The mining industry has been under a lot of pressure in recent years with profits being at an all-time low. As a result, miners all across the world are attempting to improve productivity through investing in numerous new innovative technologies, as well as simply monitoring activity better in order to react and supply to the current demand. Already, common tools such as a hydraulic breaker and drills are being upgraded in order to carry work out more efficiently, but how are mining businesses going to enhance productivity levels in order to get back on their feet? We have the answers here.
Invest In Analytics
Examining component costs machinery is essential for mining businesses to reduce the costs of numerous on site expenses, such as maintenance and safety. Analytics are able to keep businesses working efficiently, as they will allow companies to assess the costs of each and every mining process in order to outline the underlying cost base, as well as highlighting any outliers and exceptions. Moreover, analytics will make decision-making much easier, as both financial and non-financial indicators can be measured to improve on the overall profitability for the business.
Human-Machine Interaction
Before automation completely takes over the mining industry, many businesses are now taking full advantage of human-machine interaction, which allows workers to not only interact with each other easily on site using mobile devices, but also with machines too. With mobiles aside, smart glasses or goggles have been introduced into the mining industry in order to improve efficiency, as they feed instructions to workers in order to carry out repairs on certain equipment, which will improve operating disciplines.
Moreover, work clothing has also become much more advanced within mining businesses, as they’re able to transmit data to managers regarding hazardous conditions, as well as the physical condition of the worker themselves so that they can take the right plan of action.
Gain A Deeper Understanding Of The Resource Base
Efficiency simply can’t be improved within mining businesses without a sufficient understanding of what the environment is like, and where exactly the resources that they’re seeking are. However, technology is allowing mining businesses to detect their resource bases better, as ore-body material is combined with blast-hole drill data alongside online sampling. As a result, the discovery of numerous resources can be made much quicker than ever before with this new geographical information, allowing mining businesses to conduct their work quickly and efficiently. Plus, traditional, more strenuous methods such as manual plant assays and core logging will no longer be required.
Anticipate Failures Better
Massive amounts of data are collected from the machinery used by mining companies, including trucks, drills, trains and many more. However, despite so much data being collected, it’s very rare for insights to actually be generated from them, preventing mining businesses from being more efficient with the work that they’re carrying out. In fact, some companies will only use 1% of the data that’s collected, yet by deploying this information, miners can actually estimate the probability of failure specific to the components that are being monitored. As a result, maintenance spending can be highly reduced, as can unplanned interruptions, as miners will be aware of any potential failures and will thus take another course of action.
Generally, for mining businesses to be more efficient with their processes, there isn’t actually a lot of work for them to do. Usually, the information and data that they need is directly in front of them, but by interpreting the data available to them and generating insights from it, they’re able to ensure that every process on site is highly efficient in order to maximise profits.
