NETWORKS & COMMS
between environmental conditions and asset performance, where correlation is often missing.
At Nokia, this thinking has shaped the development of a purpose-built edge foundation for mission-critical environments. It is designed to bring communications, compute and operational awareness closer together so organisations can move beyond connectivity alone and toward more cognitive operations across the site or incident environment.
It says operations must be able to use the best available connectivity path, including 5G, satellite and Wi-Fi, and adapt dynamically as conditions change. Systems must also be able to act locally, in real time and without waiting for manual intervention or distant cloud compute resources. Finally, AI and analytics must run where the work happens, be that on the machine, in the vehicle or at the edge of the site, because the most demanding environments are often the least cloud-accessible.
Di Martino:“ Bringing these three capabilities together in one solution will help define the next era of mission-critical digitalisation. Progress depends on close collaboration between operators, technology providers and integration partners that understand the digital stack and the realities of the physical environment.” Nokia’ s work on this is well underway and its says updates will be shared in the near future.
Huawei – removing network constraints for smart mines
Coal mines transitioning towards smart mines have long been constrained by traditional network architectures. Huawei states:“ Beneath the crisscrossing optical cables underground, there are three core independent networks running in parallel- production control, video observation and personnel safety monitoring. These parallel networks are often deployed to enhance reliability. However, this approach not only incurs high construction and maintenance costs but also introduces complex security risks that threaten long-term network stability.”
It adds:“ A critical vulnerability arises from the use of outdated ring network architectures within these systems. If a ring network triggers a broadcast storm, the entire network can be paralysed, requiring repair personnel to conduct time- consuming underground troubleshooting. This often results in full production interruptions lasting several hours.”
In addition, it argues that the implementation of a‘ no operations without video observation’ approach demands a substantial amount of bandwidth. Furthermore, to prevent overcurrent tripping, the power system requires extremely low latency.“ This highlights the need for a network capable of meeting diverse business requirements beyond the capabilities of traditional networks.”
Major progress has been made by Huawei in China in resolving these types of issues. At the end of 2022, Shandong Energy Group and Yunding Technology began collaborating with Huawei’ s technical team and spent two years working on the mines architectural upgrades. They utilised SRv6 and Flex E network slicing technologies to develop a new generation underground network- the Integrated Bearer Network for coal mine information. This technology consolidates all mining operations onto a single network, using network slicing to ensure business isolation.
Huawei says it marks the industry’ s first successful integration of safety monitoring and control access onto a shared network. In 2024, Lilou Coal Mine’ s solution became the first in China to be approved by a third party for implementation across all business domains.
“ Traditional networks are like congested old roads where all vehicles are squeezed together, leading to frequent traffic jams. In contrast, our coal mine information integrated bearer network uses network slicing technology to divide the network into different channels, similar to multiple highways with dedicated lanes based on the‘ vehicle’ type and‘ speed’. Production control services are assigned to the fast lane, while video services are allocated to the wide lane,” explained Xubin, Product Manager at Yunding Technology.“ When the bandwidth of a‘ lane’ is insufficient, flexible configurations can be implemented to meet service requirements without wasting bandwidth.”
The core advantage of this technology Huawei says lies in its high bandwidth and service isolation transmission. The highbandwidth integrated bearer network, utilising network slicing technology, establishes a broad information highway with multiple dedicated lanes. This setup integrates security observation systems, video transmission, personnel safety observation, power control, and more onto a single network, allowing all services to swiftly pass through their designated lanes. This eliminates the problems of fragmented traditional networks, network storms, and difficult O & M.
Additionally, the use of Flex E slicing technology ensures isolated transmission between services, preventing interference and fundamentally addressing the broadcast storm risks of traditional networks, meeting the intelligent development needs for the next 5-10 years.
High reliability and low latency provide dual safeguards for network security. If a segment of the network‘ highway’ is unexpectedly interrupted, the integrated bearer network utilises its redundant ring structure and intelligent routing technology to execute network self-healing and traffic switching within 50 ms. This recovery speed is six times faster than the human blink of an eye, meeting the fundamental communication standards required for intelligent mining.
Huawei:“ To ensure the stable operation of critical systems- such as the power supply system- the integrated bearer network also delivers low latency, minimal jitter, and highly stable transmission within 10 ms.”
From passive repair to intelligent O & M, the integrated bearer network it says facilitates a monumental leap in management efficiency. At the centralised control centre of Lilou Coal Mine, engineers can monitor the network status and service quality in real time through an intelligent management platform.“ By automatically identifying and quickly pinpointing potential faults, the platform has reduced business failure resolution time by approximately 50 % and decreased downtime by about 70 %. This facilitates a new O & M mode based on the principles of proactive prevention, precise location, and quick recovery.”
A key achievement is that Lilou Coal Mine’ s integrated bearer network passed testing by the Coal Industry Changzhou Quality Supervision and Inspection Centre for Communication and Monitoring Products, making it the first solution in China to be verified by a third-party testing organisation. Furthermore, this technology has been included in the General Technical Specifications for Coal Mine Information Integrated Support Network by the National Energy Administration.
Huawei concludes:“ As this invisible information superhighway rolls out across Shandong Energy Group’ s mines- including Xinjulong Coal Mine, Jinjitan Coal Mine and Shuangxin Coal Mine- it bridges onceisolated network islands into a thriving, interconnected‘ new continent,’ setting a new course for China’ s mining industry.”
Ambra and Nokia carry out major digital transformation at Côté Gold mine
Ambra Solutions, the Canada-based company supplying design and deployment solutions for private 4G / 5G networks and solutions for mission-critical industries, recently announced a major digital transformation project with IAMGOLD Corporation at the Côté Gold mine, located between Timmins and Sudbury. Leveraging its deep expertise in private wireless networks for mining, Ambra modernised all mine communications, enabling autonomous and remote operations through a cutting-
10 International Mining | SEPTEMBER 2026