Tag Archives: networks

5G underground networks receive Newmont’s seal of approval following Cadia trial

Automation, Base metals, Communications in mining, IoT, Mine operation news, Mining services, Precious metals, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Newmont Corporation is expanding its use of next generation 5G wireless networks to improve safety in underground mining following trial results from its Cadia mine in New South Wales, Australia.

In February last year, Newmont (Newcrest as it was then) announced a trial of 5G in partnership with Ericsson and Telstra Purple at its Cadia mine – one of the largest underground gold-copper mines in the world.

Before the trial, Cadia was limited to upload speeds of 20-30 megabits per second (Mbps) using Wi-Fi to operate autonomous equipment such as ore loaders and remote-controlled mining machines.

These Wi-Fi connections were unreliable and unpredictable when under load, according to Newmont. There was insufficient capacity to operate the required number of machines in the one area at the same time, particularly with the amount of video upload involved, and automation safety stops were regularly falsely triggered due to network packet loss.

Using Ericsson Private 5G, Newmont was able to demonstrate the ability to achieve upload speeds of around 90 Mbps along access drives and declines throughout the underground complex, and 150 Mbps upload and 500 Mbps download on all-important extraction drives, it says.

The connections underground were found to be persistent and highly dependable, resolving historic limitations experienced with Wi-Fi and providing the consistent performance essential for remote control and autonomous mining systems.

Newmont Chief Safety and Sustainability Officer, Suzy Retallack, said: “The trial results show the extraordinary potential of 5G to improve safety, increase the number of machines that can be operated on a single network and boost production efficiencies in underground mining.

“These trials are part of the new frontier of technology in mining – using innovation to make our people safer and our mines more productive.”

Newmont will now use 5G to roll out more autonomous fleet like drill rigs, graders and auto haul trucks as part of future mining operations, relying on 5G’s unique capacity and capability to facilitate and streamline operational capabilities while deploying additional safety systems like radars and collision avoidance to improve overall mine safety systems, it says.

Head of Private Cellular Networks from Ericsson, Manish Tiwari, said: “5G is enabling rapid global transformation of industry, supporting digitalisation and movement towards automated, more efficient, and safer operations across a number of sectors.

“Ericsson is proud to be partnering with Newmont on demonstrating the potential of 5G to the global mining sector.”

Trialling 5G New Radio (NR) technologies on the surface at Cadia as part of the same initiative also demonstrated that new 5G innovations, such as 64T64R Massive MIMO, beamforming and beam-steering provided a leap forward in available throughputs at the extended distances found in surface operations.

Newmont says it uses technology to make workers safer while improving efficiency. On the basis of the trial, 5G now has a firm place in Newmont’s communications strategies for Cadia and its other Tier One underground and surface mines across the world.

Following support for the Cadia 5G trial from the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), Newmont has now applied to ACMA for Area Wide Licenses to extend and embed Newmont’s use of 5G technology across its Australian operations.

Newmont is now planning to expand the use of 5G networks across its global network of Tier One underground gold-copper mines.

Vale and Vivo extend reach of 4G across Carajás Railroad

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Vale has started to implement, in partnership with Vivo, an unprecedented technology infrastructure to extend the reach of the 4G internet signal along the Carajás Railroad, which connects the states of Maranhão and Pará, covering 28 cities in Brazil.

The initiative includes the installation of 49 new telephone towers and the activation of the signal on another 27 towers already installed, as well as the acquisition and installation of new equipment. The investment, worth around BRL240 million ($50 million), should be completed by 2025 and will benefit communities close to the railroad and the railroad operation, as well as improving connectivity on the Passenger Train.

Eduardo Bartolomeo, Vale’s CEO, said: “This initiative is in line with our commitment to invest in projects of shared value with society. It meets not only Vale’s needs – modernizing the technology used to exchange data during the movement of trains – but also those of the communities, with the provision of a 4G signal along the entire route of the Carajás Railroad, and also the users of the Passenger Train, improving connectivity during the journey.”

Alex Salgado, VP of Business at Vivo, said: “Our private network project plays a leading role in the materialisation of initiatives that accelerate industrial digitalisation, leveraging technologies such as IoT, big data, artificial intelligence and analytics within the operation, transforming data into intelligence, ensuring greater safety, cost reduction and efficiency gains. And in addition to technological advances within Vale’s railroad operation, the companies will go further and share with the population the benefits of excellent connectivity in all the municipalities close to the railroad.”

The new 4G-based private network infrastructure will bring more security and efficiency to the operation of the Carajás Railroad, which is already considered the safest railroad in Brazil by the National Land Transport Agency, Vale says. All communication on the railroad will be changed from analogue to digital, speeding up access to data generated by the trains and making it possible to implement even more innovative systems in the future.

The railroad will have real-time video transmission, giving the driver greater visibility of what is happening on all sections of the track. Information generated by telemetry on the train’s performance will also be available in real time along the entire length of the railroad. In addition, cell phone communication between employees will be more stable.

The investment in the railroad is part of an initiative started in 2019, when Vale signed the first contract with Vivo to install a private 4G network in its operations.

Paulo Pires, Chief Technology Officer, said: “Since 2019, this network has already been deployed in Carajás, where it enables the operation of 22 pieces of autonomous equipment, including haul trucks and drilling rigs, and in Itabira, where it supports dam monitoring.”

A significant social impact of this technology project is the provision of free internet access points along the railroad, in high-traffic locations such as hospitals, schools and community centers. Vale’s teams have already started dialoguing with leaders and representatives of public authorities to determine which locations will benefit. There will be around 280 access points.

In addition, by the end of 2024, all 15 passenger stations along the Carajás Railroad will have a free internet signal for users.

Rajant teams up with Crossover Distribution to widen North America Kinetic Mesh footprint

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Rajant Corporation, the pioneer of Kinetic Mesh® wireless networks, has entered a strategic distribution agreement with Crossover Distribution.

Crossover is, according to Rajant, a leading wireless solutions provider skilled in design and engineering expertise to support North America. It has provided solutions to both Vale and Nutrien in Canada.

The agreement represents Rajant’s further global investment to introduce its Kinetic Mesh solution to Crossover’s customers within industries such as mining, indoor automation, smart cities, public safety and rural broadband, the company said.

Crossover Executive Vice President, Darin Gibbons, says: “Rajant is a complement to other technologies in the Crossover portfolio. For example, the use of Sonim phones for industrial-hardened communications in underground mines with all the functionality of a cell phone on the surface is made possible by Rajant’s wireless networking. A Rajant BreadCrumb radio on mobile equipment is a practical way to have voice coverage at the mine’s working face.”

With Rajant, a NORCAT deployment allowed Crossover to test its UHF/VHF to VoIP phone crossbanding solution that seamlessly allows the worker to use either a phone or a radio and communicate on a legacy and Kinetic Mesh system, according to Gibbons.

“Further, we’ve achieved successful testing of add-on technologies, like fan controls, gas monitoring, geotechnical sensors, seismic sensors, post-blast reentry, hazard alerts, tracking, traffic control, underground fleet management, and more – all made possible by Rajant.”

Darrell Gillis, Rajant Sales Director – Canada, said: “Crossover’s primary Rajant Kinetic Mesh customer base of mines and ports, along with its business strategy to expand into other industrial and municipal markets, is specifically focused on wireless communication solutions. With Rajant Kinetic Mesh networking, Crossover now offers its clients a solution with total mobility, autonomous adaptability and mission-critical reliability.

“As a fifth-generation mining sales and service specialist, I’ve witnessed first hand the transformational nature of Rajant’s technology when it comes to mines. Of note is the exceptional work we are already doing in underground, which includes shaft sinking, shaft inspection and maintenance. Rajant Kinetic Mesh does not break the connection. Instead, the data is always transmitting and receiving even with the high speeds of the conveyances and the numerous shaft signal obstructions in a shaft. And, unlike leaky feeder systems, the shaft with Rajant has complete coverage with no dead spots that lose connection.”

Nokia and Sedna to expand LTE private wireless partnership in southern Africa

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Nokia and Sedna Industrial IT Solutions have built on the LTE private wireless partnership Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed last year, with a pledge to expand further into southern Africa.

In November of last year Sedna strengthened its partnership with Nokia to become its main value-added reseller (VAR) and systems integrator for Africa in the mining sector, among others, to enable Industry 4.0 applications. This comes as demand for enhanced network solutions grows in Africa thanks to their ability to deliver safe, more efficient, and productive solutions in operational areas above and underground, they said.

“We are progressing significantly beyond last year’s MoU and are accelerating activities, with an upcoming roadshow set for southern Africa where we will showcase the benefits of network and safety advances for African mining and industrial companies,” Anton Fester, MD of Johannesburg-based Sedna Industrial IT Solutions, said.

Gary Conway, Nokia Head of Energy and Mining business for Africa, India, Middle East and China, added: “We are excited to strengthen our partnership with Sedna and are extremely encouraged by the potential in Africa, with demand on the rise for mission-critical solutions, whether fixed and wireless multiservice solutions, 4.9G/LTE, 5G private wireless or secure public networks in remote locations.”

Digital automation in mines has many benefits, ranging from improved worker safety, operational improvements and significantly improved ‘green’ outcomes, the companies say. A Nokia case study shows that the digital automation of a mining truck fleet using a private wireless network led to a 10% reduction in fuel consumption and 15,000 t in CO2 emissions (based on an average mine site with an annual production of 150 Mt).

According to Fester, these solutions and networks are “very suitable” for Africa.

“You can really look after your assets, protect jobs and workers, ensure your mining enterprise stays out of repair shops, gets much better asset usage and mileage – the benefits are endless. This applies across mining but also increasingly into the manufacturing and energy spaces,” he says. “For instance, legacy systems perform several functions across multiple networks, using different infrastructure. We pick up the legacy interface and combine it on a single infrastructure to provide an end-to-end management view of distribution and production.”

Conway said: “LTE private wireless is proving extremely beneficial in the energy sector to improve efficiencies, reduce downtime and faults (80% of Asian utilities are already on this journey with Nokia). This level of automation does not replace jobs but leads to increases in productivity and more opportunities. This is a glass-half-full story in Africa if you consider the demand for more scalable solutions like these, which we are already experiencing. The pioneering use cases have been initiated and it is now about enabling this technology more broadly.”

Rajant to showcase Kinetic Mesh networking advantages at Mining World Russia

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Rajant Corp, the provider of Kinetic Mesh® wireless networks, is to attend Mining World Russia, taking place at Moscow’s Crocus Expo.

The international trade show, which is in its 25th year exhibiting machines and equipment for mining, processing and transportation of minerals, takes place on April 20-22, 2021, with Rajant joining its partners.

Showcasing collaborative solutions for fully-mobile mining connectivity will be Rajant’s Russia-based distributor CompTek and technology providers LANIT, AMT-GROUP, CROC, DCLogic, NEMAN and SATEL.

Showcased alongside Rajant’s networking will be LANIT’s virtual reality/augmented reality “smart glasses”.

Equipped with a video camera and compact screen, this technological solution’s software operates over the Rajant network and enables visualisation of on-site observations to command centres for collaborative off-site expertise to complete all phases of the mining mission successfully.

“You need a Mission Critical network to enable AR in hard-to-reach challenging locations,” Nikita Ivanov, CompTek’s Head of Sales, said. “CompTek’s integration partners in Russia and the CIS are committed to evolving mining’s overall productivity, safety and efficiency. With Rajant and its partners, a fully digitalised mine is possible.”

Rajant says its partnership with CompTek, a Russia-based distributor of network and telecommunications equipment, has brought together other Eastern Europe and CIS partners to demonstrate support of machine-to-machine connectivity and mobility for open-pit and underground mining.

Marcin Kusztal, Sales Director Eastern Europe and CIS for Rajant, says Rajant’s network is “unique”.

He added: “Our Kinetic Mesh BreadCrumb® nodes overcome the mine’s constantly changing conditions, which hinder connectivity and real-time application support, with industrial wireless networking that is unwavering in adverse and mobile environments.

“Rajant’s self-optimising Kinetic Mesh nodes work via multiple-frequency, peer-to-peer connections. Plus, the BreadCrumbs can be fixed or mobile, ensuring a mining operation’s continuous productivity and safety.”

Telstra lays the groundwork for major underground LTE network at Cannington mine

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Telstra Mining Services has announced a new partnership with South32 for a private 4G LTE network at its Cannington underground silver-lead-zinc mine in northwest Queensland, Australia.

Telstra is now in the pre-deployment stage at Cannington, with the network set to “drive improved safety, automation and mechanisation” at the site and connect staff to vehicles and sensors around the mine at all times, it said.

The underground mine produces about 3 Mt/y and the Cannington team is made up of about 550 full-time employees and up to 300 contractors.

Jeannette McGill, Head of Telstra Mining Services, said: “The high throughput and low latency offered by the system means that staff will be able to control critical equipment without interruption, and South32’s digitalisation strategy will be achievable throughout the mine.”

By adopting 4G LTE underground, the Cannington mine will be able to achieve better operating transparency, condition monitoring and production improvements for staff, machines and other mining systems, driving safety, productivity and efficiency, she added.

Telstra will be building an initial underground network 6.5 km in length using a “private, virtualised core” and LTE radio technologies distributed over leaky feeder cable using LTE-capable bi-directional amplifiers.

McGill said: “Our analysis indicates this to be the most effective solution for underground miners and is capable of adapting to the unique geology and composition of the Cannington mine. It enables access to the latest advances in 4G LTE and NB-IoT, and is also upgradeable to 5G in the future.”

The network being private means it will be a completely standalone mobile network, independent from others, like Telstra’s own public network, she explained. “South32 Cannington will have its own equipment, SIM cards and unique network codes for full autonomy and complete control.”

Providing a modern connectivity platform will allow for more flexible operations as well as scalability and choice in applying various digital solutions, according to Telstra.

“The combination of Ericsson mobile network equipment, Telstra radio spectrum, and leaky feeder solutions from specialist manufacturer METStech provides a unique capability that has made extending LTE underground a more commercially realistic and safer prospect,” McGill explained.

At its full deployment, the Cannington installation will become one of the largest underground mining LTE networks in the world using leaky feeder, according to Telstra.

“We’re excited to help drive South32’s Cannington mine further with this new private network, as it looks to pay dividends to safety, productivity and more,” McGill concluded.

3D-P gets networking at copper miner’s Americas sites

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3D-P says it has come up with a solution for a large copper miner looking for reduced wireless network management and improved network performance, all while being able to gather additional machine health data and improve its operational capacity across mine sites in the Americas.

The company had been running an 802.11g wireless network for a number of years, but head office was concerned by the amount of maintenance required to preserve the performance of the wireless network at each of the sites, as trailer moves were becoming a frequent activity, 3D-P said.

“In parallel, the sites had been running several applications on-board their mobile equipment, each using their own hardware, including Honeywell MEM for asset health, Modular Dispatch and High Precision GPS,” the company explained. “Many of these systems were due for upgrade, which in some cases would include increased network requirements.”

Led by the global IT department, the miner was investigating a wireless network upgrade, complete with infrastructure and on-board radio upgrades, according to 3D-P. At the same time, the maintenance department was investigating an upgrade to its on-board asset health dataloggers, adding functionality and supportability.

The brief for the new wireless network was as follows:

  • It should have the ability to reside on Layer 3 to bring network routing as close to the edge as possible, and;
  • It should also require minimal maintenance and have the ability to scale up in line with the miners’ wireless coverage needs.

Part of the global IT department’s vision was to consolidate the radio and the different applications running on-board the fleet into a single platform.

In addition, there was a requirement to include an accelerometer and a gyroscope allowing geo-referenced and time-stamped monitoring of the quality of the haul roads, as well as induced stress on the truck itself. Aligning with the miner’s corporate network switch standard, the solution should include a Cisco switch.

By creating a partnership and factoring in these requirements along with the company’s long-term vision, a “truly unique solution” consolidating these departmental needs into a single on-board platform was created, 3D-P said. This reduced initial costs and downtime significantly while providing the significant performance improvement each department required, it added.

3D-P said: “Additionally, the miner was looking for a technology partner that would support them through the lifespan of the technology from design and deployment, to training, consulting and ongoing support. The partner should also have in-depth mining experience.

“The expected result was an easy-to-maintain end-to-end solution that would support the miner’s requirements overtime while reducing their technology ‘clutter’, improving operations and reducing maintenance time and associated costs.”

The solution

3D-P, in its role as the end-to-end solution provider, recommended the miner deploy a Rajant Kinetic Mesh network. This, the company said, provided the required performance, reliability and scalability, while meeting the miner’s Layer 3 network security mandate.

“Rajant was selected as the technology of choice for the miner’s requirements for its self-forming, self-healing capabilities that would allow significant reduction in ongoing maintenance of the network infrastructure in the mines’ pits,” 3D-P said.

Its meshing capabilities would also allow cost effective increased coverage through dynamic meshing, while Rajant’s RPT protocol and security capability allowed both the required Layer 3 connectivity and the IT departments security requirements, the company added.

For high speed wireless backhaul, Cambium Networks PMP radios were used, with 3D-P identifying their known reliability, GPS synchronisation, channel re-use capacity as well as non-collision based channel access as key features.

3D-P explained the installation a little more:

“The miner’s networks consist of multiple segregated VLAN’s serving machine applications and network management. These networks span multiple Layer 2 segments across each site, being brought from the wired network to strategic locations throughout the sites with Cambium PMP radios. Rajant BreadCrumbs are placed at these locations, and others, creating high speed multi-channel InstaMesh links to other RF visible Breadcrumbs, either embedded in the 3D-P Intelligent Endpoint® (IEP) or standalone.

“Data generated on the mobile clients is transferred from machine to the IEP, or standalone Breadcrumb, to the Rajant wireless InstaMesh network and routed by Rajant’s InstaMesh Cost routing algorithm. This data is routed to its final destination by Rajant’s APT protocol (Layer 2 InstaMesh routing, within single segment) and RPT protocol (Layer 3 InstaMesh routing, between Layer 2 segments) while using the most cost efficient route whilst being blind to the type of network medium used.”

Client access

At the client access level, the solution consists of the 3D-P Intelligent Endpoint. This is designed as an open computing platform and mobile radio with on-board network management and data collection capabilities. The selection of the IEP platform allowed development of a solution that met all of the miner’s needs in a single device, 3D-P said, adding that the IEP model included a Rajant ME4 radio and a Cisco ESS2020 switch, while hosting the Honeywell MEM asset heath system.

“The native suite of tools residing on-board the IEP allowed development of a few customised solutions, including network health monitoring, a publish/subscribe solution for delivery of HPGPS corrections where required, and the firewall capability to provide connectivity via bi-directional network address translation to the P&H (Komatsu) Centurion systems running on their shovels where local static IP addresses are utilised, which are not compatible with the miner’s IP networking scheme.”

The solution saw the miner benefit from a significant reduction in capital expenditure for the on-board solution, as well as reduction in operational expenditure through significant savings in installation and troubleshooting time.

In terms of ongoing network maintenance, 3D-P mentioned its Network Performance Analysis Toolkit (NPAT). This regularly monitors the health of the wireless network from the mobile client’s perspective, with the NPAT data collector running a number of active and passive performance tests directly on the IEP, including ICMP pings of varying size, upstream and/or downstream UDP/TCP throughput, connectivity, neighbour tables, noise levels and location, etc.

The data is then geo-stamped and time-referenced before being visualised on a map for the miner to interpret. 3D-P and the sites are also developing a solution to automate the data collection and provide it to the miner’s own analytical tool, the company said.

The miner decided to perform the upgrade one site at a time over the course of a year, with a former ‘train the trainer’ model followed at each site, 3D-P said.

3D-P says the upgrade of the first five sites has been delivered on time and on budget, with the remaining four sites to be completed by the end of the year.

“Close partnership between 3D-P and the miner played a critical role in this success, through design and development of a complete end-to-end solution that met both the IT and asset health groups,” the company concluded.

Agnico Eagle Mines looks to roll out innovation across its operations

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Automation, ore sorting, continuous mining and renewable energy solutions are all being examined by Agnico Eagle Mines as the company looks to the future of its gold operations in Canada, Finland and Mexico.

The company is already in the process of installing a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network at its La Ronde Zone 5 (LZ5) project in northwestern Quebec, Canada, which will be rolled out with an autonomous loading and hauling pilot later this. This will make LaRonde the first operation to use Sandvik’s AutoMine® system with an LTE communication network underground on a production scale.

In a company update this week, Agnico Eagle said two production trucks, one scooptram and the required material for automated mining at LZ5 were expected to be on site this quarter and testing was expected to take place in the December quarter. Sandvik originally said it would provide one LH517 17 t LHD and one TH551i 51 t haul truck as part of the initial pilot.

Now, even before the pilot has started, Agnico has said it is examining the potential to use the same LTE infrastructure as part of an automated loading and hauling solution at its La Ronde Zone 3 (LZ3) project.

LZ3 is envisaged as a phased development that could extend mining at La Ronde from 3.1 km to 3.5 km below ground and provide two or three additional production levels through 2022.

At the same time as this, representatives from Agnico Eagle Finland said on a site visit to the Kittilä gold mine in the north of the country – organised as part of the Finland Mine Safari tour for analysts and investors – that the company was weighing up autonomous hauling and loading solutions as part of the €160 million ($185 million) expansion to increase production capacity at the mine to 2 Mt/y by 2021.

With Kittilä set to go down to around 1.15 km below ground and mining due to take place in four distinct zones as part of this expansion, an LTE network will most probably be required for effective use of this technology.

And, this is not all in terms of technology and innovation at Agnico Eagle.

In its latest corporate update, the company said it was evaluating the use of Rail-Veyor technology at its mines across the group. A 3 km underground Rail-Veyor system is already hauling tonnes at the Goldex operation in Quebec.

And, Agnico is preparing to implement a pilot plant for ore sorting technology to potentially boost low-grade ore, while it is closely following a technology pilot for mechanical cutting.

Lastly, the company said it is looking at renewable energy solutions for its operations in Mexico and Nunavut, Canada.

This is part of a global approach to reduce energy costs at select regions by up to 30% and lower greenhouse gas emission, Agnico said.

The areas of study in Nunavut, where the company is currently building out a major production hub, include wind and solar power, the use of LNG and potential hydro options. The power solutions are also likely to include some sort of battery storage.

In Mexico, meanwhile, where the company operates its Pinos Altos gold mine, it is looking to solar power as a way of cutting its greenhouse gas emissions.