This white paper examines the trends, challenges and opportunities associated with underground mining in the race to net zero and a discussion around hoisting as an available zero emissions solution. Significantly, it includes the case study of the BHP Group Limited new production hoist at Prominent Hill in South Australia – an example of how hoisting can increase the annual underground mining rate, extend a mine’s life, lower operating costs, and increase safety in addition to reducing emissions.
— WHITEPAPER Mining 4.0 How do we get there in Australia?
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It’s no longer a question of whether the mining sector is ready for the fourth industrial revolution, but rather, are the right foundations in place? What building blocks are needed to succeed? How can goals be achieved whilst organisations undergo rapid digital transformation and a redefinition of processes along the way? And what role does Australia have to play within this global paradigm shift? Australia is a global leader in mining – not just as a source for critical minerals, but as an innovation leader. As a nation where mining is conducted in particularly harsh and remote terrain, it’s undoubtedly the qualities of adaptability and inventiveness that have enabled the industry to fare well amidst the challenges brought forward by the pandemic. It’s also these characteristics that will set the Australian mining sector apart in the race to both Mining 4.0 and net zero. Both require radical changes in digital connectivity, electrification and automation. This white paper addresses the critical questions from an Australian perspective, with commentary around the trends promoting change, the challenges that come with the disruptions, and what sustainable solutions look like when there is connectivity of people and secure digital integration across operations. Importantly, it includes insights from mining company Gold Fields, in regards to the digitalisation experience at the Granny Smith mine, and from Caravel Minerals as to the planning of a Mining 4.0 greenfield copper mine in Western Australia.
— Table of contents
4
Drivers of change
4
Explainer: Digital transformation and Industry 4.0
5
The fourth industrial revolution has begun
6
Defining Mining 4.0
7 – 8
Envisaging the future
9
Laying the foundations
9
What is ISA-95 and why is it important?
10
Adopting an open integration platform
11
The ‘Five Pillar’ approach
12
Case Study: Gold Fields Granny Smith
13
Collaboration makes digitalisation easier: ABB and UWA ERDi Lab partnership
14 – 15
Cyber security implications
15
Risk Reduction Roadmap
15
Top four cyber security controls
16 – 17
Electrifying prospects: The Caravel Mineral vision
18
In summary
19
References
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It’s a momentous time for mining. There has been a seismic shift in focus where sustainability is not just an auxiliary goal but an indicator of survival. This is reflected in the annual reports of Deloite, EY, KPMG and PwC, for 2022, where Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) concerns rank high on industry trend and risk lists 1-4 . Notably, each investor group’s report recognises that ESG is no longer optional, but a minimum operating standard. Globally, mining companies have been under increased pressure to reduce emissions with the sector responsible for up to 7% of Scope 1 and 2 emissions and up to 30% of Scope 3 emissions 5 . Locally, the 2022 Climate Change Bill calls for a 43% reduction in Australia’s 2005-level emissions by 2030, with a net zero target of 2050 6 . — Drivers of change
Propelled by these goals, Australian mining companies have quickened the pace on decarbonisation. What should be explicitly clear, however, is that digitalisation is fundamental to decarbonisation; it underpins the energy system transition. Decarbonisation is not possible without the data, transparency, collaboration and control that digitalisation provides. In essence, the journey to decarbonisation and Mining 4.0 are one and the same. And while Australia’s mining sector has been digitising assets and automating aspects of their operations for some time, the pandemic has been a key accelerant of digital transformation. With the restrictions that COVID-19 brought, miners got first-hand experience as to the effectiveness of their remote capabilities, and the connectivity and exponential technologies required for this were better established. They are now fast becoming embedded into operations.
Explainer: Digital transformation and Industry 4.0
It can be easy to forget what the terms digital transformation and Industry 4.0 mean when they are used so frequently in business mining dialogue. Digital transformation is the adoption and integration of digital technology into all aspects of a mining business. Industry 4.0 is the fourth industrial revolution. It is the advancement and optimisation of computing technology that was introduced in the third industrial revolution. It is characterised by a merging of the physical and digital world through advanced automation, sensor technology, data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), machine to machine communication, robotics, and machine learning. Connectivity of smart mines is also enabled by the Internet of Things (IoT), which simply refers to smart devices (any object that has a readable digital identity) that collect and exchange data.
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— The fourth industrial revolution has begun
“The adoption and implementation of the fourth industrial revolution is not an option, it’s a requirement for every mining organisation,” says Nik Gresshoff, Head of Mining for ABB Australia. “Firstly, sustainability objectives are simply not achievable without the interconnectivity that digitalisation and automation enable – these form the foundation of the all-electric mine. Secondly, miners need to leverage the operational efficiencies and productivity gains that digital and automated solutions provide to remain competitive.” Gresshoff’s opinion is neither radical nor singular. KPMG’s Global Mining Outlook 2022 states that the adoption of new technologies is “an important way of reducing carbon footprint” with 87% of executives surveyed for the report “believing that technology has a key role to play in solving ESG challenges” 7 . Similarly, Deloitte’s ‘Tracking the Trends’ in both 2021 and 2022 contend that the true power of digital transformation comes through interconnectivity and integrated operations – in other words, interoperability. In the 2021 report, authors ask and answer
the question: “Why is this important? It not only facilitates a cost advantage, but also drives more predictable outcomes, which creates long-term trust with key stakeholders. 8 ” They revisit the point again in 2022, arguing that miners need to make better use of digital transformation to drive understanding and efficiencies and unlock value from integrated operations 9 . As to whether miners have a choice from an economic standpoint, statistics speak for themselves. Analysis by McKinsey in 2015 established that mining productivity was down 28% compared with the decade before 10 . However, in 2020, they found that mining productivity had begun to reverse from this downward trend – particularly in the Oceania region where Australia is located – which they attribute to the adoption of new technologies and autonomous solutions to optimise maintenance 11 . In another McKinsey report, it is estimated that the implementation of digital technologies has the potential to save the mining sector $373 billion by 2025 through reducing waste, increasing productivity and improving safety 12 .
What does this say? That the modern mine needs to leverage the operational efficiencies that come from digital transformation to stay in the game. “
The big three imperatives
• Environment – The ‘burning’ need to address climate change, decarbonise and make sustainable mining a reality • Social – Achieve safety outcomes and improve worker wellbeing • Governance – Conserve resources, reduce wastage, and improve the efficiency of operations
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— Defining Mining 4.0
By definition, Mining 4.0 is the market’s adaption of the Industry 4.0’s maxim that connectivity can be achieved through technology. However, it’s important to recognise that Mining 4.0 is defined by more than technology alone. While autonomous and connected mining might be the end game, it’s people who are making the goals and keeping score. Which is why achieving success with the ‘S’ in ESG is just as vital to the future of mining as addressing the environmental risks and regulations brought on by climate change. From maintaining an organisation’s social license to operate, to realising the safety standard of zero harm for all employees, and retaining staff amidst an industry-wide skilled labour shortage, Mining 4.0 must be motivated by improving outcomes for people at both a micro and macro scale. It’s important to remember that there is no carbon-neutral future without mining. In fact, a greener future requires more mining, not less.
Critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt, nickel and graphite are essential to the generation, distribution and storage of low-emission energy. Copper and aluminium are required for energy transmission whilst elements silicon and uranium are needed for nuclear, solar and wind energy generation. The World Bank Group estimates that the production of minerals will need to escalate by 500% to meet clean energy demand 13 . With this surge in demand comes opportunity, not just in terms of financial gain, but as to what miners do in regards to ESG, particularly on the social front. Gresshoff believes this provides a rare opportunity for the industry and its leaders in Australia to forge a new way forward. “Once the industry has accepted this responsibility, there is a huge opportunity for us to take control of the narrative and start authoring solutions for the sustainable mine of the future,” he says.
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— Envisaging the future
The destination may be the same, but there are different ways of getting there.
ABB works with the mining companies to understand their goals. Because there is the big picture which requires systemic transformation, and then there are short-term and long-term targets that will need to be achieved along the way. Even more importantly, there must be buy-in from every level in the organisation for this transformation, or it won’t be successful.” Nik Gresshoff, Head of Mining for ABB Australia. “
Gresshoff advises that mining companies first deliberate as to what the future mine looks like to them.
Questions to consider:
What does utopia look like?
What are the challenges to achieving that?
What are the short-term and long-term targets?
Who can I partner with to realise these goals and vision?
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“A systems approach is required for the Andrew Whibley, Gold Fields VP for Technology and Innovation. “ future mine” Insights from
With digital transformation and decarbonisation inextricably linked, it makes sense that Andrew Whibley is responsible for developing a decarbonisation framework in his role as Vice President for Technology and Innovation at Gold Fields. He explains why a systems approach is required for the mine of the future. “An important concept to understand is that mining is a portfolio business and there is a lag between culture and technology,” he says. “A systems approach is about scaling risk in your business. You can’t be one dimensional. For example, if you decide to change to battery vehicles, what will that do to the wider energy situation at the mine or the local energy suppliers, or the local community? There are a lot of ramifications and interdependencies to consider.”
“What we are doing is focusing on decarbonisation and how we bring that into the strategic decision-making process. This starts with defining problems at a high level, such as renewables supply, underground electrification, and fundamentally how we move ore,” he elaborates. “There are different risks, but what digital connectivity provides is the collaboration to understand the systemic changes required in your business and co-design these instead of taking a federated view of how to optimise.” Moreover, Whibley argues that Mining 4.0 is more about culture change than technology. He therefore advises miners to centre their digitalisation strategy around people. “Fundamentally it’s about people change. If you know what drives them personally, you can shape how you work together in the business structure. If you can achieve this type of synergy, where there is diversity of thinking and inclusivity, then you can achieve success.”
Which is why Whibley firmly believes that strategy must precede structure.
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— Laying the foundations
According to Gresshoff, the next critical step is in enabling connectivity of all assets and data gathering. One of the key challenges that mining organisations face is a siloing of operations. In order to break down the silos, there needs to be collaboration between systems and a common way of communicating about assets. “Data integration through all the layers, from equipment and processes to engineering and business systems, is a core imperative,” explains Gresshoff. “As an example, the Gold Fields Granny Smith mine established their underground network of 4G LTE (long term evolution) first. This serves as the backbone of the digital data collection prior to analysis and decision making.”
To enable communication through the layers of a mine, and to facilitate data and systems integration, the adoption of global standards such as the American ISA-95 and the European EC-62264 is also key. The principle behind these standards stems from the PERDUE model and ABB’s interpretation of this model is the ABB ICS Secure Reference Architecture. “The purpose of these frameworks is to allow for the communication of common terms between equipment but also between site personnel – it is the critical alignment between human and machine,” says Gresshoff. “Data collected from various OEMs using these frameworks as a baseline is what effectively allows for interoperability.”
What is ISA-95 and why is it important? ISA-95 is the international standard for the integration of enterprise and control systems. It was developed by the International Society of Automation to provide consistent terminology and information models for supplier and manufacturer communications.
Clinton McKinnon, ABB Product Manager – Digital for Mining, explains the importance of this standard in the context of a mining operation.
“In mining, there is often a disconnect between departments and business levels, with each silo representing assets in very different ways, and sometimes the names of these different assets are not aligned with each other,” says Clinton. “Whereas, the ISA-95 standard provides a universal language and an understandable framework in which information can be exchanged. This seemingly simple requirement is the key to interoperability that will enable asset properties, functionality, and configurations to be shared across the industry.”
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— Adopting an open integration platform
Essential to data sharing and systems integration are standards-based, open platform solutions. These bridge the gap between Operational Technology (OT) and Information Technology (IT). Traditionally, mining facilities have largely relied on purpose-built OT systems to ensure the integrity of processes, however, legacy OT architecture tends to be vendor-centric, monolithic, and inflexible. In a nutshell, incompatible with integration. Organisation-wide visibility and control cannot occur without the convergence of operational, IT and engineering data and this requires expertise on both the domain and system level. For example, the architecture of the ABB Ability™ System 800xA Distribution Control System (DCS) is based on open standard protocols of communications designed to automate engineering and project management through flexible workflows. Likewise, the ABB Ability™ Operations Management System (OMS) is based on ISA-95 standards to facilitate communication and connect mining workforces and equipment in real time. It resolves one of the most common problems mining operations face regarding production scheduling and execution by integrating short interval control and closed loop scheduling into the same digital platform.
Gresshoff mentions the Gold Fields Granny Smith mine as an example of how the Ability™ OMS provides value. “All the data gathered from the various OEM equipment using ISA-95 standards is collated into the ABB Ability™ OMS database,” he explains. “The analytics of the data is then presented to operations and scheduling or planning teams in customisable dashboards and reports that streamline in-situ decision-making. This combination of high-level planning with low-level control allows mine operators to monitor and review mining activities based on targets, metrics and KPIs.” Importantly, Gresshoff notes that these platforms need to evolve as technology evolves, particularly with the development of more AI-based applications. In another Gold Fields mine, ABB is installing its ABB Ability™ Genix digital platform to do exactly that – harness the combined power of industrial analytics and AI with full systems integration. The ABB Ability™ Genix will integrate 25 engineering, OT and IT systems across different function areas of the Gold Fields Salares Norte mine in Chile, including the mine itself, asset management, processing, geology and exploration, finance, legal and human resources.
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— The ‘Five Pillar’ approach
Gresshoff recommends that miners utilise ABB’s ‘Five Pillar’ approach when mapping out their Mining 4.0 journey. This identifies the solution categories or “building blocks” for full digital integration.
Asset performance Optimise performance of assets to increase uptime and reduce maintenance spend. This would include condition monitoring, predictive maintenance services and advanced performance analytics.
Process performance Improve throughput and quality. This involves advanced process control, optimisation and simulation.
Operational excellence For value chain visibility and flexibility. Execute strategy consistently and reliably with an Operations Management System (OMS).
Connected workforce Enhance safety and productivity of staff. Harness tools such as augmented reality, operator rounds and knowledge vaults to retain information and skills.
Underlining all Five Pillars are Cybersecurity best practices and the human adoption to the digital change. Sustainability Reduce resource costs and risks. Manage compliance reporting. Cost savings from utility management (e.g. ventilation on demand) can be achieved swiftly.
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— Case Study: Gold Fields Granny Smith
In 2021, Gold Fields in Australia contracted ABB to digitally optimise their Granny Smith gold mine. This was part of a strategic modernisation decision from Gold Fields to integrate its fleet intelligence and operations monitoring system onto one powerful platform that supports interoperability standards. Shannon McDermott, Superintendent for Technology Projects at Gold Fields Australia, explains the significance of the project.
“One of the benefits we’ll see immediately is more efficiencies in our short interval control, because today a lot of the work is still done manually with verbal commands over the radio,” says McDermott. “This will give us visibility of how our operators are performing against their daily shift schedules.” ABB estimates that the digital transformation of the Granny Smith mine will result in 15-30% productivity gains and much more in cost savings through mine optimisation, such as predictive maintenance and energy efficiencies. Whilst the solution is still in its development stage, McDermott is confident that once implemented, Granny Smith will experience a true “step change”. In particular, he acknowledges that one of the biggest hurdles with digital integration is the human adoption. “This is why we want to transition one process area and team at a time, starting with our haulage team, to get them used to the software from an operator perspective and mitigate any risks during the transition,” he says. “It will take time to get the software to a point where everyone is comfortable to use it and then we will break ties with the existing system.”
McDermott also acknowledges that collaboration is vital to the success of the project.
“With the software itself, we’re renovating and applying design thinking to how we’re developing it which is a win-win situation because ABB has allowed us to help shape the product,” he explains. “We stand to benefit from that but also there is the benefit on the ABB side of leveraging our 20 years plus underground mining knowledge and experience, and applying those learnings into their solution moving forward.” Significantly, ABB drew on the support of their partnership with the University of Western Australia’s (UWA) Industry 4.0 Energy & Resources Digital interoperability (I4.0 ERDi) Test Lab to build a digital twin of the Granny Smith system. This enabled both the Gold Fields and ABB teams to collaborate offsite to test their developments so they wouldn’t disrupt mine activity or production. They were able to eliminate bugs and verify the interoperability of mining equipment by running multiple scenarios on the digital twin at the test lab in Perth.
“This project has seen the introduction of ISA- 95-aligned architecture. What that means is we’ll actually be taking a digital dispatching solution and deploying that underground,” he says. “The ISA-95 standards allow us to have a plug and play architecture.” One of the primary objectives of the solution is to provide real-time visibility across production, starting with fleet management and automated scheduling. With sensors applied to machinery, planning and operations teams can monitor and see the whereabouts and operational state of critical equipment and personnel. Staff are also be able to receive documents or work orders live via smart tablets, as well as report their task completion or any interruptions in real time.
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— Collaboration makes digitalisation easier: ABB and UWA ERDi Lab partnership
To advance the movement towards the digital mine and open process automation standards in Australia, ABB partnered with the UWA I4.0 ERDi TestLab back in 2019. The TestLab was specifically set up to work with industry on accelerating the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies as part of an Australian Government initiative. It is an open access facility devoted to the development and demonstration of standards-based, interoperable process
control, operations management and asset management automation.
The first major project collaboration between ABB and the UWA I4.0 ERDi TestLab has been the Gold Fields Granny Smith mine project. The aim of the project is to create and implement interoperability standards for mine planning, mine scheduling and execution, with the end goal being a ‘plug and play’ integrated operations solution.
Fingerprint The Industrial Cyber Security Journey Consultancy — Risk Reduction Roadmap
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Reference Architecture
— Cyber security implications
Backup
ABB’s approach is articulated in a six-stage risk reduction roadmap, which Gogarty explains below: Risk Assessment Malware Protection Cyber Security Workplace ™
Security Updates
Syst Harde
— Risk Reduction Roadmap The Industrial Cyber Security Journey
1. Assess “This involves a ‘boots on the ground’ security assessment where we look at three aspects – people, processes and things and provide customers with a list of suggested improvements.” 1 2 Assess Consultancy Plan Reference Architecture Malware Protection Security Updates Backup System Hardening
Impleme
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As connectivity in mines increases, so do concerns about cyber security. These concerns are warranted considering the escalation of industrial incidents in recent years – one only has to consider the massive damage to pipeline operations caused by a ransomware attack in the US in 2021 14 . Additionally, the 2022 ‘State of Industrial Cybersecurity’ survey revealed that nine out of ten organisations had their production or energy supply impacted by cyber attacks in the previous 12 months 15 . “As banks and online businesses have become more difficult to exploit, cyber criminals are increasingly turning their attention to industry. These attacks are designed to disrupt production in an attempt to extort money out of operators. Australian mining companies should be acting now to protect themselves, before they become a the victim of a disruptive attack.” advises Paul Gogarty, ABB Global Cyber Security Lead for Process Industries. “Cyber crime is a growing business, which isn’t going away. These criminals are more likely to target systems with weak security, and current statistics show that 75% of companies who have been affected by ransomware are likely to be attacked a second time within the next year.” The good news for mining companies just embarking on their digitalisation journey, is that cyber security in Mining 4.0 can be achieved seamlessly if it is part of the plan from the beginning, and implemented as digital solutions are rolled out. April 14, 2022 1 2 Assess Plan Fingerprint Risk Assessment Consultancy Reference Architecture Malware Protection Reference Architecture Malware Protection Security Updates Backup System Hardening Training Asset Inventory Cyber Security Workplace ™ Application Allowlisting Cyber Security Workplace ™ April 14, 2022
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System Hardening 2. Plan “We sit with our customers and create a home improvement plan by identifying short, medium and long term improvement categories – often the short term Asset Inventory improvements can be done immediately, are low cost and typically have high impact.” Training Security Service Security Operations 3 Plan Implement Foundational Security
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3. Implement “This is implementing the steps of the plan, and where we would utilise the ABB ICS Cyber Security Reference Architecture. This template solution provides a common vocabulary for implementing improvements. It is vendor agnostic and based on the IEC 62443 control system security standard to create a secure area between the production and external systems.” 3 4 Network Monitoring Event Monitoring Security Operations Incident Response Foundational Security Security Service Security Operations Security Blueprints Foundational Security Security Service
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4. Maintain “Maintenance is key to the big picture of cyber security – if you’re not exercising your security controls such as updating the antivirus software or doing patches, then you’re going to become exposed.” 4 5 6 Maintain Detect Monitor & Respond Incident Response
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5. Detect “The next step is situational awareness, where we install monitoring systems to detect malicious activity.” Monitor & Respond
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6. Monitor and Respond “Following on from the last step, we act to stop the malicious activity, before it can do any damage to the system, or disrupt operations.”
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— Risk Reduction Roadmap — Risk Reduction Roadmap The industrial cyber security journey Risk Reduction Roadmap The Industrial Cyber Security Journey Cyber Security Workplace ™
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Gogarty notes that while the above is an overview of ABB’s approach, different organisations can be in different phases, and ABB will work with them accordingly. “However if you’re starting out, we recommend you start from the beginning, which is understanding where you are and what improvements you need to put in place.”
in regards to cyber security is the distributed nature of operations.
April 14, 2022
“Mines are spread over large geographical areas and tend to be made up of a number of small systems that are integrated using different connectivity protocols, and this is key to understanding how to keep those systems secure,” he says. “We call it horizontal segregation. Which is essentially ensuring that all field devices are securely connected to each other.”
Furthermore, he recognises that one of the biggest challenges facing mining companies
Top four cyber security controls There are four fundamental controls that ABB’s cyber security expert, Paul Gogarty, recommends mining companies put in place.
• Malware protection / antivirus – frontline defence
“If you do nothing else but apply these four fundamental security controls, you’ll still protect yourself from about 80% of cyber security problems.” “
• Security update / patching system – must be applied to any software running
• Backup solution – in case of ransomware you can restore your system
• System hardening – turns off unwanted software and applies security restrictions to users
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— Electrifying prospects: The Caravel Mineral vision
When Jason “Vossie” Vos, Mining Manager at Caravel Minerals envisions who will work at their upcoming copper mine in the Western Australian wheat belt, he gets contagiously excited. “I see a mix of people that don’t have traditional mining skills because we’re not talking about a traditional mine anymore,” says the Mining Manager. “In the past, the mining industry spent a lot of time and money on having people interpret the swathes of data coming in. But the system we will have in place will be automated so that data becomes information the team can start using to create knowledge.” In reference to the DIKW (Data, Information, Knowledge, Wisdom) pyramid, Vossie is adamant that at Caravel Minerals, people will be working from the information level of the hierarchy from day one. “We’re talking about autonomous haulage, autonomous drilling and automation at the plant,” explains Vossie. “When data processing is automated it redefines the type of roles required at a site. Rather than manual skillsets, we’d be looking at people who can manage and intervene effectively in crisis situations by making quick, sound decisions based on the information and knowledge they have.”
The operations planning of the Caravel Minerals mine commenced about a year ago and while there is no doubt their journey aligns with Mining 4.0, Vossie is loath to brand it a ‘mine of the future’. “The reason I don’t like this label is that it gives the impression that we’ll be implementing technology that is new and untested, when that isn’t the case,” he says. “As of May 2021, there were 769 autonomous trucks used at Australian mines, 400 of which are in Western Australia. There’s 50 autonomous drills minimum running in the Pilbara right now.” Moreover, Vossie reasons that starting with an autonomous fleet is less risky than opening with an operator-based fleet. “People in the industry have had the view that starting up autonomous is a risk, whereas I see the biggest risk is in finding another 200 people to come work at our mine,” he says. “One of the key reasons you go autonomous is to improve safety and we won’t have any people in the autonomous zone. Also, you just can’t ignore the productivity gains from automation. We see it as de-risking the business by having an autonomous fleet and a remote operations centre from the get-go.”
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As far as implementing new technology goes, Vossie says that Caravel has embraced the opportunity to modernise their operational framework and reimagine what the future of the mining workforce might look like. “Caravel has introduced a partially remote workforce that is centralised in one operations management centre,” he explains. “One of the advantages of this shift toward remote operations is that the company now has access to a vast tool of talent with more diverse backgrounds and skillsets than a traditional FIFO operation would have.” Caravel is hopeful that these changes will attract the interest of people from outside the mining industry, such as IT and computer programming specialists, whose skills are highly transferrable when working with these new technologies, according to Vossie. Futhermore, he highlights that as these new roles and rosters continue to emerge, it is likely that they will replace some of the more traditional mining roles such as in-field machine operators.
Caravel Mining planning, he also insists on sharing the vision with partners such as ABB to enable a truly collaborative working environment. “Making sure that the people working with us understand our overall project and vision is essential to the Caravel Minerals project’s success,” he emphasises. “ABB has so much experience in electrification and we look forward to drawing upon this expertise as we progress our designs for trolley assist and power articulation.” Nik Gresshoff from ABB acknowledges the wider implications of the project’s success, namely copper’s role in the electrification journey. “What Caravel Minerals is doing is a first in Australia – the copper project will contribute greatly to Australia’s copper production,” he notes. “Copper is crucial to electrification. For example, a battery electric vehicle will require over 80 kilograms of copper. This fact often gets overlooked because Australia is not a traditional copper producer. It is also why the Caravel Minerals project is particularly significant. ABB is proud to be involved at such an early stage and excited by the mine’s prospects.”
Just as Vossie believes in involving people outside of the mining sphere into the
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— In summary
ABB combines first-hand experience with tailored, co-created digital solutions to solve tough problems and deliver real value. Whatever stage you’re at in the journey to Mining 4.0, we’ll get you where you want to be. Contact our ABB Process Industries team for a digital maturity assessment or to attend one of our workshops.
The era of Mining 4.0 has begun, and it means profound change for the Australian mining industry. Driving this transformation is an optimism and acknowledgement that we need to do better – because the world needs more mining to support the energy transition and a carbon-neutral future – and Australia is a major contributor to those resources. History shows that Australian miners can be both adaptive and innovative, qualities that will serve them well as they develop their Mining 4.0 strategies and goals. As this paper has illustrated, open, standards-based, industrial internet technology platforms are fundamental to modern mine operations as they enable the visibility and integration that Mining 4.0 demands. But more importantly, people must be at the centre of a Mining 4.0 vision. Interoperability is underscored by collaboration. Whether it is a greenfield or established mine, there must be connectivity amongst people to integrate operations and ensure mines are safer, efficient and commercially viable.
for Mining Industries
MINING 4.0 HOW DO WE GET THERE?
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References 1. Global Mining Outlook 2022, KPMG: https://home.kpmg/xx/en/home/insights/2022/04/global-mining-outlook-2022.html 2. Top 10 business risks and opportunities for mining and metals in 2022, EY: https://assets.ey.com/content/dam/ey-sites/ey-com/en_gl/topics/mining-metals/ey-final-business-risks-and-opportunities-in-2022.pdf 3. Tracking the Trends in Mining 2022: acting on ESG commitments and workforce trends shaping Australia’s mining future, Deloitte: https://www2.deloitte.com/au/en/pages/media-releases/articles/tracking-trends-2022-020222.html 4. Mine 2022: A critical transition, PWC: https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/energy-utilities-mining/assets/global_mine_report_2022.pdf 5. Climate risk and decarbonisation: What every mining CEO needs to know, McKinsey, https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/sustainability/our-insights/climate-risk-and-decarbonization-what-every-mining-ceo-needs-to-know 6. Climate Change Bill 2022, Parliament House Australia: https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=r6885 7. Global Mining Outlook 2022, KPMG: https://home.kpmg/xx/en/home/insights/2022/04/global-mining-outlook-2022.html 8. Tracking the Trends 2021, Trend 7, Deloitte: https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/industry/mining-and-metals/tracking-the-trends/2021/future-of-mining.html 9. Tracking the Trends in Mining 2022: acting on ESG commitments and workforce trends shaping Australia’s mining future, Deloitte: https://www2.deloitte.com/au/en/pages/media-releases/articles/tracking-trends-2022-020222.html 10. Productivity in mining operations: Reversing the downward trend, 2015 McKinsey & Company: https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/metals-and-mining/our-insights/productivity-in-mining-operations-reversing-the-downward-trend 11. Has global mining productivity reversed course? 2020, McKinsey & Company: https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/metals-and-mining/our-insights/has-global-mining-productivity-reversed-course 12. D riving impact at scale from automation and AI, 2019, McKinsey & Company https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/driving-impact-at-scale-from-automation-and-ai 13. Climate-smart mining: Minerals for climate action, The World Bank, https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/extractiveindustries/brief/climate-smart-mining-minerals-for-climate-action 14. Cyberattack Forces a Shutdown of a Top U.S. Pipeline, The New York Times, 2021 https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/08/us/politics/cyberattack-colonial-pipeline.html 15. State of OT security in 2022: Big survey insights, Trend Micro: https://www.trendmicro.com/en_hk/research/22/f/state-of-ot-security-2022.html
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