Is Mining about to go Micro - Post 2

In Part 2 of this series I think a bit about why things are as they are and what a micro-future might look like.


Why we are hooked on big trucks

For the moment, we use large equipment because the economies of scale have tended to support their development. The industry has been in this evolutionary paradigm for many years because bigger trucks means fewer drivers, less trucks needed per kilometre/tonne of ore moved, and the development of more efficient large engines means the fuel component is less cost per km/t. I'm sure there are also many other efficiencies that work well for large trucks over small ones. So why has the 'going small' option not been considered to date?

In most cases, new ways of doing business are strongly resisted on a few fronts. Firstly, people are pretty conservative and won't take the time to consider alternatives to the way things have “always been done”. Secondly, there is a cost associated with change that might mean that large amounts of invested capital will need to be abandoned, and despite the best efforts of economists worldwide to convince people that invested capital should not be considered for future investment decisions, it usually is. In this instance, there is a lot of existing infrastructure associated with supporting big haul trucks, and few will want to write it off. Perhaps the biggest issue is the risk involved in taking on a new idea - what if it doesn't work - can I bet the company on this?

But enough of this, because all of these issues will be as nothing if the ideas I introduce here are economically viable.

Small is the new Black.

Let us imagine for a moment, replacing your $6 Million Caterpillar truck with 400 Ford F150 pickup trucks - that's how many you'd need to match the carrying capacity. At $20k each, that would cost you $8 Million, but you'd be able to make up the Km/t figure by doing more trips because the F150 is much faster. The biggest issue though is that you'd need a lot more drivers (1200 as against 3 or 4 per truck) so the economics don't work. Unless, that is,you can remove the need for drivers completely.

Robots could save lives in mine disasters

Robots that fly, robots that roll, rotors that cooperate. This article http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20791-robot-mission-impossible-wins-video-prize.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=robots shows a video about how a swarmanoid finds a book in a house. It fun, but also has a serious application. How about these robots being first in to a mine rescue, they can quickly map the situation, set up communications, and guide in the rescue team. Have a look at the video.

Is Mining about to go Micro - Post 1

Introduction

For many years, the business of mining has been a story of more mechanisation, bigger and bigger mines, and bigger and bigger equipment. Advances in the technology of moving large amounts of material in open cut mines has driven the development of bigger and bigger trucks. But will it be like that forever?

I don't think so, because I believe a whole new set of technology developments will mean that the transport of mass materials will be done by smaller and smaller machines, each operating autonomously, making their own decisions, and at a much lower total cost than a fleet of large haul trucks.

Issue

So why are bigger and bigger haul trucks about to see the end of their run? Haul trucks are really expensive to buy and to maintain. At about $5 million for a Caterpillar 797, and a significant ongoing cost for maintenance and operating inputs, there may be a case for doing things differently. Add in the costs of all of the people and other systems that are needed to enable the management of truck fleets, such as roadways and critical parts, and the cost keeps piling up. What if there was a better way of doing things?

Mining and the Future of Space Exploration

Harrison Schmitt (Interlune-Intermars Initiative Inc.), Colin Farrelly (CSC), Dennis Franklin (CSC)


ABSTRACT

The future of human exploration in space is intimately bound to the future of mining and energy production on Earth. By 2025, one or more manned bases will probably exist on the Moon, exploring the lunar landscape and geology, and acting as a learning platform, and possibly a resource platform, for expeditions to Mars and beyond. Unless the mining and space industries take an active and co-operative interest in the technologies required to exploit minerals and fuels in and from hostile environments, the necessary advances to support permanent extra-terrestrial exploration will not be ready in time.

With the notable exception of using lunar Helium-3 as a fusion power fuel, no other reason has been identified for the mining industry to take any direct interest in the exploitation of extraterrestrial resources for the benefit of its customers on Earth. Ample reasons exist, however, for the industry to take a direct interest in supporting technological development of the extraterrestrial resources necessary to support the economical exploration of space.

The mining industry has critical experience in the development and application of technologies for the discovery, extraction and processing of natural resources; experience that the space industry will need to create a viable permanent presence in space. The industry also understands the end to end process of resource development and utilization. On the other hand, the space industry can directly benefit the mining sector by helping mature and advance the extractive and processing technologies needed to economically and sustainably develop resources in hostile terrestrial environments, such as those available in low concentrations, at extreme depth and/or inconvenient geographic locations.

We propose that strategic partnerships be created between the mining, space and allied industries, and research organizations. Such partnerships would develop a joint capability for mutual benefit, targeting the most significant advances in the least time. The space industry will learn how to exploit essential resources off-planet, and the mining industry will gain access to technologies to help extend their activities on earth.
More about the Authors http://assets1.csc.com/au/downloads/Mining_the_Future_of_Space_Exploration.pdf
Get the full paper http://www.ausimm.com.au/publications/epublication.aspx?ID=4735 

When Safety Systems are unsafe

I was looking at a press release by a large mining company that, rightly, expressed frustration and disappointment that they had not been able to meet their target of 0 deaths in the operation. All mining companies I know of are certainly aiming for this target, but very few can do it. This is true even though there are very strict processes to follow to continually improve safety outcomes.

So what gives? I believe that the focus on safety needs to be reassessed. Yes, focus on safety, but look at it as one part of a whole. If a company designs a safety system that does not also help improve production outcomes, then the first time the company puts on the squeeze for higher production, then people will compromise on safety. And they will do it on purpose and with a pretty clear understanding of the possible outcomes, and how likely they are to happen. The chances of this behaviour happening is increased if a persons pay packet is liked to production.

So here is my take - design systems that deliver better safety AND production outcomes.

Reposted from "Intersections" http://miningit.blogspot.com

4000 metres deep and counting.

A couple of weeks ago, my colleague Colin Farrelly and I travelled to Johannesburg in South Africa to participate in a "Technology Innovation Consortium" with AngloGold Ashanti - http://www.aga-tic.com/agatic/.

The idea of this group of invited participants is to redesign the mining process, from the ground down (if you like). We have a marvellous time brainstorming solutions to really hairy problems The fundamental issue facing AngloGold Ashanti (AGA) is that at depths of greater than 4000 metres the working environment and the logistics and energy requirements to operate become very difficult indeed. Col and I went to the bottom of the mine, 4000 metres below the surface and I have to say the trip was an eye-opener. I've been to a few underground mines before, and they pretty much look the same once you are below the surface, but this one is a doosy. Just the thought of all that rock above you makes you take a pause for reflection.

For a start the temperature of the rock down there is 65C (160F), and at 5000 meters, where the company hopes to be able to mine in the future, the rock temperature is 85C (200F). In the presence of up to 100% humidity, people cannot work at these temperatures. Enormous amounts of energy are spent on making the environment livable for the workers, and at greater depths, even more energy will be needed if current methods are continued.

In addition, the logistic challenges at these depths are enormous. Large amounts of water are pumped from the top to the bottom of the mine, and even more is pumped out (groundwater leaks in). Thousands of tonnes of ore are lifted out of the mine every day. On my visit it took me nearly 2 hours to get to the working face, and the same to return. Its like that for every miner as well so of their 9 hour shift, 4 hours is spend travelling underground.

AGA have decided that they will not be able to mine at greater depth safely (only a week after we were there there was a fatality in the mine) nor will they be able to use current methods economically. This consortium is a real expression of their desire to change with new ways of mining, automation, innovative use of energy etc. Its pretty exciting and all of this innovation will fundamentally depend on robust, reliable, and safe IT and communications systems.

Have a look at the website to get more of an insight into where the mining industry is going in the future.

Mining underground in Mponeng Mine, South Africa

Automation in Mining

Most mining companies are about to embark on the journey towards ‘automation’. Companies like Rio Tinto have made a good start, but they all have a long way to go. Automation is much better progressed in many other industries, especially where automation of fixed plant is where they have had to focus: manufacturing and other process industries, Oil and Gas and other chemical type industries, and rail / transport systems. Mostly these are industries in which the processes are constrained by the engineering. The challenge for mining is very different, very few mining operations are constrained by the engineering, indeed they are geographically unconstrained (at least within the boundaries of the ore body).

One way to look at automation is through the lens of the future objectives – what is the mining process to look like? Currently the major constraint is that the mining process is essentially a batch process; drill, then blast, then collect the ore, then load it into the transport system. Current automation efforts are really about pushing the continuous process as close to the mine face as possible. What we see people like AngloGold Ashanti doing is investigating what technologies are available to make the actual mining process underground continuous. They seek to get out of the drill and blast paradigm. This is the future of automation.

In the meantime, there are things that can be done to extend ‘automation’ into other parts of the mining process, but for every company, that will mean something different, so each needs to define their automation objectives and a high level view of how to get there. These matters need to be considered (in order) as follows.

Automation Objectives. Mining companies obviously need to understand what problems they are trying to solve – nobody else can really do this for them, although the AGA Technology Innovation Consortium (AGA-TIC) has taken an ‘open innovation’ approach. (www.aga-tic.com)

What is Future Vision. Every journey has a first step. Understanding the future state is informed by the objectives and needs to be developed without constraints in the first instance, that is don’t worry about where you are today. Big innovation will probably replace the current state anyway.

Technology. Future technology is perhaps the hardest thing to quantify – current trends only loosely inform where technology will be in even the medium term. The trick is to plan for the no-brainers and build agility into the technology plan. Any automation story will however be underpinned with better and more pervasive communications, smarter ways of collecting and analysing innovation, and robotic technologies that will drive new machines.

Culture. Culture will be the most difficult thing to change, and will take a long time. Companies can’t afford to lose the knowledge in the current workforce, and anyway new technologies are driven by the young, and they will take quite a while before they are impacting how you do your mining business.

What is Current State. Once the end state is defined, you need to know how ready your current environment is for the changes that will be necessary. Knowing where change is needed and where it can be ignored is all part of doing an Automation Readiness Evaluation. Besides, there will be some things that can be done early that will improve the business and help to finance longer term initiatives.

Technology Innovation Plan. How you go about innovating is the core of the implementation problem – will it be open (like AGA) or closed (like Rio Tinto). Both of these methods require investment, but open innovation will probably get a faster result.

Technology Vision. Prototyping automated technologies, Innovation in iterations...

Systems Integration. Making sure that the systems you design can act in awareness of each other is a key to machine automation. Machines will need to negotiate with each other in the mining environment because they will have freedom of movement. For instance, to truly automate a haulage fleet, each machine will need to know its own place in space and system, as well as every other machine. This means a common language, decision rules, etc.

Knowledge Management. Automation is really a way to embed intelligence that currently resides in people’s brains into the systems and machines of the future mine. There is a huge cultural change issue in this.

Further Observations

Many industries have been on this journey before – mining companies starting out should make themselves informed on the lessons they have learned – petroleum, aerospace, military in particular.

As a concept of operations, automation in any context will ultimately be made possible by how well you can collect, transport, and analyse data automatically.   We currently know a great amount about this, and recent advances in intelligent sensors, mobile communications and advanced analytics are making the issue more addressable – complicated to be sure, but the technologies are becoming ever more capable.