Global mobile satellite communications group Inmarsat and consultancy Knight Piésold UK have teamed up to launch a solution for the mining inudstry that remotely monitors and analyses a tailings dam’s status in real time.
In a collaboration agreement signed between the parties, Knight Piésold’s consultancy services will be merged with Inmarsat’s satellite-enabled Internet of Things (IoT) solution to offer a “new approach” to the way tailings dams are currently audited and managed.
“We have been working with Knight Piésold’s UK practice since 2017 to develop an approach to tailings dam monitoring that supports smarter, safer and more regulated mining practices,” says Inmarsat Enterprise president Paul Gudonis.
“Following successful trials, we are pleased to be able to bring what we believe to be a truly disruptive solution to market,” he adds, noting that the solution will enable smarter decision-making and improved safety standards and will support regulatory compliance.
The monitoring solution will complement current on-site mine tailings auditing practices with a remote, customisable, daily management cycle that is available between site visits to any accredited users.
“The current tailings auditing and management business consists of semiannual or annual site visits, with recommendations based on these visits,” says Knight Piésold UK regional manager Richard Elmer.
“Instrumentation data is often collected on site and mining companies are largely reliant on human activity for the collection, storage and analysis of the data.”
The parties note that Inmarsat’s IoT-based solution collects data from a range of industry-standard sensors through edge connectivity such as long range wide-area network, before it is transferred across Inmarsat’s L-band satellite network to a single cloud dashboard.
“This enables mining companies and national regulators to gain a comprehensive view of the status of their dams [using] granular metrics, such as pond elevation, piezometric pressures, inclinometer readings and weather conditions displayed in one place,” the team says.