brand, more productive,”
says Briggs. “Technology brings everything
together so we can firstly measure productivity
in great detail and then tweak things to unlock
more value across the fleet.”
While Cat technology solutions are available
for surface and underground mining, this article
focuses on the surface mining sector. Systems
can be factory fitted in new Cat machines or
installed by Barloworld Equipment in existing
machines and fleets.
Technology products
Cat MineStar System capability sets include
Fleet for fleet management; Terrain for drilling,
grading and loading; Detect for object detection
and proximity awareness; Health for machine
wellness; and Command for remote control,
semi-autonomous and fully autonomous min-
ing solutions.
Fleet
optimises fleet management, including
material tracking and ore control, production
optimisation, operator management, machine
tracking, assignment of fleets, load and cycle
monitoring, haul road analysis and manage-
ment, and safety management.
Terrain
provides guidance for drilling and
loading, reducing the need for surveying and
improving accuracy. Using this technology for
drilling you can eliminate over and under drill-
ing, reduce blast costs, monitor progress and
track drilling consumables. For loading you can
achieve high precision GPS accuracy, measure
productivity and volumes, control bench and
grade levels, track machines and define avoid-
ance zones.
Detect
enhances site awareness for operators
and owners by tracking hazards, operator speeds
and behaviour such as fatigue and distraction.
Health
gives operators, fleet managers and
owners real time sight of equipment fuel and
oil levels, daily production reports, condition
monitoring services and analysis.
Command
can provide remote operator