MINE MAINTENANCE
IoT indicators
It is clear that the mining industry of the future will be reliant on digital solutions to adequately maintain equipment and technology , Dan Gleeson writes
NEXT Intelligent Solutions extends and expands Weir ’ s current capabilities and transforms its process optimisation services into real-time digital solutions , the company says
Sensor-based solutions are becoming part and parcel of modern-day maintenance regimes for mining companies , with equipment of all shapes and sizes having devices attached to them , during either the manufacturing process or as an aftermarket retrofit to measure critical metrics .
This trend is only going one way , with a growing number of case studies acknowledging an improving business case .
Whereas once this type of monitoring was predicated simply on availability of data , it is now being evaluated for its ability to provide value in the decision-making processes related to uptime and , in some cases , performance .
IM spoke to a number of companies in this field to see where the value is highest , and what part of the mining process has the most to benefit from this rapid onset of digitalisation .
Weir ’ s NEXT episode
In recent years , Weir has been focused on harnessing digital technologies to improve equipment performance , availability and product quality – benefits that loosely come into the overall equipment effectiveness , or OEE , bucket .
Having recently added artificial intelligence ( AI ) capabilities to its suite of digital solutions through the addition of SentianAI , the company is now harnessing these technologies to optimise entire circuits and processes through its NEXT Intelligent Solutions offering .
Originally highlighted at MINExpo 2024 in Las Vegas , NEXT Intelligent Solutions extends and expands the OEM ’ s current capabilities and transforms its process optimisation services into real-time digital solutions , the company says .
Weir has developed digital packages for all its leading solutions – pumps , cyclones , high pressure grinding rolls ( HPGRs ), screens , and hoses and spools – based around key customer needs : Insight , Uptime and Production .
The Insight package provides actionable visibility of system health and performance , including condition monitoring , process monitoring , digital documentation and maintenance monitoring .
The Uptime package aims to extend availability using predictive condition monitoring , focused on optimisation and , in particular , wear detection technology and predictive maintenance in stage one ; and equipment adjustment automation in stage two .
The Production package empowers users to maximise process efficiency with AI-powered optimisation as part of a two-stage process focused on process optimisation ( stage one ) and process optimisation automation ( stage two ).
Considering maintenance is the focus of this article , IM homed in on the Insight and Uptime digital packages when speaking to Marina Eskola , Director , Digital Solutions Management at Weir .
Eskola , conscious of several other digital platforms on the market , is keen to highlight several differentiators when it comes to NEXT .
“ We can provide our customers with all the pieces of the puzzle and how those pieces fit together ,” she says . “ As an OEM , we know the best equipment to select in the right setup , how to best maintain that equipment and the most efficient way to operate it .”
That engineering and maintenance knowledge is overlaid with an awareness of the sensors available on the market , and an understanding of where to place these sensors for optimal feedback . NEXT then obtains and processes the sensor data – along with the relevant context – and turns the expert engineering knowledge into algorithms that help to predict and avoid failures , the company says .
“ A while ago , everyone said data was the new ‘ gold ’, but now people are realising that data represents the ‘ shovel ’ to obtain this new ‘ gold ’,” Eskola explained . “ So , you need to know what data to gather from the equipment , and you need to know how to use that data so that it actually provides valuable insights .”
On many of the NEXT installations Weir is monitoring – Eskola mentions more than 90 sites “ enabled for digital ” and over 200 pieces of equipment – these insights are informing daily operational practices for the likes of maintenance and process engineers .
“ And , in many cases , we ’ re also working with these same engineers to develop and finetune ‘ soft sensors ’,” Eskola said .
A soft sensor creates a new , hardware-sensorlike signal , yet this signal is produced by a software sensor instead of a hardware sensor .
“ A physical measurement sensor would , first off , be quite expensive considering where it is placed in a piece of equipment ; it would also require regular calibration resulting in unwanted downtime ,” Eskola explains . “ So , based on data from other hardware sensors , we can actually derive a measurement value for our clients .”
It is the tireless work of many data scientists
20 International Mining | JANUARY 2025