Digital technologies are starting to create value for the mining industry, with the chasm between expectation and reality narrowing, says Vodacom Business Internet of Things (IoT) managing executive Peter Malebye.

The Covid-19 pandemic, which brought the need for integrated operations to address the siloed nature of mining companies to the fore, is driving the accelerated adoption of digital technologies like IoT.

“There is no doubt that many businesses across all sectors have leapfrogged several years of progress within a matter of months. We are encouraged to see how mining companies are beginning to cautiously invest in IoT-based projects, with many reporting that their deployments are already impacting on their bottom line,” he says.

In the early years of the digital revolution, the mining industry, like many others, experienced a disconnect between expectations and reality.

“Early progress did not keep pace with slow adoption rates and implementation challenges, which were all hindering factors,” he explains.

IoT adoption provides numerous benefits for the mining industry, including the ability to reduce costs, increase productivity, reduce downtime and improve the safety of workers while streamlining operations.

Malebye cites a Harvard Business Review study that showed CEOs rating digital transformation risk as their top challenge, highlighting the difficulties experienced in ensuring digital transformation initiatives reach their targets.

“This has been echoed in the mining industry. EY’s Top 10 Business Risks and Opportunities 2020 ranked digital and data optimisation third in their list of risks and opportunities facing mining and metals. In 2019, it ranked as number one.”

“The slight shift down the list reflects a real sense in the mining industry that things are changing, especially in the face of new challenges, including volatile commodity prices, declining yields, challenging labour conditions, regulatory changes and upward cost pressures,” Malebye comments.

New and cutting-edge technology, particularly within the IoT realm, is helping the industry meet key challenges, and the future of mining will depend on a robust, reliable, low-latency communication system and premium-grade connectivity to ensure productive and safe operations, all of which fifth-generation (5G) was designed to support.

“For the mining industry to fully benefit from digital transformation and IoT, it will need a robust and resilient network designed to support its strategic business needs. To do this, connectivity will be key. It is the cornerstone upon which all digital transformation projects are built,” he continues.

In line with this, Vodacom Business and its subsidiary, IoT.nxt, ran a 5G connected mining vehicle trial with underground trackless mobile machines manufacturer Aard Mining Equipment.

“Our aim was to demonstrate the ability to display alarms and notifications in real time to ensure the safety of the vehicle operator and surrounding workers. We also wanted to improve the decision-making process with data-driven insights that will, ultimately, increase productivity and asset use,” highlights Malebye.

The project targeted the resolution of some of the biggest issues facing the mining industry when it comes to connected vehicles, including a lack of real-time insights, automated alarms, notifications and analytics for mining vehicles.

The group installed an intelligent edge gateway called Raptor – a device developed by IoT.nxt to transform an ecosystem into a multilingual hub of innovation and communication – on one of Aard’s newly manufactured mining vehicles.

Further, real-time “alarming notifications“ were provided on IoT.nxt’s cloud-based platform, which is underpinned by secure Vodacom 5G mobile connectivity.

“The results were impressive and stand as testament to the tangible outcomes mines can achieve when empowered with IoT technologies and high-capacity connectivity,” he says

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