GLOBAL NEWS
Volvo is finding innovative ways to reduce costs in an underground mine.
Chile’s growing mining industry remains
at the top of the copper production
league table. It now represents 10%
of the country’s total GDP and
there are more than 30 large
operational mines in Chile.
Volvo Construction Equipment
machines are present in
almost half.
With greater efficiency in
mind, one of the biggest
mining companies in the
world, Codelco, is looking at
projects such as Volvo CE’s 5G
underground mining test pilot
– to set the example of finding
innovative ways to reduce costs
and increase capacity.
“Automation and
electromobility are
important enablers to make
mining safer, cleaner and
more productive
According to Rafael Nieweglowski,
Volvo’s director of the Southern District in
Latin America, automation and electromobility are
important enablers to make mining safer, cleaner and
more productive. “But mining companies are increasingly
looking at connectivity as having the biggest potential
impact on the way they work,” says Nieweglowski.
In underground mining, machines often work as
deep as one kilometre underground. Having a strong
mobile connection is vital to keep machines ‘talking’ to
one another at subterranean levels. A robust wireless
connection will also allow for remote monitoring to
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African Mining January 2020
predict when maintenance is required,
oversee the productivity of the entire
operation, maintain optimum
machine uptime and, most
importantly, cut costs.
In practice, remote monitoring
with real-time data means
it is possible to see, for
example, if a machine might
be consuming more fuel
than the others despite
performing exactly the same
tasks in exactly the same
conditions. If the cause is
that an operator is not using
the machine in the correct way,
then the system knows this and
instructs managers to carry out
appropriate training. This then leads to
reduced fuel consumption, reduced costs
and early prevention of a problem that could have
escalated over time.
Rafael cites another key benefit for connectivity in mining.
“If a machine breaks down inside the mine, it stops the
operation not only because that machine can’t work, but
also because the routes in and out of the mine are so tight
that other machines cannot pass. “At Volvo, we have an
advanced telematics system called CareTrack to predict
machine failures like this, but the main challenge now is
how to keep 100% connectivity all the time. That is why
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