NETWORKS & COMMS
8
Time of flight
Forsk’ s Atoll is widely used to plan private 5G / LTE networks for mining environments
Both on surface and underground, the increasing digitalisation of mining is also creating greater demands on communication networks and backbones. Paul Moore looks at how the technology suppliers are stepping up
The mining industry is undergoing a rapid digital transformation. Increasing demands for safety, efficiency and sustainability require modern communication infrastructures, intelligent data platforms and seamlessly connected systems. This in turn has driven greater collaboration between the major connectivity solution providers, and mining-specific technology companies.
A good example is Becker Mining Systems and Ericsson who are continuing to work together to support this transformation by combining advanced connectivity technologies with mining-specific digital solutions. The partnership began in 2020, when both companies joined forces to explore the use of advanced communication networks in mining environments. Since then, the collaboration has focused on enabling reliable connectivity and integrating digital technologies that support the modernisation of mining operations.
The partners state:“ Modern mines rely on a growing ecosystem of connected technologies, including industrial IoT sensors, automation systems, environmental monitoring tools and data analytics platforms. These technologies generate large volumes of operational data that must be transmitted securely, processed efficiently and transformed into actionable insights.”
They point out that reliable connectivity plays a key role in enabling these digital applications.“ Advanced communication networks allow equipment, sensors and personnel to remain connected across both surface and underground operations, supporting applications such as remote equipment operation, fleet management, environmental monitoring and real-time safety systems.”
At the same time, digital platforms are becoming essential for integrating and visualising operational data. Becker-LASEC’ s smartflow ® platform acts as a central hub that brings together data from multiple sources into a unified system. This enables real-time monitoring, advanced analytics, digital twin applications and predictive maintenance, helping mining companies improve operational transparency and optimise production processes.
By combining reliable connectivity with intelligent data integration, Becker Mining Systems and Ericsson say they are helping to create one possible solution for the connected mine – where systems, machines and data work together to improve safety, efficiency and operational insight.
Moving away from point solutions – Nokia’ s next moves on the connected mine
Lelio Di Martino, General Manager of Cognitive Operations, IP Networks at Nokia recently authored a thought leadership article titled‘ Beyond connectivity: Building the intelligence layer for mission-critical operations.’
In it he tries to answer the question of what comes next after an entire mining operation has connectivity. He states:“ For years, the telecommunications industry has treated connectivity as the destination. But for operators running mines, defence programs and emergency response networks, connectivity is only the starting point. Once assets, people and systems are connected, the next requirement is to make that connected environment intelligent, responsive and resilient.”
He argues that in mines, critical operational systems and field data are often spread across a patchwork of point solutions that were never designed to work together.“ One vendor addresses fleet tracking or vehicle diagnostics. Another focuses on operator fatigue. A third helps solve network performance problems. Each brings its own hardware, software, data model and support structure.”
Di Martino says the result is a connected operation, but not an intelligently connected one.“ For example, there is no automated way to correlate an alert in a truck monitoring system with a defect in the mine road surface. Too often, the burden still falls on people to sift through historical data in search of patterns that should already be visible.”
Nokia argues that this reflects a much broader challenge across mission-critical industries in that critical operations are often highly connected, but not yet truly intelligent. Data exists, specialised systems exist and connectivity is in place.“ But intelligence is still missing because information remains fragmented across tools from multiple vendors that were never designed to function as a single operational fabric.” Di Martino:“ Many mission-critical operators have deployed point solutions to solve specific problems, such as fleet management, worker safety, communications, situational awareness or analytics. Each solution may deliver value on its own, but together they often create a fragmented operating environment. The challenge is to address the complexity of integrating disparate systems and introduce intelligence across these systems to close the operational gaps between them. In these gaps, critical signals can be missed, decisions can be delayed and operators can lose visibility at the exact moment they need it most.”
He says what mission-critical operators need is a unified intelligence layer that spans the operation, understands context across systems and can act at the point of consequence.“ This layer must work in the environments where centralised architectures often fall short, such as underground, in remote locations, in congested or contested conditions and during the first minutes of an incident. It must make decisions locally, in milliseconds, and continue operating even when cloud connectivity is unavailable.”
In mining, Di Martino highlights that unplanned downtime can arise even when every system reports that its own layer is functioning correctly, because no one has visibility across the full chain of events. A poor section of haul road, for example, may increase component stress on trucks and lead to earlier-than-expected maintenance. The issue sits in the operational gap
International Mining | SEPTEMBER 2026