Intelligent mine construction is changing the old mining industry

Intelligent mine construction is changing the old mining industry

In the remote area of Australia, there is a large port in Pilbara. The 200-meter-long motorized conveyor belt operates continuously and can transport 10,000 metric tons of ore from the stockyard to the freighter every hour. These ships are going to China and Japan. In November last year, BHP Billiton began to develop new technologies, which were put into use this week. The new technology can help companies monitor production efficiency.

In the past five years, BHP Billiton and rival Rio Tinto have been forced to find ways to reduce costs as commodity prices have fallen and mining profits have steadily declined.

In the beginning, mining companies focused on refereeing employees, shutting down unprofitable mines, and investing in new mineral deposits. At the same time, companies put more R & D funds, since the new technology can help enterprises stationed in the more remote areas, digging deeper deposits at a faster rate will send the ore market.

The installation of mechanized conveyor belts on Finucane Island is a new technology introduced by BHP Billiton. Benedictine technical director and former Boeing engineer Diane Jurgens said they also used drones (installation). Military-grade sensors) Drawing the mine and building a real-time 3D library, the supercomputer will play an important role in the future mining process.

Reduce costs with new technology

In fact, mining companies have introduced conveyor belts a long time ago, but their functions have been limited. Conventional conveyor systems have pulleys mounted on both ends of the belt for a short transmission distance. BHP said lower belt such that the new design of the manufacturing and operating costs, and easier to control, which can break the limit, connecting pits, underground tunnels and treatment plants, railway station. With the new conveyor belt, the moving distance of the truck can be greatly reduced.

In the past few years, the mining industry profits rebounded, mainly because of Chinese demand for iron ore and coal are very large, at the same time, the miners wages are rising. At the peak, the truck driver and rig operator in Pilbara earned $200,000 a year. Last year, Rio Tinto tried to transport ore from the Pilbara mine to the port with a driverless train, but unfortunately the new technology failed to pass the final test.

“Mining companies are not willing to take risks,” said David Cormack, head of Deloitte Mining Consulting. “With a slight delay in introducing new processes and innovative new technologies, the consequences are serious.”

Fortunately, the remote operations center has brought good news, and mining companies can monitor the mines hundreds of miles away via satellite. BHP Billiton is preparing to install automated drill bits in the Australian iron ore mining area, which will be used in other regions. BHP Billiton has tried to use robotic mining and found that robots have higher production capacity and lower maintenance costs.

Mining companies are under pressure, they can only innovate, because cutting costs with other methods has been limited. Cormac said: "The question is: Is this measure sustainable? Where should it be developed?"

Escondido Dida copper mine (Escondida) is the world's largest copper mine, BHP Billiton here to test the new sensor, when the stone was scooped up, the sensor can determine valuable or worthless stone, with the help of new technology, into The copper grade of the treatment plant can be increased by 10%; the cost of expanding the plant is high, and with new technology, expansion is less urgent.

The Goo nyella Riverside mine is located in eastern Australia and drones fly above the mine. Mining companies have installed infrared sensors and zoom lenses for drones, which alert monitors when there are many people and equipment in the explosion zone. The mine is 14 miles long and 6 miles wide. If you don't have the help of a drone, you need to collect information only by car or by plane.

The introduction of new technologies will have some side effects. If automation is too fast, many people will be unemployed. In Australia, most miners join the union. Jurgens said: "We have not automated everything. The reason why people have not been included in the whole process is because of many."

Industrial drones heat up rapidly

Recently, the Israeli company Airobotics launched a fully automatic industrial drone. The company's founder and CEO Krauss said: "We have been 'invisible' for the past few years because we believe that if the work is not finished, let's talk about it. Not very suitable."

The Airobotics drone has a separate base that weighs 6 kilograms and can automate some programmatic tasks such as checking equipment, guiding investigations, drawing, and finding security holes. The drone can collect and analyze the aviation data and automatically land on the base station. The base station robot can replace the battery and install the equipment for the drone, so that the drone can prepare for the next flight.

Klaus claims that they are the first company to offer integrated, driverless systems for industrial companies. In the next quarter, Airobotics will set up offices in Australia with targets for mining, oil and gas and industrial companies. Oil and gas companies can use drones to inspect pipelines, and mining companies can order drones to fly high to check equipment failures without the need for employees to take risks.

Frank Farrall, Asia-Pacific partner of Deloitte Digital, said that the global non-military drone market in 2015 is estimated to have reached $2-4 million and continues to grow. Faral said: "Whether it is a comprehensive agricultural enterprise, a mining enterprise or a media enterprise, they all have strong demands. The application of drones is very extensive. If your skills are superb, you can operate in some unrestricted areas. It will take the lead. In the commercial drone market, there are no such companies as Google or Microsoft."

Although some of the world's largest mining companies have introduced drones, Paul Snowdon, senior manager of Accenture Mining, believes that drones are still in the early stages of development. Snowden said: "For most mining companies, cutting costs and improving efficiency is absolutely the most important thing. Just look at how much the drone reduces the cost and how much efficiency it has for mining companies. We can know its Development is still in its early stages."

Klaus has already started to contact Australian investors, and he is in talks with many mining companies, including Israel Chemicals and a global technology company. Airobotics once raised $28.5 million, VC companies BlueRun Ventures and CRV invested in it, and two Google executives also injected funds, they are Waze CEO Noam Bardin and ATAP (Advanced Technology and Projects) department COO Richard · Woolridge (Richard Wooldridge). Waze is a navigation app owned by Google, and ATAP is a division of Google.

Klaus said that Silicon Valley investors are very cautious about UAV investment, because some "dreams" have not been realized in the past, they are somewhat disappointed. Klaus said: "Even if you are not a drone industry or a mining industry, you can understand the value of automatic flying robots. But many investors in Silicon Valley are a bit disappointed. They have invested in drones and the results are disappointing. It is quite difficult to distinguish between reality and dreams. We are different, investors see the actual use."

Accelerate the development and deployment of driverless trucks

60% of the world's mining software is developed in Australia, and Australia's mining equipment, technology and services industry has reached an annual output value of 90 billion Australian dollars (about 67.6 billion US dollars). In Western Australia, there are more than 100 exploration and mining software companies with annual sales of less than A$1 million (about US$750,000) and some A$100 million (US$75 million).

Rio Tinto actively introduces new technologies, such as automation technology. In the Pilbara iron ore collection area, Rio Tinto deployed the world's largest unmanned truck fleet, which also connected four port terminals with 1,700 kilometers of rail. Rio Tinto manages, monitors, and adjusts the system through the Perth Operations Center. At the same time, FMG partnered with Caterpillar (one of the Fortune 500 companies) to promote automation technology in the Solomon Hub Kings iron ore district (in Pilbara), and FMG is ready to take 45 years to introduce 45 unmanned trucks. The goal is to improve efficiency, increase productivity, and enhance employee safety.

In May, Volvo publicly announced that it is ready to test a fully automated driverless truck that can automatically navigate through the mine. Volvo Truck Group CTO Torbjörn Holmström said in a statement: "We have developed a solution and we are convinced that it can change the status quo of the mining industry."

Volvo trucks look like regular trucks, with a cab where drivers can sit in and control the truck. The self-driving truck was developed by Volvo and Saab. Saab has a software company, Combitech, which has jointly developed autonomous driving technology. Without the supervision of the person, the car can follow the scheduled route. The truck body is equipped with sensors and GPS to monitor fixed and moving obstacles, and the truck can also communicate with the transportation system center.