For Australian mining, the next decade is as big on opportunities as it is on challenges. Demand for the minerals that will literally empower the clean energy transition is soaring. By 2050, for instance, lithium demand is estimated to grow 500-fold,1 while the demand for copper is set to double.
But the sector is also facing challenges that must be navigated if the future of the mining industry is going to be maximised.
Sustainability in the mining industry is an essential focus, and expectations around the pace of mining decarbonisation are increasing – from workforces, communities, investors and markets.
Similarly, workplace health and safety are always in focus but carry even greater weight in times of skills shortages and retention challenges. From reputation to regulation, a safety event in the workplace can have far-reaching consequences.
A McKinsey report estimated that the implementation of digital technologies and automation has the potential to save the mining sector US$370 billion by 2025.3 This will be achieved through the reduction of waste, an increase in productivity and the improvement of safety.
But reaching this potential only becomes possible if the technology is built around open standards and fully interoperable. This means that different mining equipment, systems and software can work together seamlessly, no matter the vendor. By ensuring various technologies can exchange data and function as an integrated unit, mining companies in Australia can run more efficient, safe, and cost-effective mining operations.
Consider a business in which each department speaks a different language. Think of the time and effort it would take to achieve any kind of complex task. Imagine the added risk and inefficiency, the lost opportunities and the mixed messages. Open standards, in an environment of data communication, offers a common language and ensures nothing is lost in translation.
Electric mining: a sustainable industry standard
Australian miners are leading the way in many aspects of mining innovation. ABB reseach has found that above ground, most Australian mines could potentially squeeze just one per cent greater productivity from processes such as milling and concentrating ore through technological transformation, such are their current efficiencies.
Below the surface, however, it’s a different story. Automate underground mining tasks and productivity could be boosted as much as 30%.
Combine these gains with the ability to run every aspect of a mining operation from a central control room, including above-ground processes all the way to port, and that mine experiences an entirely new level of performance. However, such interoperability is only facilitated via open standards that allow various technologies from different suppliers to work as one.
Of course, a shared language also adds numerous odither benefits, from supercharged data analysis capabilities to the facilitation of a customer-centric approach – the vital shift from an ore-push model to a customer-order-pull one.
It also better enables a mine to move from using diesel-fuelled mining vehicles and mobile equipment, which currently make up 40 to 50% of direct emissions at mine sites, to using electric vehicles.4 Platforms such as ABB Ability’s eMine Charging Systems can ensure charging infrastructure is vehicle type and OEM agnostic, allowing a one-off investment to maximise uptime and productivity.
For these and other opportunities to become reality, all systems must be connected. Silos and spreadsheets that typically block the seamless sharing of data, and expensive vendor lock-in that characterises the closed standards of custom operational technology, must be relegated to the past.
Adopting global industry standards for interoperability
For good reason, global standards – the American ISA-95 (International Society of Automation) standard and the European IEC-62264 standard – have developed around terminology and information models for enterprise and control systems.
In the past there has been a disconnect between departments and systems in mining as each holds its own information in its own format. ISA-95 instead creates a universal language and a common framework for information exchange.
The result is interoperability between asset properties. It’s the removal of problems caused by the need for translation between systems, and the ability to align and share insight and operational capabilities not just across departments, but also across sectors.
Compliant enterprise and control systems such as ABB Ability’s OMS can bring together all parts of an operation under a common interface. This enables more nimble mining operations, giving the ability to identify, predict and adapt swiftly to changing market demands. Such an integrated system also benefits safety, efficiency, productivity and cost-effectiveness. What does that look like in operation?
Interoperability at Gold Fields’ Granny Smith mine
ABB was engaged to digitally optimise mining operations at Gold Fields’ Granny Smith Gold Mine, almost 750 kilometres north-east of Perth. Our task was to implement and integrate a digital Fleet Management System in line with the latest Industry 4.0 interoperability standards. Below ground, where transmission of data was hampered, Gold Fields invested in its own 4G network to the LTE communication standard. Suddenly, data from deep in the mine to the control room at the surface was enabled, opening up entirely new streams of opportunity.
Gone were the time penalties that are part and parcel of radio and paper-based communications, including miscommunications, as people use equipment deep underground to carry out complex tasks. The term “efficiency” came to mean something very different when staff above and below ground had immediate, real-time visibility over progress, asset condition and personnel location.
If an individual was delayed, managers could see the exact location of another qualified person and communicate with them in real time. If there was a breakdown, parts could be immediately dispatched and people re-deployed to another task. More importantly, predictive maintenance could be carried out on assets to avoid such delays. ABB’s digital fleet management system, underpinned by the ABB Ability Operations Management System, monitors the whereabouts and operational state of essential equipment. Everywhere the mine’s managers look, there are new levels of insight and transparency.
Personnel receive work orders via tablets, including any updates such as interruptions, changes, progress reports and other timely information. Tasks become seamless, equipment is utilised and maintained efficiently, and individuals are liberated to conduct higher-value and more engaging work.
Importantly, such insight and operational efficiency also improves safety outcomes and reduces the operation’s carbon footprint.
Digital twin: optimising interoperability
As the new, digital platform was being developed for Granny Smith, ABB brought its partnership with the University of Western Australia’s Energy & Resources Digital interoperability (ERDi) Test Lab into play.
As a consultancy to the resources sector, ERDi TestLab was opened in 2020 as part of the Australian Government’s Industry 4.0 Testlabs for Australia initiative.
ERDi TestLab, through the building of a digital twin of the entire Granny Smith system, gave ABB and Gold Fields the opportunity to develop, test and refine the system before it was implemented on site. The client could see exactly how the new, digital system would work, could test its processes and run scenarios, verifying its value for the mine’s operations.
Over four months, interoperability was examined and fine-tuned, with functionality optimised in a safe, experimental environment, before it was made live. This process also helped engage the Gold Fields team in the transformation, convincing them of its usefulness, including making jobs safer and less frustrating as it removed low-value, repetitive tasks.
Most importantly, the aggregated data supplied by the new, integrated system enabled faster, better decisions across the board, including by engineers, geologists, surveyors and executives. The seismic shift in expectations and focus around sustainability in the mining sector is impossible to ignore. Digitisation underpinned by open standards is not a magic bullet, but creates a strong foundation for the future of the mining industry.
On every level and at every scale, Mining 4.0 is about improving outcomes for people and planet. Technology built around open standards is one of the keys to success.
References
- The Mineral Intensity of the Clean Energy Transition. World Bank Group, 2019.
- The Future of Copper: Will the looming supply gap short-circuit the energy transition? S&P Global, 2022.
- How digital innovation can improve mining productivity. McKinsey, 2015.
- Creating the zero-carbon mine. McKinsey, 2021.
