Enviro considerations, resource efficiency key determinants of miners’ adoption of IoT
New research shows that environmental and efficiency factors are at the forefront of mining companies’ pursuit and adoption of industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), mobile satellite communications group Inmarsat says.
An Inmarsat-commissioned report reveals that half of the mining organisations surveyed are reviewing or deploying IIoT-based solutions aimed at improving the environmental sustainability of their operations.
Despite the rapid growth of IIoT-based deployments, adoption in the mining sector is at a much lower level than in other sectors, such as transport and maritime, with only 2% of the mining respondents having fully deployed any IIoT-based solutions.
“The industry has been relatively slow to adopt new technologies, preferring to stick to the well-trodden path of tried and tested techniques,” says Inmarsat Enterprise mining director Joe Carr.
This, however, is expected to increase to more than 50% within a year, as the pressure on margins continues, and the need to extract raw materials efficiently, safely and in a more environment-friendly manner reveals an urgent need for radical new approaches to transform operations.
The survey shows that about 29% of the companies surveyed are trialling IIoT solutions, with the remaining 69% planning to do so within the next two years.
The findings also indicate that 84% agree that IIoT will revolutionise their organisations and 79% believe that technology is essential for their organisations to gain a competitive advantage.
“Two drivers behind the adoption of IIoT-based solutions across the mining sector are improving resource efficiency (48%) and the monitoring of environmental conditions, such as environmental contamination, water toxicity levels and other pollutants (46%),” he says.
Sixty-eight per cent of the respondents also list the improvement of health and safety across the organisation and 58% the improvement of the physical security of sites and assets as critical.
These drivers will enable organisations to create leaner business models and operate with greater sustainability and less impact on the environment, as well as improve working conditions for their staff, Carr points out.
IIoT is commonly being used to monitor the environment – for example, deploying connected sensors to monitor and manage poisonous gases and for remote tailings dam monitoring to prevent environment-damaging leaks.
The research also highlights that almost two-thirds, or 62%, of the respondents employing fully deployed or trial-stage IIoT solutions are achieving environmental sustainability improvements.
“The mining sector is faced with a multitude of challenges, tasked with reducing its impact on the environment and adhering to stricter government regulations, while grappling with volatile commodity prices and rising costs of production.
“Our research shows that mining organisations are adopting IIoT to help them achieve these goals, and that many are succeeding in this aim,” Carr explains.
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