Automation in mining: Venturing beyond plug and play devices
According to recent research carried out by Chile’s state copper commission Cochilco, few suppliers perceive interest from mining companies to jointly develop new technologies to improve operations.
BNamericas talked with the Chilean general manager of Stockholm-based Epiroc, Charlie Ekberg (pictured left), and the manager of automation at the company’s Chilean branch, Carlos Valencia (right), to find out more.
BNamericas: What are miners asking for when they want to innovate?
Valencia: Miners want to follow up their equipment’s performance. They ask for data and there’s where sensors play a role. When you have specific data on meters drilled, number of holes, depth, fuel consumption, or how much ore tons can be loaded by a truck, you have room to improve.
BNamericas: According to your experience, mining companies are open to develop new technologies jointly with suppliers or they prefer to implement tested technologies?
Ekberg: We have an innovation culture but to convince the clients has been a challenge. This is not an area where you buy equipment and then click the on/off button, this means that the customer must be involved in the process. When we go through an initiative with a customer, we both build a project. It has taken time to get here but big mining companies already understood this.
Valencia: Small mining companies still see innovation with suspicion. They’re afraid of the dimensions of the project that must be put together behind an automation implementation.
BNamericas: Is there a key factor behind a successful automation?
Valencia: Team effort is the key. Both parties must be committed to build a project.
BNamericas: Automation represents a cost increase?
Ekberg: Automation won’t mean a cost increase; automation means a safer work environment. Automation allows you to take the worker out of an environment full of dust and vibrations to put him in a comfortable office. Certainly, an investment is required, but no one invests in something that involves a cost increase. Some of our equipment could be used for up to 60,000 hours and there is the payback.
Valencia: Despite the initial investment, the benefits of automation could be seen in the decreasing accident rate, lower costs of maintenance and increasing productivity because you have the equipment working on lunch times and during shifts changing.
BNamericas: How much time does it take Epiroc to implement an automation process within a mining company?
Ekberg: It can’t be done in a month. For example, if we want to implement automation of drilling the first phase is the training, then we test the technology and evaluate KPIs. When the team learns how to use the technology, we must standardize the process, set new KPIs and then we start the improvement process.
Valencia: To implement fully autonomous equipment you’ll need at least a year. But for customers with production depending on investments it will probably mean an additional expenditure. Implementing an automation process isn’t just about buying equipment and the kit that automates it.
BNamericas: How do you see the use of automation in the short term?
Ekberg: Innovation is going fast, but external factors like Chile’s social unrest and COVID-19 represent challenges. Chile certainly has room for innovation and we already have implemented automation projects at the Escondida [controlled by BHP], Los Bronces [Anglo American)] and Los Pelambres [Antofagasta Minerals copper] mines. The challenge will be to have resources to invest in technology. I hope this innovation train will go faster next year.
Valencia: We currently have control rooms inside mining facilities but now we have clients monitoring their operations out of there. Some clients want to put those control rooms in their corporate buildings, and I think those plans could be a reality in the short term considering the COVID-19 scenario.
Photo credit: Epiroc
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