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New South African zinc mine going digital

STARTING ON THE RIGHT FOOT The Smart Ore Movement system will be implemented in the development phase of the Gamsberg project rather than retrofitted once the mine is on line

STARTING ON THE RIGHT FOOT The Smart Ore Movement system will be implemented in the development phase of the Gamsberg project rather than retrofitted once the mine is on line

Photo by Duane Daws

15th December 2017

     

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Zinc miner Vedanta Zinc International (VZI) is collaborating with digital industrial company GE South Africa to implement a Smart Ore Movement system at its flagship Gamsberg project, in the Northern Cape, to ensure that best practices are in place when the mine goes into production next year.

“VZI places great emphasis on the concept of ‘adapt and thrive’ across all areas of our business. A core philosophy at Vedanta is to embrace new technologies and practices, and we welcome the opportunity to become part of the disruption revolution. As mining companies, we need to offer our employees, our communities and our investors a different future, and people-centric technology has the potential to be part of that process,” says VZI CEO Deshnee Naidoo.

She adds that working smarter by using the latest technology is a core focus of VZI’s strategy and points out that, as Gamsberg is a greenfield project, the Smart Ore Movement system will be implemented in the development phase of the project, as opposed to waiting for the mine to come on line and then attempting to retrofit the systems.

“[As well as] acquiring best-in-class technology for our assets, [we are] focusing on creating our own. Last year, the wider [VZI] group initiated a $30-million investment fund for in-house research and development, supporting our wealth of knowledge and spirit of innovation with meaningful resources.”

Digitalising Mining
VZI notes that, in today’s increasingly integrated landscape, many mining companies are discovering that the road to digital transformation is not as simple as an upgrade project. “To remain on the cutting edge of their respective marketplaces, companies are, thus, turning their focus towards improving not only those tools used in their everyday production, but also the work processes that lead to true change and improvement.”

The concept of Smart Ore Movement centres on the need to ensure that all available information about the state of the mine, the quality of the ore, the conditions of the processing plant and the value of the output product are not only made available to the mine management team in real-time but also that the information is presented in such a way that it allows for minute-by-minute decision-making.

“This digital transformation project will target elimination of the inefficiencies that would typically exist in today’s mining operations through the application of new culture, combined with digital technology and a customised delivery approach,” says VZI.

GE South Africa CEO Thomas Konditi says his company is “delighted to work with VZI” and highlights the importance of embracing digitalisation in mining operations, if South Africa is to remain globally relevant. “We are focused on providing integrated solutions across all sectors and mining is no exception . . . The objective is more than just efficiency – the quality of the ore produced is also important. Together, we are transforming an entire industry and building sustainable mining and contributing positively to the economy of South Africa.”

The vision shared by VZI and GE South Africa is that this engagement will be a multiyear journey that will not only address VZI’s immediate digital infrastructure needs but also provide a solid foundation for the agile co-creation of mining solutions that can be deployed across VZI’s portfolio. “VZI sees this as protection against the uncertainties of inevitable disruption and intense competition, as well as an opportunity to capitalise on being the disruptor,” states the company.

GE South Africa will take the strategic leadership role in the partnership, with its Predix platform for the industrial Internet forming the integration layer for Smart Ore Movement and further initiatives such as cyber- security, asset performance management and operations performance management solutions.

Meanwhile, mining software developer MineRP South Africa will focus on enabling real-time decision-making at Gamsberg. This will be achieved, firstly, through visibility, by providing immediate access to information in relevant contexts and, secondly, through insight into conditions, relationships and trends that are not otherwise apparent. This will be achieved through the MineRP 4.0 product set, which ingests spatially oriented data, such as geology and mine designs, from their source systems, along with the shovel, trucks and stockpile positions from GE South Africa’s collision avoidance systems. MineRP 4.0 will further perform live calculations to enhance the blending and grade models, to guide the contracted fleet and provide early warning to the plant, through GE South Africa’s Predix platform.

“This initiative is about helping the VZI on-mine teams become more efficient and effective – it’s a story of growth and development. We know what challenges we need to solve to operate optimally [and] this partnership is about addressing those. The VZI digitalisation journey starts here – [and] there is so much more to come,” concludes Naidoo.

Edited by Tracy Hancock
Creamer Media Contributing Editor

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