Modern Mining October 2020

DIGITAL MINE

Digitalisation – Taking the ‘roof’ off mining operations The more pressing concern for mines at the moment is to rapidly ramp up production in an effort to recoup output lost during the COVID-19 lockdown. In an environment where em- phasis is fixed firmly on output with less resources, Sandvik Mining & Rock Technology’s Niel McCoy reiterates that digital tools allow mine operators to take the ‘roof’ off their mining operations, thus ushering in a new age of efficiency and winning the productiv- ity and cost-control battle. By Munesu Shoko .

W ith mines battling to achieve the same output with less people on site due to the COVID-19 restrictions, Niel McCoy, business line manager automation and digitalisa- tion – Southern Africa at Sandvik Mining & Rock Technology, tells Modern Mining that digitalisation has become even more vital in helping operations deal with their ever-increasing safety, productivity and profitability challenges. As mine operators continue to look for consis- tency across their operations, reductions in costs and maximum output from all their assets, digitali- sation can provide the breakthrough they need, he says. The biggest pressure, says McCoy, facing mines at this stage is to increase productivity with minimal

people on site, especially in the South African con- text. He reasons that despite the relaxation of lockdown restrictions, with the recent move to Alert Level 1, mines still need to have a code of practice to manage COVID-19 at their operations, and therefore people working in close contact still need to be man- aged for an extended period. If mines keep doing this the traditional way, he says, it’s going to be dif- ficult to push up production as fast as possible to get back to pre-COVID-19 production levels. “Digitalisation enables mine operators to take the ‘roof’ off their mining operations and get feed- back on what is happening in real time. This helps to determine exact areas of improvement. The opera- tional team can make informed decisions on what areas to focus on and see the results immediately

Niel McCoy, business line manager automation and digitalisation – Southern Africa at Sandvik Mining and Rock Technology.

AutoMine is an automation system for autonomous and tele-remote underground equipment including loaders and trucks.

28  MODERN MINING  October 2020