CANADIAN TECHNOLOGY
“The MET works with all equipment brands
and models and was easily integrated to
Matagami mine’s mixed fleet of trucks and
LHDs,” Newtrax added.
Glencore Matagami mine used the system in
multiple ways including to monitor the standard
production times of equipment, to calculate use of
ore haulage, to calculate overall equipment
effectiveness (OEE) and to calculate loads per cycle.
Christian Ngoma, Underground Operations
Superintendent of Matagami, said Newtrax
technology allowed mine management to get a
clearer idea of what is going on underground.
“The Newtrax system enables us, from a
managerial perspective, to make decisions based
on facts that are measurable, instead of
perceptions,” he said.
Glencore Matagami installed a custom fit
Payload Monitoring System, which interfaces
directly with the original equipment
manufacturer’s (OEM) existing sensor network.
This, according to Newtrax, enabled:
n Real-time payload data available on the
Newtrax scoreboards and cab display for the
operators, and;
n Real-time payload broadcasted to the Newtrax
MET telemetry recorder every five seconds,
with no operator intervention.
Ngoma said: “We now have production trucks
equipped with Newtrax scoreboards to show
tonnage, and the LHD operators use this tool to
load the trucks in an optimal way. We now
noticed that four out of five of our trucks have an
average of approximately 60 t in comparison to
55 t before.
“The impact of that technology is to optimise the
loading of trucks. Especially with the long haulage
distance, that is our biggest challenge here.”
Trucks currently travel 8 km on an average cycle
within the operation, but there is a possible
extension to 10.4 km in the coming years, Ngoma
said, meaning the extra productivity will come in
handy.
After using the Newtrax MET system for one
year, Newtrax said the Glencore Matagami team
observed the following results:
n Five to six per cent increase in utilisation on
ore haulage;
n Four per cent increase in OEE, and;
n Five per cent increase in loads per cycle.
Glencore Matagami Haulage Team Supervisor,
Dany Lavoie-Mercier, said: “The standard
production time report is an improvement that is
more representative of our daily operations. From
personal experience, after having presented it to
my team, I presented it again the following shift
and there was a clear difference in our
operations. Everything was optimised from one
shift to the next.”
Solutions provided by Newtrax can be used
across a number of platforms and systems,
allowing for easy adaptability, the company said.
Mohammed Lamine-Lamrani, Reliability
Engineer at Matagami, said: “The Newtrax
system enables us to transfer data via different
networks, which facilitates its adoption into
different mines. The system helped us identify
the different delays of activities, in terms of our
machines, which allowed us to intervene,
improve, and increase our OEE.”
Matagami Mine General Manager, Mark
Furlotte, said digitalising the operation is part of
the company’s plan for futureproofing the mine.
“At Glencore, and Matagami mine, we really
want to continue investing in our people, our
infrastructure, and our assets. And one of the
areas we want to continue investing in is
technology,” Furlotte said. “We want to take
things that are done elsewhere in the industry –
things that are done in open-pit mines – and really
bring that underground. We really want to be
considered as one of the innovative mines around
not only Quebec, Canada, but also the world.”
Louis Lambert, Redline Communication
Group’s Senior Vice President, Business &
Corporate Development, thinks as the mining
industry progresses through its ongoing “digital
transformation”, private industrial LTE will
surface as the wireless technology of choice to
“deliver robust, reliable and secure mobile
communications”.
Lambert explained: “When Wi-Fi was first
adapted for underground, it was an exciting way
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APRIL 2019 | International Mining 79