HIGH PROFILE
Jun Xu , CTO of Huawei Mine BU , speaking to IM from its headquarters in Shenzhen
Factory scale mining AI
Following the launch of its groundbreaking AI-based Pangu Mining Model in July 2023 , Paul Moore caught up with Jun Xu , CTO of Huawei ’ s Mining BU , to find out how this large model will help mines to achieve new levels of operational control and intelligence
China has 2.8 million coal miners working in 4,400 coal mines . The total annual yield reaches 4.56 billion tons . With such high capacity , and a low automation and intelligence level , working conditions of the millions of coal miners are harsh . Huawei ’ s Pangu models dive deep into the mining industry and make mines more intelligent , so that more miners can operate above ground . Piloting in Shandong Energy Group ' s mines , Huawei , Shandong Energy Group , and Yunding Technology have already jointly explored six innovative intelligent services and eight application scenarios .
The intelligent industrial production platform based on AI large models addresses the difficulty of applying AI in the mining industry . It facilitates the wide adoption of AI solutions and intelligence upgrade in the mining industry . The models ’ twolevel architecture decouples operation management and intelligent production , which boosts management and production efficiency . The central cloud focuses on operation management , data sharing , AI development , training , and unified model management . The edge cloud carries AI inference and applies the results to intelligent production .
Here Jun Xu explains what the Pangu Mine Model is , how large models function in mining and what the future holds .
PM : Huawei is already well known in mining – what is different about you latest innovations based on AI ? JX : While we have been a leading player in information and communications technology ( ICT ), such as LTE 45 and 5G networks in mining for some time , we took another step by setting up a dedicated AI services focused mining team about three years ago . Initially some of the major mining players – both on the equipment OEM side and on the mining company side , had some doubts – but after three years of working on our ecosystem , they now really see the value that Huawei can bring to the table as an enabler . It has become clear how we can leverage our technologies and expertise on the digital side to help mining make some big advances . Mining can be quite conservative so a fresh pair of eyes – looking at problems from a different angle – is really beneficial to help operators think a bit differently and address some of the challenges that have been there for a long time but not addressed . As stated , for many years in the enterprise market with ICT , we really are already leaders in networks , connectivity , clouds , computing and data storage . These are vertically agnostic types of solutions that have similar applicability in many industries . What we wanted to do was take this technology and apply it to a specific vertical like mining , which is far from easy .
PM : You have recently launched the Pangu AI Model 3.0 in July , more specifically the Pangu Mining Model . Can you summarise what exactly the model is ? JX : Simply put , the Pangu Mining Model is an AIbased model that is pre-trained using the Pangu large model developed by Huawei in the last few years . It can be quickly adapted to meet scenariospecific needs and address complex challenges in multiple industries . Working with customers , in this case our first customer , the coal mining major Shandong Energy Group , it combines the primary model with the mining data accumulated by them over a number of years . So we can train the Pangu model to be specific to Shandong Energy Group . It is a vertical , mining specific model – which makes it very different to generic pre-trained large models – such as language models like ChatGPT and LlaMa AI . The mining model that we launched is really a combination between our Pangu 3.0 model and real mining industry specific data .
PM : What does the Pangu Mining Model do in a functionality sense ? JX : Large language models are well known to most people through ChatGPT , which itself is starting to be used by some mining operators . In the next few years , industries like minin are is likely to replace small models with large AI-based models . Not just for language – it will include ERP-related tasks , facial recognition and autonomous driving . The large model will serve as a central brain of the mining operation and it will carry out all of the AI-related tasks . The model solves problems caused by fragmented scenarios , and transforms the workshop-scale coal mine AI model development to factory-scale development . The Pangu Mining Model offers a set of automated tools to users , so that they no longer need to manually design and develop those from scratch . Instead , the model automatically generates scenario-specific models after being fed with relevant data , which greatly simplifies the development .
PM : What makes it so applicable to the mining environment ? Can you give some use cases ? JX : Mining is very different to other industries . It involves a harsh and dirty environment and underground mining in particular is seeing and will see many , many uses cases for AI . Especially this is the case with remotely and autonomously operated mines – where you are trying to remove people from the more dangerous active mining areas , taking them from below ground to above ground . This will bring both productivity and safety benefits . It will also make many tasks previously seen as challenging , much easier . As
74 International Mining | SEPTEMBER 2023