Quarry Southern Africa September 2017 | Page 13

global news

FLSmidth has reached an agreement to acquire a part of Sandvik Mining Systems, subject to certain conditions, including regulatory authority clearance. Closing is expected by the end of 2017. The agreement covers Sandvik Mining Systems’ continuous surface mining and minerals handling technologies, as well as related intellectual property, including drawings and reference lists. It also covers the transfer of employees with strong experience, competencies, and customer insights, which will strengthen the Group’ s core minerals business. The pending acquisition will enable FLSmidth to improve productivity for its customers by closing a gap, and to cover a wider range of the full mining value chain‘ pit to plant’: from the primary crushing point in the mining pit and the transport from mine to plant, all the way through the minerals processing plant to the tailings handling.

Melker Jernberg has been appointed president of Volvo Construction Equipment and member of the Volvo Group Executive Board, effective 1 January 2018. Jernberg replaces Martin Weissburg, who is moving back to the US for family reasons and taking up a position as senior advisor to Volvo’ s president and CEO, Martin Lundstedt. Weissburg will be stationed in Greensboro, US. Born in 1968, Jernberg is currently president and CEO of the Sweden-based powder metallurgy company Höganäs AB. Prior to this, he held the position of executive vice-president and head of business area EMEA at Swedish steel manufacturer SSAB.

Hatch regional director: Digital Mining Australasia, Jeanne Els.

A paradigm shift in the mining industry is being driven by the fourth industrial revolution( Industry 4.0) and the advent of the Internet of Things( IoT), which promotes connectivity, modularity, and reuse of sensors, data, networks, and platforms. Because of this, big data and analytics will play an increasingly important role in the industry’ s future.

Speaking at the Hatch Intelligent Mining Conference 2017, held at the Indaba Hotel in Johannesburg recently, Jeanne Els, Hatch regional director: Digital Mining Australasia, said that only between 1 % and 5 % of the data generated by the mining industry is actually used for prediction and optimisation.“ There are tremendous opportunities to use data in the mining industry, and much of it is low-hanging fruit,” said Els.

Not all of the correct data is being collected, and what is being collected is either not stored at all, or often not stored properly, making it difficult to extract and use for analytics. The lack of available real-time data is also making the actual decision-making process more challenging.

Advances in technology offer the mining industry the opportunity to develop sophisticated models to simulate processes and systems that can then be used for prediction of outcomes and optimisation.“ Once this is done in real-time, you then have the ability to close the loop and introduce automation,” Els added.“ The aim is to transform mining from a people-intensive industry to an algorithm-based industry, to get to a place where we have codified processes and real-time

Hatch

information to make realtime decisions— that is really powerful.”

The first major benefits are decreased variability and increased predictability, meaning fewer unplanned events such as unforeseen stoppages, and resulting in better health and safety outcomes, as well as improved productivity and efficiency. According to Els, this also unlocks new ways of doing business.

However, the biggest challenge for the mining industry is not technology, but rather being open to collaborative ecosystems and open platforms to drive such innovation.“ We have to get to a place where we encourage different companies working together on open platforms to develop new applications and new types of sensors, for example, that will ultimately unlock this kind of value for the entire industry,” said Els.