INNOVATION
facilities; as we go deeper, so the demands grow on aspects like ventilation and roof support, and the working environment becomes more complex and harsher.
PEH: What services does WMI offer and how do they support the industry? FC: WMI conducts and facilitates multidisciplinary research, encouraging partnerships to ensure a sustainable business model. Its flagship programme is the digital mining laboratory( DigiMine), where its focus is to conduct tests, research and development for transferring surface digital technologies into the underground mining environment. It also identifies and develops skills required to operate 21st-century, technologically intensive mines, which feed into a programme for developing modern skill sets at artisan, technician, and professional levels for the mining sector.
The big trend now is to introduce current technology into the underground mining environment— to create a technologically intensive mine that will employ more machines to enhance the productivity of people in confined spaces and difficult environments. Digital mining technologies are also important because they will put distance between workers and risk, making underground mining progressively safer.
PEH: And the automation side? FC: Automating underground mines— especially in South Africa’ s narrow-reef conditions— has proved a stubborn challenge. Introducing digital technologies as a platform for automation so that digital systems can support the automation process, can certainly help.
PEH: Please explain, then, the digital systems. FC: Included in your digital systems are aspects like mining plans, navigation systems, information and communication systems( ICT), software, computers, and technologies to visualise underground mining activities and risks. These allow vast amounts of data to be collected and put together in a manner that can remove workers from risky areas, or that allows the mine to operate more efficiently. That is the entry point for smart mining and automated mining: you cannot move to an automated mine before you have this integration of data— and it is actually very difficult to do.
In my opinion, we are not even close to an automated mine. We are still grappling with the incredibly difficult environment underground to apply digital technologies, and to ensure they work reliably all the time. The companies that supply products and services into this space agree that it can be done, and so we are collaborating with many of them by conducting this type of research.
PEH: Do you think the excitement and hype is getting ahead of itself? FC: Yes, I do think so; there’ s certainly a lot of hype in this space. But I think it is also important that we have some hype because it stimulates thinking, and this accelerates the introduction of digital technologies in the workplace.
PEH: South Africa, globally? FC: I think in a global context, South Africa compares well. There is not yet a complete or proven solution for a digital mine anywhere in the world; many countries are working towards that goal, but we are not there yet.
PEH: You say we are well in line with the best; who would you say we could learn from? FC: While we are in line with the best, we could learn from the leading systems for measuring air quality, for example; such systems can send an alarm to the control room when air quality underground deteriorates for some reason. This is not automation as such, but rather a sensor that sends a signal; we need to move beyond alarms to a complete solution, where all data sources are integrated in one specialised database, from where decisions can be made in an intelligent manner. This will mark the advent of‘ smart mining’— and we are working towards this kind of complete system.
PEH: Can any South African mine claim to be technologically advanced? FC: There are some leading practices used by South African mines. For example,
South Deep is a mechanised mine and we also have some mechanised platinum operations, while almost all large surface operations and coal mines are technologically advanced. Our next step is to strive for‘ smart mining’, where we can apply artificial intelligence and machine learning to mining operations so that we can predict events and avoid accidents more effectively.
PEH: What differentiates WMI’ s offering from those of other similar institutions? FC: We specialise in doing research, but also conduct training to advance knowledge on mechanised, digital, and sustainable mining. WMI can fill the gap where these topics are currently not available in the curricula— by generating courses that develop the appropriate bodies of knowledge to help the curricula to keep up with changes.
PEH: That must be quite challenging? FC: It’ s exciting, because there are new skills being developed in the process. The skill set for mining operators is very different compared to 10 – 20 years ago and vastly different to 30 years ago. The exciting thing is that none of us knows exactly what the mine of the future will look like. All we know is it will be staffed by new professions that do not exist today— so new areas like data science will become more important over time.
PEH: Is there resistance to automation? FC: In any developing country, automation is a complicated conversation because some people will emphasise that machines and mechanisation are a threat to jobs. However, in the same way as skills change in the 21st century, jobs will also change. If you hang on to a job that no longer fits the 21st-century mine, then you will find yourself without a job— that is the reality. There will certainly be resistance to change in such a context, but it’ s more of an education challenge because the trend in technology is unstoppable. Ultimately, to get a job in a technology-intensive mine, you will need to be‘ tech savvy’: you will be required to operate a computer, read a mobile app, and be able to read and write, for instance. These are all skills that are transferable to other sectors of the
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OCTOBER 2018