MINING 4.0 HOW DO WE GET THERE?
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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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