Mining in focus
need to be addressed. The depth of some of
South Africa’s mines poses serious challenges,
especially with getting machinery down
the mines. With depth comes an additional
challenge of high temperatures, as some
underground mines reach temperatures of up
to 40oC. This means that the technology must
be able to function at such high temperatures.
According to Van Niekerk, some mines
still favour budgets for implementation over
measures to improve on production, which
is understandable; however, they allocate
smaller budgets for safety in most cases.”
This is another challenge for underground
mining technology. He adds that the industry
still has a conventional mentality when it
comes to technology. “They refer to what we
consider basic and necessary safety measures
as ‘nice to haves’ or ‘too luxurious’ for their
operations.”
A way to get around this challenge would
be to educate the industry about the benefits
that come with implementing underground
mining technology. “We need to educate the
older generation of miners to realise that
where technology can prevent loss of life, it
should not be considered as ‘nice to haves’ or
‘too luxurious’,” says Van Niekerk. He makes
We need to
educate the older
generation of miners
to realise that where
technology can prevent
loss of life, it should
not be considered as
‘nice to haves’ or ‘too
luxurious’.
an important point about the necessity for
redundancies in emergency situations. “Just
because a generator didn’t fail in a previous
fire or incident, does not mean it won’t
happen next time,” he says.
Technology developments in
underground mining
Technology will change the face of mining. In picture is the range of Sandvik’s underground solutions — an
indication to what extent mining will develop in future.
Sandvik’s i-series range of equipment supports the movement of mining companies into an underground
automation environment.
www.miningmirror.co.za
Numerous technological innovations have
positively impacted underground mining.
“One of the most noticeable current trends
is the live tracking of mining personnel and
vehicles, and improvements are implemented
constantly,” Van Niekerk says. Other trends
include live continuous gas, environment, and
ventilation monitoring via a node network
(generally run with fibre optics).
In addition, there are underground Wi-Fi
communications, automated early warning
systems, and the adoption of proper emergency
safe refuge chambers. “At MineARC, we are
currently in the process of rolling out a cost-
effective solution to allow all our products to
be capable of being utilised within in a mine
setting,” says Van Niekerk.
The DigiMine project has produced
interesting technological developments,
including:
• Seismic sensors to monitor seismic
activity, extensometers to monitor rock
instability, and sensors to monitor air
quality;
• Underground and above-ground wireless
communication, including automated
transmission of metered information
from the tunnel to the WMI Digital
Mine Lab, enabling real-time, intelligent
processing of information;
• Sophisticated video-camera technology
to monitor movement; and
• Research into Indoor Positioning
Systems to enable access control, as well
MAY 2019 MINING MIRROR [33]