Modern Mining September 2022

EXPERT VIEW

In terms of tough working environments, there aren’t many as challenging as mining and the overriding priority for operators of mines is the safety of their employees. Considering that South Africa has some of the deepest mines in the world, and an historically poor safety record, many mine operators have become increasingly focused on the goal of zero injury or loss of life. Meeting mining’s challenges with video surveillance By Marcel Bruyns, Sales Manager, Axis Communications Africa

Marcel Bruyns.

W hile mining fatalities in South Africa have declined steadily to record lows over the past decade, the country saw an 18% increase in 2020 driven by accidents related to falling rocks and transportation, and 2021 may prove even worse. As well as affecting employee safety, incidents can also be costly as they initiate operation stoppages. Mining operations can also be disrupted by equipment failure, with post-incident repairs and replace ments again causing costly downtime. Thus, any opportunity for proactive main tenance should be welcomed. Video surveillance – and evermore intel ligent related technologies – is now being applied to every aspect of mining safety, while also being used to improve opera tional efficiency and enhance the security of mining operations from the perimeter to the rock face. Poor visibility in mining: dealing with darkness and dust Poor visibility can be a common mining challenge, but technologies designed to deal with low-light or even near darkness

are now commonplace in surveillance cameras. For example, advance IR solutions allow images to be captured in complete darkness, with cameras using integrated IR illumination. Technologies that provide full-colour, high-resolution video in extremely low light also exist – and a wide dynamic range can deliver detailed images in challenging lighting con ditions where scenes include both very bright and dark areas. In the context of mining, light isn’t the only thing that can affect visibility. With tons of earth being excavated, moved and processed, an inevitable by product of the mining process is dust. This affects visibility and has implications for the mining opera tion as a whole. Monitoring dust clouds is important for a number of reasons. Mining operations have a responsibility to surrounding communities. Dust clouds created and blown towards houses, schools and businesses cause more than simple annoyance – they pose a genuine risk to the community’s health and the environment. And, in an environment where heavy machinery and vehicles are commonplace, the effect of dust on operators’ visibility can create an addi tional hazard. Cameras equipped with deep learning-based analytic applications can now detect and monitor a much greater variety of objects, including dust clouds, allowing for the proactive warning of local communities and workers and/or remedial action to be taken. Managing the risks of mining machines An additional safety risk posed in the mining indus try, which can be compounded by poor visibility, comes from the sheer size of the machinery used in mining operations. The risks of operating such huge machinery relate to the safety of mine employees and the implications of accidents between vehicles and machinery – which could cost millions of rands and bring mining operations to a halt. As such, the use of onboard cameras – rug gedised to deal with the nature of mining – is increasingly common to aid operators and drivers

AXIS I8016 LVE network video intercom.

AXIS P1467-LE Bullet camera.

36  MODERN MINING  September 2022