Modern Mining August 2020

SUPPLY CHAIN News

COVID-19 puts spotlight on mine digitalisation

looks like. Failing that, he emphasises that the effort becomes extremely difficult to implement and success is not likely. This will then guide the roadmap to be followed for adoption of digital tools. There is a clear journey to follow to be successful in digitalisation. “Without an end in mind, this will become just another initiative,” he says. “Operations people will be unable to contextualise what the digital solutions mean within the big picture, and how it will improve their day-to- day activities and outcomes. This is mainly due to the data not being used in day-to- day management and decision making. It can never be a side project.” McCoy emphasises that digital solu- tions are not just for managers to see more clearly what is happening on their mines, but is vital for the people on the ground to run their operations more effectively and efficiently, there needs to be full buy-in from the start if the intended efficiencies are to be realised in practice. “The only way of making min-

The COVID-19 pandemic means less peo- ple in the mining area, working to achieve the same output; this makes digitalisation no longer a nice-to-have but a vital effi- ciency mechanism for survival. Sandvik Mining & Rock Technology’s experience in this field is substantial, demonstrated by the fact that OptiMine has been installed at about 66 sites worldwide. Niel McCoy, business line manager for automation and digitalisation at Sandvik Mining & Rock Technology, explains that digital strategies often fail due to lack of a vision. “Most mining companies have for years been working to digitalise their operations, but the difficulty is to know exactly what this process is meant to achieve, and where managers want their mines to be in the future,” says McCoy. “Bringing in new tech- nologies means fundamentally changing

the way your operation runs, so you need to be ready for the change management that this will require.” The result is that many mines are still struggling to develop and apply digital strategies. Effective digitalisation, he says, involves nothing less than moving away from the traditional style of management. It means bringing everything towards a more centralised point. “Digitalisation allows the whole under- ground mining operation to become visual – as if the ‘roof’ has been lifted off the mine – and to be managed from an operational management centre,” he says. “This gives management a view of all operations in real time, and the ability to optimise the various processes.” Before any implementation can begin, the goal must be clear in everyone’s minds – a picture of what their ‘mine of the future’

ing operations more efficient is to understand what is hap- pening and where, and to react accordingly as quickly as pos- sible,” he says. “One of the main shortcomings with traditional, hard-copy reporting methods on mines is that it simply takes too long for managers to sort through the raw reports from each shift and identify problems in time to make a meaningful intervention.” This means that operations can never be properly optimised. Digital tools play a valuable role in addressing this challenge, helping mines achieve their key performance indicators. 

Sandvik’s digital solutions for its mining products enabling effective operational management.

46  MODERN MINING  August 2020