SES Archives - International Mining

The Kamoa-Kakula copper project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo will continue to enjoy high-speed satellite-based connectivity services as part of a new agreement between Ivanhoe Mines and SES, SES says.

The enhanced partnership builds on an existing five-year relationship between SES and Ivanhoe Mines and comes at a time of significant investment in low-latency, high-capacity solutions in the region, the company added.

The O3b constellation is powering connectivity for mining operators, driving a digitalisation revolution for the sector that is helping to increase profitability while improving worker safety and accountability, according to SES. “This model enables operators to cost effectively scale connectivity as needed throughout the lifecycle of a mine, ensuring assets have the right amount of bandwidth at any given time to meet digitalisation requirements,” it said.

Caroline Kamaitha, Vice President, Sales Africa at SES, said: “We’re proud to continue delivering reliable high-speed connectivity to DRC’s mining industry through our O3b high-throughput and low-latency connectivity services, enabling mining companies to implement new services and applications that will improve workers’ safety, digitalise operations and maximise profitability through increased agility and automation.”

Anil Udayabhanu, Head of Technology at Kamoa Copper, said: “Our long-standing partnership with SES has already helped us to improve the profitability of our extraction, and supported our goal of improving the safety and welfare of all of our staff. In addition to that, O3b connectivity services will also help us leverage the latest applications, communicate in real time and maximise our productivity.”

SES and AXESS Networks say they are accelerating the digital transition of the mining industry with a collaboration focused on SES’s second-generation medium earth orbit (MEO) system O3b mPOWER.

Under this multi-year, multi-million-dollar agreement, mining sector users will be able to benefit from the cutting-edge low-latency Onshore Energy & Mining mPOWERED connectivity service, they say.

SES’s Onshore Energy & Mining mPOWERED service will provide the highest throughput available from a satellite system and deliver dedicated and carrier-grade networks to AXESS’ customers reliably regardless of their remote locations. O3b mPOWER can deliver up to multiple gigabits per second per site, enabling AXESS’ customers to accelerate the digitalisation of their operations and sites globally, boosting profitability through access to new applications and efficiency, as well as improving staff safety and welfare.

SES’s second-generation MEO connectivity service also brings the cloud closer to the end customers and can enable edge computing to support the use of 5G and IoT in the mining industry, it says.

Simon Gatty Saunt, Vice President of Networks Sales, Europe, at SES, said: “Transition towards smart mining is already turbocharging profits, and revolutionising industry’s environmental and societal impact. We are proud of the success our partnership with AXESS has already had in facilitating this change, thanks to our multi-orbit GEO and MEO network, and are excited to further accelerate it with the O3b mPOWER service.”

Guido Neumann, President AXESS EMEA, said: “This agreement builds on a long and successful relationship with SES, which has helped us to provide our customers with the best-in-class, reliable and resilient connectivity for their operations. As we are seeing a considerable uptake in demand for the carrier-grade solutions globally, but especially in the EMEA and APAC region, we are honoured to play an active role in scaling the digital transition in the mining sector through introducing O3b mPOWER and the Onshore Energy & Mining mPOWERED service.”