Mining companies are facing a barrage of challenges that only a concerted focus on digitisation can address, says information technology consultancy and systems integration firm Wipro global mining practice director Scott McGowan.
He predicts that ferrous, nonferrous and precious metals commodity prices will remain subdued and are unlikely to enter any new growth cycles in the near future.

However, McGowan notes that the growth cycles in commodity prices over the past 10 to 12 tears have thrust mining stocks into the spotlight.

“To maintain their attraction to investors and maintain the strong margins seen in times of higher commodity prices, mining organisations are increasingly considering technology to drive operational efficiency and transformation.”
He says that, owing to the importance of economies of scale in this sector, waves of consoli- dation have left many large mining operations with fragmented systems and “sprawling reams of outdated legacy systems”.

McGowan states that, because of this complexity, mines have generally been slower than most other companies to invest in new enterprise technology.
However, he points out, “the rules of the game have changed”, and mining houses need to mine at deeper levels with a dearth of skilled engineers and technicians in the sector to implement such projects, while also dealing with volatile labour dynamics.

“Perhaps the most fundamental change has been from a supply-driven market to demand-driven, which essentially means that the industry is moving away from stockpiling material ready for sale to providing visibility of material to the marketing departments.”

McGowan believes that this optimises the value of the material that they have in process. “We call this the ability to optimise the orebody balance sheet,” he explains.
McGowan notes that having the right technology assets is “crucial” to meeting the needs of this more challenging and competitive market.

He states that miners need the most advanced tools to predict the productivity of mines or shafts and ensure that output achieves the buyers’ desired ore quality.

“They must create cost efficiencies wherever possible to offset the increasing cost of production,” McGowan stresses.
Mining technology is essentially divided into two areas; back-office or administrative technology and operational technology.

He says that, at the heart of digitisation in mining, is the concept of “standardisation at the back, differentiation at the front”. McGowan states that the goal should be to create an efficient, centralised back-office environment, combined with cutting-edge technical innovations that differentiate the miner from its peers.
These on-site innovations include geolocation technologies, such as radiofrequency identification, or location-based sensors within local area networks, which keep track of people and equipment.

McGowan says that this ensures a more efficient use of resources and better safety procedures, as the details of a particular miner can be tracked to show, for example, where he entered the mine, where he is currently located, which mine pack he is using and which breathing device he is using.

More advanced systems can track fatigue in real time to help prevent accidents before they occur, he adds.
Cameras, sensors and thermal-imaging systems help maintain the physical security of mine sites and data can be fed from multiple disparate sources and will generate automatic alerts for any ‘out of bounds’ activities, which are any anomalies that may represent a security breach.

McGowan notes that, in this way, mines can reduce the cost of security monitoring, but have complete situational awareness and are thus able to improve safety and minimise the risks of theft and other security issues.
He points out that mobility solutions can be used to extend powerful analytics to mine managers through the use of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.

“Getting real-time, highly visual data on every aspect of the operations helps to shift their strategies and improve productivity and efficiency,” McGowan highlights.
He points out that, for mining firms to continue expanding or consolidating, and retain the interest of “profit-hungry” investors, digitisation needs to be implemented in every area of the mining operation.

“The new sources of competitive advantages may no longer relate to the scale or location of the mining operations but will instead be found in areas like technology investment and speed of integration. A wealth of new mining technology is available for those that are most committed to adopting and capitalising on it,” McGowan concludes.