The Future of Mining: Smart Mines and Core Modernization
The mining industry has been a substantial part of the global economy for decades, and that isn’t changing anytime soon.
However, the industry has changed significantly in the last few years, and there’s no sign of it slowing down now. Deloitte’s Global Mining & Metals leader, Phillip Hopwood, wrote that “The next 10 years will see the continuation of rapid change in the industry...To thrive amid this volatility, companies must rethink the traditional mining model. Change is coming and mining companies must find ways to remain relevant.”
Unfortunately, remaining relevant is easier said than done. But by keeping up with mining industry trends, mining companies can modernize their processes, keep investors happy, and remain profitable.
Today, the most persistent trend for the mining industry is increasing digitization.
Digitization and the Smart Mine
A 2017 report from Accenture predicted that digitization has the potential to boost the mining industry’s value by $425 billion before 2025. This isn’t necessarily groundbreaking news, but continuing digitization is a major trending force in the mining industry, according to Deloitte’s 2020 report.
The Deloitte report notes “the industry’s ongoing reliance on legacy back-end technology systems” has the potential to majorly hamper increasing digitization efforts. If you haven’t fully committed to digitization yet, here are a few different ways you can use smart mine technology.
Industrial Internet of Things
By combining Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT) technology in sensors with real time data analysis, technology can allow managers to make more informed decisions. Allowing for continuous monitoring of countless data points at every level of the mining process helps managers make decisions and course-corrections swiftly and effectively. With digitalization, managers can make more informed decisions and make mines safer, and more efficient.
Communication
Digitization also allows workers to be better connected with Wifi-connected, cloud-enabled devices. Increasing communication abilities provides more opportunity for collaboration, which improves safety and boosts productivity levels.
Artificial Intelligence
You can also choose to incorporate Artificial intelligence (AI) technology in your mine. Mining AI programs provide help with decision-making and problem-solving based on enormous amounts of data from mining and work equipment throughout your mine. It does not replace mining managers, but it does help them increase productivity and make better, safer decisions for their crew.
Why Smart Mines?
Ideally, all of these technologies will work together throughout your mining operation to allow for new heights of performance levels. Investing in the technology may seem cost-prohibitive at first, but it will massively streamline your logistics and foolproof your operations.
But it’s not only about increasing profits; digitization matters because it improves safety, drastically reduces fatalities, and decreases injuries. Smart mines also have the potential to access new ore-bodies that were previously impossible to mine or decrease environmental impact through selective mining techniques.
Going Forward: Core Modernization
By modernizing your core technologies, you can extract more value from legacy systems by using them as a building block for new modern innovations. Whether you are planning a complete digital revamp of your mining operations or are simply looking to improve your technological capabilities, here are a few ideas to guide you:
● Re-platform: Upgrade your platform with new updates and software. You can use older technology with newer solutions like cloud platforms and virtual environments.
● Refresh: Committed to your core processes? Instead of replacing them, you can simply refresh them by adding more innovative digital solutions to improve employee engagement or improve reporting.
● Reconcile: Whenever you are adding new platforms, software, or devices, you always need to ensure that your master data is reconciled. If it isn’t, you may experience run time failures like network dropouts or broken transactions that can corrupt data.
● Restore: A total overhaul of your mine’s digital processes may not be feasible. Instead, you can replace bits of pieces of your core with new systems. You can use these replacements to find new solutions and capabilities.
Protect Yourself from Cyber Risks
As you improve and update your technology, you will doubtless move more and more data to the cloud. This presents increased cyber security risks that you need to prepare for. Even if you have not yet embraced cloud technology, you should have a comprehensive cyber risk response strategy. If you fail to maintain older technology and update software patches, legacy platforms can also be susceptible to data breaches.
Your cyber risk strategy also needs to include your operational technology (OT) like SCADA systems and programmable logic controllers (PLCs). OT systems rarely have security capabilities because they weren’t meant to be connected to communications networks. As automation increases, OT systems become vulnerable to hacks. This requires your engineers to protect OT in the same way they protect your information technology (IT).
As you upgrade or revitalize your platforms and systems, take care to create a comprehensive cyber risk strategy that encompasses your IT and OT systems. Your digital environment should be secure and protected from outside threats. This requires a strong defense as well as regular maintenance checks to identify compromised systems. Your cyber defense strategy should also include a plan for how to identify and neutralize a cyber-attack, as well as a response plan to restore normal operations and protect against future risks.
Creative Solutions for A Challenging Industry
In the coming years, miners are sure to experience radical changes that will transform the industry as a whole. Though investing in smart mine technology and modernizing your core may initially seem to cut into your profits, by streamlining your processes and optimizing your company’s logistics, you can become safer, more productive, and limit downtime in your mine.
CAP Logistics has the necessary specialized mining industry knowledge and a hands-on approach to logistics. Together, we can minimize your company’s downtime, increase reliability, and boost profitability. Click here to learn more about CAP’s Uptime Logistics solutions for the mining industry: https://www.caplogistics.com/mining
Request a quote today to see how we can work together to seamlessly manage your logistics.