Mining in focus
The moment you get into the use of technology,
you have to ensure that you have very strong
systems in place to prevent hackers from getting
access and holding you hostage.
Dennis Gibson is the chief technical officer for
Black & Veatch’s mining business.
workplace and the workforce are likely to
change in the age of digital infrastructure.
This means that the type of work that
people do would be affected going forward
after implementing digital infrastructure.
Furthermore, the structure and practices
of the workplace and the portfolio of
workforces, people and machines will also
change. All these factors can be linked to the
implementation of digital infrastructure.
Challenges of digital infrastructure
in mining
There is no denying that the implementation
of digital infrastructure on a mine has a lot of
benefits. However, there are also challenges.
Before the age of digital technology, mining
relied heavily on manual labour. The emergence
of digital technology has been met with some
resistance as it is considered a threat. “In
the past, automation has been aligned with
job loss – it’s been seen as a threat rather
than an opportunity. What we now need
to do is to turn these perceived threats into
opportunities, specifically with digitalisation
and automation,” Gibson said.
This perspective is attributed to an old
way of thinking where some mines don’t see
the need to implement digital infrastructure
because their way of operating has been
working well. “Many operating mines still
rely on legacy systems, so they are using older
types of technologies. It can be a challenge to
integrate new digital technologies with these
older technologies,” Gibson explained.
The white paper mentions “workforce skill
gaps”, another challenge that comes with
digital infrastructure. The gap occurs where the
mining industry has experienced workers who
have knowledge, but they may not necessarily
be exposed to digital infrastructure. On the
other hand, there are millennials ‒ some new
graduates ‒ with a strong understanding of
anything associated with digital technology.
The knowledge and understanding of
mechanical physical operations of a mine may
2: The Increasing Capability of Digital Technologies
IoT and smart machine
Big Data, analytics, visualization
Web 2.0, cloud, mobile
Web 1.0 eCommerce
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Client-server
and PCs
Artificial
intelligence
Mainframe
Time
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The increasing capability of digital technologies.
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not be enough. “Companies are encountering
a skill gap, especially in the developing world
where they are struggling to recruit highly
skilled workers to operate mines and metal
plants that are being optimised with advanced
technology,” states the report.
“One of the big challenges of new
technology is cyber security. When you are
dealing with cyber security everybody hears
about countries getting hacked into by foreign
governments or freelance hackers.” Data loss
or compromise is also a risk that comes with
digital technology. “The moment you get into
the use of technology, you have to ensure
that you have very strong systems in place
to prevent hackers from getting access and
holding you hostage.” The report pointed out
that some of the most common cyber-attacks
against mining companies were predominantly
from inside threats, corporate espionage,
hacktivism and data manipulation.
Cyber security becomes critical in ensuring
that a mine site and its operations are secure
from intrusion. “A lot of mining companies are
getting increasingly sophisticated and proactive
to prevent their systems from being attacked,”
says Gibson. According to the report, a better
understanding of the impact that cyber risk
poses to mining operations has led to a more
proactive management approach.
Mining companies have to manage various
assets across geographically diverse locations.
All too often, this results in inadequate
communication between mine sites, which
according to Gibson can result in “a lot
of repeat work” being done. “Technology
would definitely enable mining companies
to improve their knowledge base to increase
access to historical knowledge and to enhance
collaboration,” Gibson says.
Today’s digital solutions allow mining
operators to leverage technology in real time
and communicate instantly across different
geographical locations and time zones. This
is especially helpful as mining is a global
activity where a mining company could have
a number of mines across the world. “I believe
collaboration is absolutely critical if we are
going to operate smarter.”
Collaboration across the board
On the point of collaboration, different mining
companies can benefit from collaborating with
each other even if they are in competition.
“There are a number of areas where mining
companies may collaborate, such as safety,
environmental and health, which will benefit
World Economic Forum/Accenture analysis
[22] MINING MIRROR JUNE 2019
e industry's technological
sponse to date
processes and environmental conditions. Moreover,
for most mining and metals production or processing
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