Cement Manufacturers Association

31 machines are semi-autonomous rather than fully automated, in other words, they still need some human assistance for specific situations that they cannot handle on their own. These HEMMs are made autonomous through equipping them with remotely controlled tools and cameras, allowing users to perform actions and see the surrounding areas remotely. Nowadays, the focus has shifted away from the original autonomous mining vehicles towards building the “autonomous mining system”, which can carry out tasks automatically or with minimal external control, and towards the possibility of full automation through robotic technologies. It decreases incidents and increases workforce safety, increases mining productivity (as equipment can move faster and cover longer distances), and reduce costs as fewer operators are required to control machines. It also reduces hazardous environments where the human safety risk is high.  Online monitoring of Operators in Mines - The use of RFIDs, which are wearable by operators making it an ideal tool for workforce- tracking in mines. It is especially useful for field maintenance and real-time machine inspection instructions, and improving operator- based care and safety. The wearables allow for RFID personnel tracking and real-time visibility of all staff, allowing key workers to be located instantlyIt leverages to identify where productivity can be increased, and to monitor staff time and attendance records. RFIDs can improve safety and eliminate future accidents, by restricting access to potentially dangerous areas in the mine. Workforce-tracking also allows for greater mining productivity, as workers are more effectively managed, and potential incidents that would reduce working hours, or even completely prevented.  Navigation technology - Navigation systems and GPS are recently developed and are being used by some mining companies on blasthole drills and electric cable shovels in their open-pit mines. These systems produce accurate, three-dimensional visualizations of the location of the drill bit or the shovel tracks in real-time via a Moving Map Display (MMD) on a screen. This allows the operator to accurately navigate the drill from blasthole to blasthole, and maintain a desired shovel grade, or face position from a remote location.  Artificial Intelligence Technology - AI (Artificial Intelligence), machine-learning (a subset of artificial intelligence) and software analytics with data to render real-time digital simulation models that are continually updated as their real, physical counterparts, or “twins” change, commonly known as ‘digital twins’. It is like real-time display of mine, digitizing these spaces in a way that produces an interaction between the real and the virtual. Traditionally it is difficult to manage engineering and asset information throughout the asset lifecycle. This technology help as they are virtual replicas of physical assets, processes, and systems, which provide a representation of both the core elements and the dynamics of IoT devices used within the space or system depicted.  Wireless Monitoring Today, however, most mines are taking their first step toward virtual operations: replacing manual or automated cable readings with wireless monitoring systems. Mining assets are usually in hard-to-access areas, meaning that manual readings by workers are both time-consuming and dangerous. When workers collect data and return to the office, the information they have gathered is already outdated: working with non-real- time information can have a critical impact on mining operations. Installing cables throughout a mine’s infrastructure, however, can be costly and, depending on the area, complicated and time-consuming.

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