Modern Mining October 2019

TECHNOLOGY

Move to ‘digital mining’ picks Convincing mining companies of the virtues of adopting digital technology used to be a hard sell for mining equipment suppliers but this is no longer the case. Mines need to find more efficient – and safer – ways of extracting ore and are now actively seeking out digital solutions. This is the view of senior Sandvik executives Niel McCoy, Andre Blom and Saltiel Pule, who recently sat down with Modern Mining’s Arthur Tassell to discuss developments in this fast-moving field. are its OptiMine® and AutoMine® systems. OptiMine® is a modular information management and data analytics solution that offers a real-time view of underground mining operations while AutoMine® is a product family that covers all aspects of automa- tion from tele-remote or autonomous operation of single pieces of equipment through to the autono- mous operation of entire fleets of trucks, drill rigs and loaders underground or drill rigs on surface.

While the take-up of both of these systems locally has lagged behind some countries, South Africa did in fact host one of the first commercial AutoMine® installations in the world – the pioneering autono- mous trucking loop at the Finsch diamond mine in the Northern Cape, which was commissioned in 2005 and operated through till last year. It was preceded in 2004 by an AutoMine® installation at a copper mine in Chile but this controlled only LHDs. In the rest of the African continent, digitalisation – after a slow start – is now starting to make impres- sive strides, with probably the flag-bearers being the Kibali gold mine in the north-east of the DRC, which has LHDs running under AutoMine®, and Resolute’s Syama Underground Mine project in Mali, which is being developed as the world’s first purpose-built, fully automated sub-level cave gold mine. Syama is a flagship project for Sandvik Mining, which – as Resolute’s technology partner – is deliv- ering both its OptiMine® and AutoMine® systems to the mine for planning, analysis, process optimisation and automation. OptiMine® modules being deployed include the 3D Mine Visualizer, a valuable tool for

G lobally, digital mining – which encompasses both information management systems and equip- ment automation – has taken off with Sandvik Mining and Rock Technology (Sandvik Mining) having over 400 items of equipment operating autonomously around the world, including at mines in Canada, Sweden, Finland, Ireland, Chile, Argentina, the USA, India, the Philippines, Australia and several countries in Africa. In addition, the company has pro- vided information systems to nearly 50 sites. Says McCoy, who is Business Line Manager Auto­ mation for Sandvik Mining and Rock Technology Southern Africa: “Our reference base is starting to build up rapidly and some of the installations – such as at Resolute Mining’s Syama gold mine – are truly impressive. Our automated machines have now run over 2,5 million hours cumulatively over 15 years without a single Lost Time Injury (LTI) being recorded.” Sandvik’s two prime offerings in the digital arena

30  MODERN MINING  October 2019