Tag Archives: underground communications

OZ Minerals Prominent Hill joins Aqura 5G Underground Initiative

Communications in mining, IoT, Mine operation news, Mining services, , , , ,

Aqura says its 5G Underground Initiative in Australia is progressing to plan, with the company having recently added OZ Minerals’ Prominent Hill mine to the project, joining representatives from one of Northern Star Resources’ operations in the project.

Aqura, recently acquired by Telstra Purple, was awarded a grant back in 2021 from the Australian Government under the 5G Innovation Initiative to augment the organisation’s own development work to address the challenge of delivering underground 5G LTE. This development work included technical architectures, commercial model development and installation of a live Private 5G LTE network in an operating mine.

The 5G Underground Initiative leverages learnings from a 2017 project where Aqura successfully delivered Private 4G LTE in an underground mine in the Kalgoorlie region of Western Australia.

Aqura says it has onboarded Northern Star and OZ Minerals by providing a detailed design for both of its chosen mines.

“Having two different mines involved in the project will greatly extend the diversity of the technology architectures developed to suit more mine operation types,” it noted.

Site visits to validate terrain and existing infrastructure are currently in progress. Equipment acquisition is also underway, with works expected to commence at both sites in August 2022, Aqura said.

Komatsu to acquire underground mining visualisation and tracking company MST Global

Automation, Communications in mining, IoT, Mining equipment, Mining mergers and acquisitions, Mining services, Mining software, , , , ,

Komatsu Ltd, through its wholly owned subsidiary in Australia, has agreed to acquire Mine Site Technologies Pty Ltd, a provider of operational optimisation platforms for underground mining that leverage communication devices and position tracking systems.

The deal, set to close on July 1 on the condition all necessary procedures for closing are completed, will see the two companies help customers build digital ecosystems with real-time insights and alerts, voice and communication technologies, software solutions, robust network infrastructure and wireless and geospatial technologies.

Together, the companies will work to increase availability of high-speed, low latency digital communication, which is necessary to: provide mission-critical communication, integrate IoT sensors, increase the volume of information communicated and enable real-time tracking, monitoring and automation of mine operations.

For 30 years, Sydney-based MST Global has delivered innovative solutions to address the needs of customers today and for the future. The company specialises in developing and delivering ruggedised, fit-for-purpose solutions and services partnering with mining and tunnelling customers on their digital strategy to unearth safety and productivity improvements.

Komatsu said: “MST Global solutions enable communication between operators and mining equipment, as well as position tracking for operators and equipment, leveraging optical fibre broadband communication systems, which create a real-time geospatial digital twin of underground operations: an important and fundamental building block for digitalisation.”

The company’s solutions offer a platform to visualise and monitor the underground mining environment and enable control from a remote operations centre, thus optimising mine operations to increase safety and productivity while safeguarding the environment, the company added. The solutions contribute to the digitisation and automation of underground mining operations.

One of the more recent additions to MST’s portfolio is HELIX, a next-generation software platform that brings underground miners’ “software, hardware and third-party integrations into one platform”, MST says. This builds on MST’s 2D Visualisation and Tracking software, ICA and Minedash, while having all the luxuries of a modern interface and platform and building “your digital ecosystem”, it says.

By adding MST Global’s experience and expertise in the introduction of communication devices and optimisation platforms, Komatsu says it aims to enhance the speed at which it offers advanced technology solutions, including the automation and teleoperation of mining equipment underground.

Komatsu, in line with its ongoing mid-term management plan “DANTOTSU Value – Together, to ‘The Next’ for sustainable growth”, is working to expand offerings for underground hard-rock mining, creating new value for customers with the development of new equipment, processes and technologies that will help operations step forward to the next stage for the workplace of the future and provide a more sustainable environment for the next generation, it says.

GeoMoby looks to improve underground mining safety and communications

Communications in mining, IoT, Mining safety, Mining services, , ,

A Western Australia-based company has developed what it says is world-first geolocation technology for mining that could improve safety underground and potentially save companies millions of dollars each year.

GeoMoby – the name of the company and product – uses wireless, cable-free and reusable beacons to geofence sites, track assets and check on workforces, providing a layer of safety and efficiency never seen before, the company said.

The technology allows surface-to-underground communication through smart devices, meaning, for the first time, photographs and video can be sent to the surface from remote tunnels in deep underground sites.

GeoMoby Founder, Chris Baudia, said the accuracy of its Real Time Location Services allowed improved personnel safety, pinpointing locations within one metre of incidents, emergencies or equipment break down.

“If an incident occurs underground, mining companies are currently blind and rely on radio transmissions to pinpoint locations and relay instructions on how to respond,” Baudia said. “Our technology gives operators on the surface a clear picture of who is where underground, while allowing those below the surface to send and receive phone calls, videos, photos and audio files.”

Live mapping of assets is not only beneficial for safety reasons; it also allows operators to monitor equipment like trucks and other expensive machinery, checking speed, location, routes and other information, according to Baudia.

“Data collected can be used to boost productivity,” he said. “In fact, our live field reporting and automated timesheets resulted in a 20% boost in productivity for one of our clients.”

GeoMoby’s geolocation intelligence acts independent Wi-Fi, which can cost companies millions of dollars each year to maintain and does not give the range that GeoMoby’s technology does, it said.

RCT embeds machine automation expertise in new Wi-Fi offering

Automation, Communications in mining, IoT, Mining equipment, Mining services, , , , , , ,

RCT says it has released the first digital Wi-Fi communications network designed specifically for machine automation and control in underground mining operations.

RCT Connect is designed to be user friendly and portable and can be installed into a production area and commissioned with minimal time and expertise, according to the automation leader.

The company has already made significant headway with RCT Connect, with the network having been tested at a mine site in Western Australia and recently deployed in an underground mining operation outside of Australia.

RCT Connect has been built to withstand the harsh conditions, common in underground mining environments, and can operate in temperatures ranging from -20°C (-4°F) to 60°C (140°F), RCT said.

It uses a coaxial cable able to transfer power and information to access points for up to 1.5 km before additional power insertion is required along the length of a drive, according to RCT.

“This feature offers several major benefits over traditional Wi-Fi deployments such as reduced requirement for configuration, eliminating costly cables to run between access points and a simple installation with only two connections,” the company said.

Once operational, RCT Connect provides a simple connection to a ControlMaster® Area Access Control at strategic locations which then links into the mine-wide communications backbone to transfer information to a machine operator located in a ControlMaster Automation Centre on the mine’s surface, the company said.

The platform operates at 2.4 GHz and is capable of carrying out remote diagnostics, live machine tracking and delivering live health and production data from the machine, according to RCT.

RCT Product Manager Automation & Control, Brendon Cullen, said RCT Connect offers several distinct advantages over commercially available digital communication networks.

“RCT Connect is specifically designed to ensure uninterrupted communication between the machine and the operator regardless of location,” he said.

“The platform has very stable performance with low, consistent latency and so ensures reliable communications between command inputs from the surface station and subsequent machine activities.”

He added: “We have also optimised the platform to enable smart roaming and, therefore, seamless handover between wireless access points so that there is no dropout along the length of the drives.”

In other commercially available communications networks, node handover is configured differently so if the machine is looking for a node or hangs on too long then communication failures arise, Cullen explained.

RCT Connect can be sold as a standalone package or in conjunction with RCT’s ControlMaster automation products.

GMG completes the underground communications infrastructure trilogy

Automation, Communications in mining, Equipment maintenance, IoT, Mining industry recognition, Mining safety, Mining services, Mining software, , , , , , ,

The Global Mining Guidelines Group (GMG) has published the third part of its Underground Mine Communications Infrastructure guideline suite, which, it says, provides an overview of the planning and design recommendations for underground communications development.

Called Underground Mine Communications Infrastructure Guidelines, Part III: General Guidelines, the document also includes some best practices used within mining environments and where to find more information on digital communications, standards, and frameworks, GMG said.

Andrew Scott, Principal Innovator, Symbiotic Innovations and GMG Vice-Chair Working Groups, described this document as “a key general reference for any company looking to implement communications infrastructure at any of their operations or new projects”.

This guideline suite was developed in response to the rapid development of industrial and communications technology in recent years, according to GMG. “It provides a high-level view of the processes needed by mine personnel to meet planning and design requirements when creating or replacing underground mine communications infrastructure,” GMG said. “It steps the user through the general tasks and components to define the technical requirements for an underground communications infrastructure that sup­ports mine services now and into the future.”

GMG Chair, Michelle Ash, said: “These technologies are now at the heart of mining safety and productivity and are becoming essential for running safe, productive and efficient underground mining operations. Anything we can do to speed up the rate of adoption in our members’ operations will make a positive impact on the industry.”

These general guidelines form the core content of the guideline suite, according to GMG. Part I: Positioning and Needs Analysis provides a general overview of the guideline objectives and audience and presents a mine communications maturity lifecycle diagram. Part II: Scenarios and Applications outlines scenarios of practical applications in underground mining today and in the near future. Both were published in 2017.

This third part, Scott explained, can be used more directly: “[It] provides a sound foundation for selecting the appropriate communications infrastructure, assisting with the decision-making process.”

This project has been ongoing since the Underground Mining Working Group formed in 2015. “The underground communications project group has been a very active and motivated group of mine operators and technology suppliers,” Scott said.

Eric L’Heureux, President, Solutions Ambra Inc, said, from a technology provider’s perspective, “This guideline is very important as it allows the mining industry to stay on the leading edge of the technology. The mining companies can get relevant information allowing them to upgrade their networks and meet requirements required by new applications such as remote operation, ventilation on demand and tracking.”

Cailli Knievel, Chief Engineer, Newmont Leeville Operations, said what she learned while working on this guideline was “extremely relevant as Newmont moves toward increased automation”.

It is great “to get an outside perspective on items that have the potential to disrupt the industry in the future”, she added.