First Mining Drc-Zambia March -April 2020 digital edition First Mining Drc-Zambia March - April 2020 digital | Page 12

PRODUCT
COVER
STORY
While implementing customized mobile
communications solutions to meet the
unique requirements of a digital mine
can be very challenging, the key aspects
of operational outcomes come down to
four basic principles: Safety, Security,
Smart Analytics and Sustainability.
Safety
In mining operations, private LTE
networks enhance automation at the
site by monitoring and controlling
equipment without interruption and,
keenly, connecting personnel to vehicles
and sensors, thereby improving safety.
This persistence of connectivity — real-
time tracking and live communication
from anywhere workers are located in
the mine, regardless of the number of
access points or which mobile device
is being used to monitor them above
ground by mine managers — helps
reduce mining incidents and tragedies.
Use digital Mining to unlock
value, drive productivity
By Ziad Choueiry
D
igital transformation — once
so singularly identified with the
thoughtful alignment of enterprise
infrastructure to accommodate online
users — has begun to impact myriad
industries, among them mining.
That’s not conjecture. There are real data
points behind it. In fact, an oft-cited report
produced by World Economic Forum
predicts that digital transformation in the
mining industry may generate as much as
$425 billion of value for the mining industry
through 2025 with 82% of executives,
according to a survey by Accenture,
reporting they expected an increase in
investment in digital technology over the
next few years.
Interestingly, the same principles
that have guided the application of
technology to enterprises, that is, the
ability to provide administrators with
real-time visibility and control similarly
guide what mine operations will look like
in the future: interconnected and data
driven to help mining personnel track,
analyze and optimize operations.
The result? An ability to calibrate everything
from production to profitability, improve
safety, and even reduce environmental
impact that effectively “decarbonates” the
mining process.
To unlock and maximize this value,
mining companies are demanding
reliable, high-performance wireless
connectivity as they digitalize and
automate their operations.
A polyglot of technology solutions is
available to drive digital transformation
in the mining industry. We recommend
considering best-fit technology based
on a combination of current and future
applications that run on the mobile
equipment onsite, the organization’s
technology roadmap and, ideally,
backward compatibility.
Additional criteria: whether advanced data
analytics capabilities will be applied to the
raw data to create visualizations, insights
and recommendations to be shared with
mine managers and employees, in real-
time, on their mobile devices.
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Security
Purpose-built, wireless video surveillance
increases both mine safety and site
security, providing mine management
with high-quality, reliable connections to
ensure assets and personnel are secure
and safe. And, because modern wireless
equipment employs non-line-of-sight
(NLOS) technology, it simplifies outdoor
deployment.
Additionally, a private LTE network
allows secure data communication
over the network. By leveraging strong
authentication technology, exposure
of data to unauthorized third parties is
mitigated or eliminated entirely.
Smart Analytics
Increasingly, there is a need in mining
operations for a single converged
network for voice, surveillance, data,
automation, and IoT (Internet of Things)
applications with specific real-time
Quality of Service (QoS) requirements,
industrial grade reliability and security.
This enables the digital mine to:
• Connect the data in the mine
• Collect the data in the mine
• Extract data in real-time using
Smart Analytics
For example, by providing analytics
to predict failures before they occur,
M2M (Machine to Machine) sensors
can detect the real-time status of heavy
equipment and vehicles. Considering
the cost of an excavator going down at
a mining operation can be as much as
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