Modern Mining June 2020

CONTROL ROOMS

Productivity partnership Over the past three years, since incorporation as a distinct entity from Atlas Copco, Epiroc has repo- sitioned itself more as a productivity partner to its customers than simply being known for manufactur- ing and supplying mining equipment. One of the key ways in which the company identifies to this new strategic positioning is in its pursuit of sustainable digital transformation both internally, in its sourc- ing, manufacturing and distribution operations; and externally, in assisting customers to select, deploy and maintain the appropriate solutions to meet their needs. To this end, Epiroc launched regional application centres in five of its key global operating regions, Australia, South America, North America, Canada and Africa, which are resourced with the appropriate skills to support any level of technology deployment. Additionally, Epiroc built control towers at the Orebro manufacturing facilities and in South Africa equipped with some of the main systems that a typical modern mine would deploy to run safe and productive mining operations, including remote loader and drill rig stations; planning, situational awareness and traffic management visual displays; production and machine health dashboards; in addition to a maintenance management system. The control towers offer a best-practice guide to customers as they embark on their automation and digitalisation journeys. Another of the ways that Epiroc has redefined itself is its commitment to interoperability, which opens up the company to integrate with technology

portfolio. The modular design of NLT’s N-Connex Wi-Fi Network is proving to be popular with our customers in southern Africa,” comments Tinashe Chakawa, MD of Susbsoil-Tech, a reseller of NLT in Africa. Tagging and tracking systems enable effective safety management from a central control room through real time location tracking of personnel and equipment which is often used to augment legacy clock-in, clock-out systems. The improved situational awareness from systems such as Mobilaris Mining Intelligence reduces operational delays during nor- mal operations, allows shafts to be cleared faster prior to blasting and reduces the duration of rescue missions when accidents occur by providing vital decision support to control room operators. Proximity Detection Systems (PDS) together with the vehicle-mounted Collision Avoidance Systems (CAS), which original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) such as Epiroc now include as standard features on their equipment, warn mine operators and pedestrians of potential person-to-vehicle or vehicle-to-vehicle interactions within a radius of up to 100 m. However, the situational awareness from Mobilaris Mining Intelligence extends the range of traffic awareness for control room operators, mine operators and pedestrians alike, providing the exact identity, location and direction of travel of people and vehicles in the entire mine. This is achieved through the high-precision position- ing and decision support capabilities of Mobilaris Situational Awareness, Mobilaris Onboard and Mobilaris Pocket Mine.

Control Tower at Epiroc Rockdrills, Orebro Sweden.

30  MODERN MINING  June 2020