Tag Archives: API

Hexagon’s Mining division introduces new features to software suite

IoT, Mining services, Mining software, , , , , , ,

Hexagon’s Mining division has introduced a new innovative block model management solution to its HxGN MinePlan solution, seeking to address the complex challenges associated with orebody data management.

This release will introduce HxGN MinePlan Block Model Manager, which enables users to quickly populate, manage and share block models from HxGN MinePlan 3D and third-party systems.

One of the key features of HxGN MinePlan Block Model Manager is its new API, which simplifies integration with other systems enabling data interoperability, according to the company. This means users no longer need to manually import or export block model data, streamlining the process and saving valuable time.

To remain at the forefront of technology changes, Hexagon says it is continuously modernising MinePlan, ensuring it remains a leading-edge solution that fits seamlessly into the modern digital ecosystems its clients are investing in, making it adaptable to changing needs.

Among other new features included within Hexagon’s Mining division latest releases are an enhancement of the MinePlan 3D Auto Cut Generation tool to allow for batch configuration of cut parameters. This will allow planning engineers to configure the cut parameters for all their pits in the first step of their workflow and run the batch of cut operations in the next step, according to the company.

In the HxGN MinePlan Geosciences Suite release, the company has included the ability to back-code geologic solids to drill holes, creating new intervals that the solids intersect. This has been a long-requested feature that will better enable field exploration planning, support superior reconciliation of geologic domain models and improve geostatistics resolution, according to Hexagon’s Mining division.

The results of MinePlan Geologic can be coded to drill holes. Users can validate results of coding operations in MinePlan 3D

The company’s HxGN MinePlan GeoLogic implicit modelling solution has also further undergone several enhancements, which will result in more realistic geologic models in complex geological settings, particularly in environments with complex faulting, the company says.

Lastly, in the HxGN MinePlan Schedule Optimizer solution, users will now be able to restrict the availability of roads by phase and elevation, while road availability by bench elevation has been added to allow further control of material routing. Alongside this, the software developers have included the ability to update the model location without resetting the schedule, allowing the user to define the new file path of a block model without having to reset the schedule, if the block model is moved to a new location. This will enable users to use the latest features in MinePlan Schedule Optimizer, such as destination coding if they need to move their block model to a new location, the company says.

MinePlan Schedule Optimizer also no longer requires users to set the destination ramps in a specific direction (from source to destination), eliminating unnecessary setup requirements.

Road availability can be toggled by segment and bench elevation in MinePlan Haulage

And, now that MinePlan Schedule Optimizer supports shovel scheduling, additional equipment information fields have been added, providing more comprehensive reporting, Hexagon’s Mining division said.

Lastly, on the HxGN Mineplan Activity Scheduler, Process Points – a destination type that can perform basic or complex calculations – allows users to model complex routing scenarios, such as routing by material type or pebble rejects sorting point for the mill. Blending Optimized Layers is a module inside MinePlan Activity Scheduler that allows the user to blend material coming from different sources to hit tonnage, volume and grade targets.

These two features can now work together, according to the company, providing a “great addition” for operations that needs to model complex routing scenarios and hit blending targets at the same time.

HxGN MinePlan Activity Scheduler works with three different types of volumes: BCM (Bench Cubic Metres), LCM (Loose Cubic Metres), and HCM (Haul Cubic Metres). MinePlan users can now run a blending scenario maximising HCM and LCM volume and using HCM and LCM as constraints, it said.

Sandvik looks to an open, interoperable and automation-ready future

Automation, Communications in mining, Equipment maintenance, Explosives and blasting, Mining equipment, Mining services, Mining software, , , , , , ,

To fully step into Industry 4.0 and realise the transformative power of solutions such as automation, artificial intelligence and advanced analytics requires a change in the way that mining data is handled and utilised from one system to the next, according to the Sandvik Rotary Drilling Division (part of Sandvik Mining & Rock Solutions).

Programs that are designed to fully integrate with those from other vendors will not only deliver efficiency and cost benefits today, but also help mining houses transition into powerhouses of the future, it says.

As mining organisations have adopted digital solutions over the past 30 years, each company, down to the individual mine, has selected solutions that fit their mining style, commodity, workforce and processes. Due to the shift of professionals from one organisation to another, the different processes used for each commodity, and the introduction of new technologies, commonalities between digital products differ from operation to operation.

While some OEMs see this variability as an opportunity to close off third-party access to data and push their own digital agenda, Sandvik Rotary Drilling Division sees the sharing of data, connectivity and technology access as the next logical step to moving the industry, as a whole, forward.

Demetre Harris, Product Manager for Automation & Technology, said: “While there is much talk about systems interoperability and the benefits it could deliver in mining, it’s still in the early stages. Most vendors are still reluctant to allow others direct access to their technologies and generated data.”

Many vendors claim to offer application programming interfaces (APIs) that allow their solutions to share data with third-party systems, however there are often links missing which prevent true integration or mean that assistance from the vendor is required, according to the company.

“There are no standard APIs,” Harris explained. “For a third party to integrate its solution with an OEM platform or vice versa, it must develop custom code. The only way that happens today is if a customer can persuade the vendor to do the work.”

Understandably, miners are wary of locking themselves out of future purchasing decisions because their equipment may not be able to communicate properly with other systems.

Challenges and opportunities

When systems are unable to share data automatically, operators must resort to manual data handling and reporting. This is slow and tedious for staff and open to inaccuracies. Systems may also report data in different ways.

For example, key performance indicators (KPIs) can be computed differently between drilling solutions. One system may refer to utilisation as the time that the drill is operational, whether drilling, tramming or leveling, while another may calculate utilisation as the time during which an operator is onboard the drill. The challenge lies in integrating that information and drawing timely insights from it.

If machines and systems cannot ‘talk’ to one another, then safety conflicts could also arise making it difficult to operate the machines in the same environment, the company said. From an automation perspective, the ability for OEM systems to communicate with third-party solutions allows teams to mine safer and reduces the need for change management.

“Without interoperability and data sharing, the case for efficiency drops severely,” Harris added. “Not all operations are at a point where they’re ready to connect their systems together. Some mines may not have the infrastructure yet, but it’s going to be increasingly important going forward.”

Interoperability can provide huge efficiency and productivity gains across the value chain. For example, data generated during drilling can be used to improve blast profiles and optimise burden and hole spacing, which lowers explosive costs. Better blasting also improves fragmentation which lowers energy consumption downstream in crushing and grinding.

The blast arc can be positively affected when leveraging data, according to Sandvik

 

“Each department has its own performance targets and goals,” Harris explained. “If we can better integrate the programs that each team uses, then those processes can be optimised, and efficiencies realised across the entire operation.

“The more freely data can flow from one process to the next, the better prepared each department can be to handle changes originating from the orebody.”

Open data, open mind

True interoperability requires more than just data sharing. If systems are to be fully integrated, then the companies developing them must make interoperability a pillar of their designs and processes, according to the Sandvik Rotary Drilling Division.

Sandvik firmly believes that interoperability and data sharing are key to future efficiencies in mining, and the company is open to working with any third party to provide access to its data-rich technologies.

“We offer several levels of integration,” Harris explained. “From the sharing of data from our iSeries drill rigs into third-party solutions installed onboard our rotary drills, to API integrations with office and cloud solutions. There are multiple ways to connect and access our data so that it can be fed to other mining processes, including planning, blasting and mineral extraction.

“Ultimately, we’re open to discussing all forms of integration and interoperability,” he added. “If we work together, it provides better value for the customer, for Sandvik and for the industry as a whole.”

Designed for today and tomorrow

An example of this value can be seen in Sandvik’s latest integrations: one mining organisation asked the company to allow its blast solutions provider access to Sandvik’s iSeries Rotary Drills measurement-while-drilling (MWD) data. Using that data, the provider was able to calculate the hardness of the ground and determine the correct quantity of explosives and the best blasting sequence to fragment the ground, minimising both waste and blast costs.

The visualisation of MWD data

“The solutions that we’re developing now are designed for future data sharing and interoperability,” Harris explained. “That’s the case with the newest version of OptiMine® for Surface which will be released later this year.

“Some of the data that’s provided through our APIs today may not be needed but, as new integrations and capabilities arise, systems may require it. We’re building our solutions in a way that makes them futureproof.”

CR Digital bring AI to its Titan 3330 load haul payload management system

IoT, Mining equipment, Mining events, Mining services, Mining software, , , , , ,

CR Digital has unveiled its most advanced real-time payload monitoring system, with the upgraded Titan 3330 solution, now powered by artificial intelligence.

Guided by 2.5 billion tonnes of in-field experience, every new capability was developed to help operators load trucks more accurately, increase average payload per truck and reduce maintenance events caused by overloads, the company says.

The new AI-powered system continually improves its ability to identify a productive load, learning and optimising further with each bucket, according to the company.

Kevin Greenwood, Head of Product Strategy at CR Digital, says the upgraded Titan 3330 system is the result of years of work and represents a huge breakthrough in CR Digital’s product offerings.

“Our artificial intelligence is now able to determine when a machine is digging versus gardening with increased accuracy,” he said. “Even better: Titan 3330’s ability to identify productive digging will only increase over time. More accurate data leads to better decision making for our customers, and ultimately improved productivity.”

Titan 3330 now also comes with new Truck.Trakka technology, which quickly and accurately identifies a customer’s haul truck fleet, so target payloads are adjusted and optimised by individual vehicle.

“To fully optimise the payload cycle, we need to understand the capacity of each truck in the fleet,” Greenwood said. “Our Truck.Trakka technology can accurately identify which individual truck is being loaded at any time, so Titan 3330 can understand what a productive load is and adjust the target payload accordingly.”

CR Digital partnered with operators to develop an evolved user experience that’s more intuitive than ever, it said. This means operators can access and interpret critical information more readily, enabling more focus on digging efficiently.
The architecture of Titan 3330 has been similarly upgraded.

Continuing CR Digital’s commitment to technological advancement, the new software platform is built to grow with its customers; increasing functionality, insights, supportability and availability, CR Digital says.

Greenwood added: “Our new software architecture puts us in a position to be able to deliver future upgrades more easily and faster, with minimised downtime for our customers. These kinds of behind-the-scenes improvements aren’t obvious to our customers but result in software that simply works.”

An open-source API means more real-time data and better data-driven decisions, according to the company.

“With Titan 3330 now supporting the most comprehensive range of machines yet, across both surface and underground mining, your mine site’s load haul data can be consolidated into one cloud-hosted location,” CR Digital said. “Titan 3330 supports any make and model of face shovel, backhoe, wheel loader and underground LHD machines.

“You won’t drown in data, however, as CR Digital’s intelligent Orion Data Analytics solution empowers you to see the big picture and translate data into action.”

Titan 3330 comes with market-leading hardware built to withstand the harshest conditions of mining, while hard anodised aluminium construction (IP67-rated) provides total protection from dust, high pressure water, extreme temperatures, shocks and vibrations, the company said.

RPMGlobal’s SaaS model enhanced with IMAFS and Shift Manager cloud-based transitions

Mining services, Mining software, , , , , , , , , , ,

RPMGlobal says it has accelerated the transition of its product suite to the cloud, releasing two new cloud offerings to the market.

The company’s IMAFS™ inventory optimisation and Shift Manager™ operational management solutions have now made the transition, the company said.

IMAFS uses artificial intelligence-based algorithms to enhance inventory management and forecasting accuracy for miners. It connects to an organisations ERP, enabling operations to continuously improve the accuracy of parts availability, reduce inventories, decrease stockouts and reduce equipment downtimes, according to the company.

Transitioning IMAFS from a hosted solution in the cloud to a full Software as a Service (SaaS) model will provide users with greater flexibility in security and authentication, RPMGlobal claims. As a result of the shift to the cloud, customers can now continuously optimise their inventory management processes.

“The move to the cloud has as an array of benefits, including increased ease of use, as users now only need a browser to access the IMAFS software,” RPMGlobal says. “Other benefits include high levels of scalability and availability, a modern API interface, faster deployment time and improved cost effectiveness.”

Shift Manager, meanwhile, is a short-term task planning and execution solution that enables users to collaborate and communicate through a single, integrated plan. The software allows users to manage tasks and resource allocations to drive more effective on-shift decision making and greater compliance to plan, according to the company.

As a cloud-enabled hosted solution, users are able to execute short-term shift planning through a single, integrated, web-based application without the need to be physically on site, the company says. Other benefits include enhanced security and collaboration across departments and a rapid implementation methodology that includes several pre-built integration points.

RPMGlobal Chief Technology Officer, Paul Beesley, says cloud adoption will help the industry unlock additional productivity and sustainability improvements.

“Cloud applications facilitate remote collaboration and the scalability that mining organisations require while creating robust data storage solutions that are more cost-efficient when compared to outdated hardware,” he said.

“Our products have been designed to leverage the tools and services available on the cloud platforms to rapidly build enhanced solutions for our customers. The transition to a full cloud offering across our full product portfolio is being enabled due to our above industry average investment in research and development and we look forward to continuing our progress in releasing more cloud offerings to the market soon.”

RPMGlobal Chief Executive Officer, Richard Mathews, added: “The company is committed to investing in technical innovation to enable customers to operate their mines as efficiently as possible.

“With more customers adopting a remote-operating business strategy through technology enablement, our work to migrate other products to a complete SaaS model will ramp up as we strive to add additional value for our present and future customers.”

Decipher to help miners align with new tailings storage facility standards

Communications in mining, Environmental, IoT, Mining industry recognition, Mining services, Mining software, Sustainable mining, Water management, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Wesfarmers-owned software-as-a-service company, Decipher, says it has extended its successful TSF cloud platform to provide a solution to simplify the process of tailings storage facility (TSF) data disclosure as well as helping companies align with the new global tailings standard.

The recent Global Standard on Tailings Management was launched on the August 5, 2020. The historic agreement includes six topic areas, 15 principles and 77 auditable requirements, which covers the entire TSF lifecycle – from site selection, design and construction, management and monitoring, through to closure and post-closure.

With an ambition of zero harm to people and the environment, the standard significantly raises the bar for the industry to achieve strong social, environmental and technical outcomes by elevating accountability to the highest organisational levels and adds new requirements for independent oversight, Decipher says.

“These recent initiatives have encouraged mining companies to respond quickly to public demand for more transparency which has highlighted the need for a software solution which can improve tailings data management, reporting, monitoring, compliance and governance,” the company said.

This is where Decipher’s technology comes into play.

Decipher Chief Executive Officer, Anthony Walker, said the resources industry is actively seeking easily implemented, cost effective and globally accessible solutions.

“The early adoption from Tier 1 miners and general interest has been phenomenal indicating that there is a real need for a TSF data disclosure solution; it excites us that our technology platform can be leveraged to support better management and monitoring of tailings storage facilities,” he said.

Topic Area VI of the new standard requires operators to support public disclosure of information about tailings facilities, and participate in global initiatives to create standardised, independent, industry-wide and publicly accessible information about facilities. For example, the recent Investor Mining and Tailings Safety Initiative called upon 727 extractive mining companies to make public disclosures about their TSFs to form an independent global database – The Global Tailings Portal, developed by GRID-Arendal.

Due to manual processes, and often disparate and siloed datasets, mining operators have estimated it took them around six weeks per site to collate their tailings data, according to Decipher. “With many operators having well over 50 sites, this process is challenging and surfaced many inefficiencies,” it said.

After hearing these frustrations from the industry, Decipher designed a tailings database solution to help companies easily capture, manage and disclose tailings data, enabling them to meet data provision requests from industry groups such as the Investor Mining and Tailings Safety Initiative, it said.

Decipher has also been working closely with GRID-Arendal to create an API to facilitate automatic update of tailings data within the Decipher platform directly to the Global Tailings Portal.

“We believe this will significantly increase efficiency and provide a massive time savings for mining operators who choose to disclose regularly,” the company said.

Topic Area III of the standard aims to lift the performance bar for designing, constructing, operating, maintaining, monitoring, and closing facilities.

Recognising tailings facilities are dynamic engineered structures, this topic area requires the ongoing use of an updated knowledge base, consideration of alternative tailings technologies, and a comprehensive monitoring system.

“Decipher’s TSF solution is trusted by environmental, tailings, geotechnical and management teams globally to help improve monitoring, compliance, reporting, operational visibility and safety,” the company said. “The platform brings together data from laboratories, IoT devices, LiDAR, CCTV, drones, inspections and remotely-sensed platforms to serve users with up-to-date information to provide key data and insights, enabling teams to effectively monitor, govern and operate their TSFs.”

Armed with Decipher’s Tailings Database solution, Decipher says. customers can:

  • Comply and meet requests for data provision from industry groups such as COE, ICMM, UNEP, PRI, Global Tailings Review and more, with fields embedded for simple reporting and tracking;
  • Store an endless variety of tailings data in one location which is otherwise managed by a number of teams in disparate systems;
  • Operate with increased confidence knowing required data is being collected and monitored;
  • Easily visualise their operational TSF data on the map;
  • Cluster data into key areas such as safety, risk, compliance, construction, design, roles and responsibilities;
  • Assign actions and tasks for data collection with a register and audit trail of all actions and respective statuses to monitor progress, and reminder and escalation notifications;
  • View dam data across multiple sites in a single screen with the ability to easily export for reporting;
  • Facilitate automatic updates to databases and portals based on integration capabilities with third-party systems or public portals;
  • View spatial visualisation to display tailings dams in proximity to surrounding environment and communities;
  • Better align with standard such as the Global Tailings management; and
  • Access custom reports.

Newtrax tackles data silo issues with launch of IoT hub

Automation, Equipment maintenance, IoT, Mining equipment, Mining maintenance, Mining safety, Mining services, Mining software, , , , , , ,

Newtrax Technologies, a leading provider of safety and productivity systems for underground hard-rock mines, has used the backdrop of the Sandvik Digitalization in Mining event, in Brisbane, Australia, to launch its brand new IoT Hub.

The Newtrax IoT Hub is the first AI-powered data aggregation platform, which enables the mining industry to connect all IoT devices into a single data repository, according to the company.

“It connects datasets and information in real time with a wide choice of software applications, enabling transparency of the mining processes and proactive decision making,” the company, which was acquired by Sandvik earlier this year, said.

This hub provides every mining company – big or small – with the ability to build their own “data lake” through industry-standardised application programming interfaces (APIs), according to the company. “This ensures mining companies can pick and choose from virtually any application they want and build the best solution architecture for their unique requirements,” Newtrax said.

Newtrax told IM that there are several applications inside the IoT hub including:

  • Mobile Telemetry Solution data;
  • “AI-ready”;
  • Scheduler;
  • Task Management; and
  • Asset Health.

While the digital mining tech leader has focused, to date, on monitoring and providing insights on people, machines and the environment in underground mines, it told IM that the IoT hub was ready to also host “any process plant solutions”. Newtrax is not intending to build such a solution though and would, instead, happily integrate with other vendors that already had one, the company confirmed.

Alexandre Cervinka, President & CEO of Newtrax, said the company has seen throughout the industry plenty of examples of separate vendors selling IoT devices that only work with their own software platform, leading to the generation of “islands of data”.

He continued: “However, the real power of data can only be unlocked with the customers’ ability to aggregate the data together to make insights that would not normally be seen. That is where the Newtrax Iot Hub comes in.”

Newtrax, which is run as an independent business unit within the division Rock Drills and Technologies in the business area Sandvik Mining and Rock Technology, says it is committed to having an open architecture and will continue to interface with other vendors in the mining digital ecosystem.

The Newtrax news comes only a day after Sandvik said it was opening up its own automation platform for underground loaders and trucks to the wider mining industry through its AutoMine Access API system.

Sandvik unlocks ‘automation’s full potential’ with AutoMine Access API

Automation, Communications in mining, Equipment maintenance, IoT, Mining equipment, Mining maintenance, Mining services, Mining software, , , , , , , , ,

Sandvik has opened its AutoMine® platform to the rest of the industry with what it says is the mining sector’s first interoperability platform for autonomous underground loaders and trucks.

The AutoMine Access API delivers on the company’s promise made earlier this year at Goldcorp’s #DisruptMining event and is the next step in Sandvik’s continued journey to “set the industry standard for mine automation and digitalisation”, it said.

The application programming interface (API) gives mines the power to connect non-Sandvik equipment to AutoMine – moving underground mining digitalisation even further, it said.

This interoperability move comes just over a year since

Patrick Murphy, President Rock Drills & Technologies, Sandvik Mining and Rock Technology, said: “As a world leader in underground automation, we have a responsibility to make this game-changing technology easier to implement for the mining industry.

“While we think customers will achieve the highest performance with Sandvik equipment, we recognise the need to unlock automation’s full potential for all equipment regardless of manufacturer. Customers with mixed fleets will now have the full power of AutoMine behind them.”

The AutoMine Access API is a standard set of pre-defined interfaces for connecting third-party loaders and trucks to AutoMine. This means a mixed fleet of underground loaders and trucks can now be managed and controlled with one seamless system.

“An API is a set of functions and procedures that allows the creation of applications that access the features or data of an operating system, application, or other service,” Sandvik said, adding that the third-party equipment is required to meet the AutoMine safety standards.

The API is another step in Sandvik’s journey to drive a digital ecosystem that makes mining smarter, safer and more productiv, it said.

In 2018, Sandvik Mining and Rock Technology released its Interoperability Policy outlining how Sandvik systems can communicate within a digital ecosystem including data accessibility, fleet data compatibility, data rights and control, and data privacy.

The momentum continued in 2019 with the acquisition of Newtrax, a leader in wireless IoT connectivity for underground hard-rock mining, and the announcement that My Sandvik, Sandvik’s telemetry solution for machine health and productivity data, would also be available for non-Sandvik equipment.

“Sandvik has been leading the market in underground digitalisation for years, with thousands of pieces of equipment around the world connected to our digital technology,” Murphy said. “As more customers embark on their digital journeys, interoperability will be a requirement. We are proud to leverage our experience to drive digitalisation further in the mining industry.”