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Copper|Infrastructure|Mining|PROJECT|Road|Roads|Safety|SECURITY|Trucks|Equipment|Infrastructure
Copper|Infrastructure|Mining|PROJECT|Road|Roads|Safety|SECURITY|Trucks|Equipment|Infrastructure
copper|infrastructure|mining|project|road|roads|safety|security|trucks|equipment|infrastructure

Ivanhoe, Inmarsat bring connectivity for safety at Kamoa

7th December 2018

By: Natasha Odendaal

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

     

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TSX-listed Ivanhoe Mines is working with Inmarsat to drive connectivity at its flagship Kamoa-Kakula project, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where poor cellular coverage is making communications and data collection extremely challenging.

The partnership will see the deployment of a comprehensive vehicle telemetry, asset tracking and communication solution, based on reliable, consistent satellite connectivity, to ensure the safe movement of staff and supplies around the site, located some 25 km west of Kolwezi, in Lualaba province.

Known to be one of the world’s largest undeveloped, high-grade copper mines, significant exploratory activity in recent years has led to high levels of movement of people and equipment across the site, with poor infrastructure posing high risks to contractors, geologists and administrative staff.

“The poor state of local roads and security issues in the area meant that it was critical for staff in Ivanhoe’s control centres to remain in contact with vehicle drivers and to monitor the location and status of its assets,” says Inmarsat mining director Joe Carr.

Some of the challenges included unnecessarily long hours or days of remote journeys and greater chances of accidents and damage to vehicles, owing to potholes that were up to 3m in diameter, unpaved roads, flooding and mud, unmaintained roads and dust clouds obscuring visibility, besides others.

“Access to the site is through unmade roads to the villages of Kasekelesa and Musokantanda, which meant that ensuring the safety of inhabitants, who were suddenly confronted with more traffic, became a priority,” he says.

Tracking of the 30 off-road vehicles, trucks and ambulances at any given time proved difficult for the fleet managers, leading to enhanced security concerns.

Further, terrestrial connectivity outside urban areas was patchy and unable to properly support any type of fleet management application in the region.

Inmarsat provides a dual satellite-cellular tracking device and fleet management solution, using GSM connectivity where available and seamlessly switching to Inmarsat’s satellite connectivity when required.

“This provides a consistent and reliable communications network between the control centre and vehicles, delivering real-time updates to Ivanhoe on vehicle status and location, enabling the company to act to secure the safety and security of its staff and assets if necessary.”

“We wanted to reduce the speed at which our drivers travel on the roads to reduce the damage done to vehicles if they hit potholes or other obstructions, and to reduce the risk of accidents,” says Ivanhoe corporate development VP Matthieu Bos.

The solution enables Ivanhoe to track the speed of every vehicle every minute and alert both the office and the driver should the speed travelled exceed 80 km/h or 30 km/h in certain zones.

Further, the control centre is able to ‘visualise’ the vehicles, with a number of geofences set up to enforce policies introduced by Ivanhoe to improve driver and public safety and security.

Reports are also automated at night so that managers can cross-check inventories to see that assets are where they should be.

“We can also monitor location with pinpoint accuracy, so that, if a vehicle has not moved for some time, we can contact the driver to establish whether they have had an accident or a breakdown.

“The speed at which we can also resolve any issues our drivers have out on the roads has also improved immensely. We now have complete confidence that we will be instantly aware of any issue with a driver or vehicle and can respond immediately to provide assistance,” Bos concludes.

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

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