The 4th Industrial Revolution: How Mining Companies Are Using AI, Machine Learning And Robots

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In an industry such as mining where improving efficiency and productivity is crucial to profitability, even small improvements in yields, speed and efficiency can make an extraordinary impact. Mining companies basically produce interchangeable commodities. The mining industry employs a modest amount of individuals—just 670,000 Americans are employed in the quarrying, mining and extraction sector—but it indirectly impacts nearly every other industry since it provides the raw materials for virtually every other aspect of the economy. It's already been 10 years since the British/Australian mining company Rio Tinto began to use fully autonomous haul trucks, but they haven’t stopped there. Here are just a few ways Rio Tinto and other mining companies are preparing for the 4th industrial revolutions by creating intelligent mining operations.     

Rio Tinto’s operations include 16 mines, 1,500km of rail, three ports and more, and it creates 2.4 terabytes of data every minute from all of its mobile equipment and sensors that collect and transmit data in real-time to help monitor equipment. Rio Tinto’s former CEO Sam Walsh, when speaking at the Gartner Data & Analytics Summit, explained how the company has successfully integrated these multiple mines into an integrated processing and logistics system controlled by operators not located at the physical site.

Mineral exploration

Artificial intelligence and machine learning can help mining companies find minerals to extract, a critical component of any smart mining operation. Although this is a fairly new application of AI and machine learning, many mining companies are excited about the prospect. Goldspot Discoveries Inc. Is a company that aims to make finding gold more of a science than art by using machine learning. Similarly, Goldcorp and IBM Watson are collaborating to use artificial intelligence to review all the geological info available to find better drilling locations for gold in Canada. These efforts to be more precise when finding areas to mine by using machine learning can help the mining industry be more profitable.

Autonomous vehicles and drillers

While many of us have been focused on the progress Uber, Google and Tesla have made with autonomous vehicles many people don’t realise that Rio Tinto had already been using autonomous haul trucks that can carry 350 tonnes and operate totally independently since 2008. These trucks have impacted the company’s bottom line by reducing fuel use by 13 percent and are safer to operate. While arguably the challenges of autonomous driving in a quarry aren’t as daunting—the trucks move slow, they don’t have to worry about pedestrians—it’s still a notable accomplishment. This year, the company’s long-haul autonomous rail system will go live and is the next step in developing the Mine of the Future. With 244 cars, the autonomous train has been in development for five years, but will make its debut by the end of the year after some software and communication glitches have been worked out.

In addition, Rio Tinto has used autonomous loaders and drilling systems for several years. Just as with other autonomous applications, the company asserts the innovation has improved productivity by 10 percent.   

Sorting minerals

In the majority of mining operations, a much larger volume of materials needs to be removed to find the valuable materials they are mining for. Inevitably, separating the useless rocks and debris to get to what you're mining for tends to be an expensive endeavour. Some companies have begun to use smart sorting machines that can sort the mined material based on whatever criteria a company wants. This work can lead to savings in fuel and energy during processing.

Digital twinning

As part of making the pit-to-port operations as intelligent as possible, Rio Tinto is creating an intelligent mine that should deliver its first ore by 2021. There are more than 100 innovations the company is evaluating, but one initiative called digital twinning, first created by NASA, is now being adopted by many in the industrial sector. By creating a virtual model that is fed real-time data from the field, scenarios can be quickly tested, and operations and production can be optimised. This ability to test out decisions before they are implemented in a replica system leads to better outcomes and savings.

Safety and maintenance

Thanks to Internet of Things technology and sensors, mining equipment can be monitored and maintained before breakdowns occur. Sensors can monitor temperature, speed, and vibration on machines to take action transforming preventative maintenance into predictive maintenance. By assessing real-time data and analytics, mining operations can be safer for all involved.

This adoption of this new tech requires reskilling the mine workers, and Rio Tinto is already taking steps by partnering with the Australian government and a vocational training provider to help fill the gap. Collectively, they will spend $2 million to up-skill potential and existing workers to handle tasks in analytics, IT and robotics.

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A BRIEF HISTORY OF MINING INNOVATIONS Industrial innovation was born largely from the mining sector, and history is full of noteworthy examples. Environmental regulations can be traced back to Spain’s Almadén mercury mine in the seventeenth century. Not long after, Thomas Newcomen designed the first steam engine in the early eighteenth century to draw water from tin mines in Cornwall. Setting out to improve the limited effectiveness of Newcomen’s pump, James Watt, a technician at the University of Glasgow, invented the condensation chamber, thereby making a fortune with his friend Matthew Boulton. In 1784, the two associates patented the steam locomotive to move mined ore, and when the first locomotives hit the market twenty years later, they quickly left the underground coal mines for a breath of fresh air! Boulton and Watt’s mining invention was even used to automate the manufacture of textiles and thus revolutionize the clothing industry. The safety lamp made its debut in 1815, only slightly before the North American mining booms for copper in Michigan (1840–1843) and for gold in California (1848) and Colorado (1858). In 1867, Alfred Nobel invented dynamite, which also found an early application in the world of mining! The expanding market for metals at the beginning of the twentieth century required new production and processing methods, paving the way for advances in the field of metallurgy. Electrolytic processes to refine aluminum and, later, copper were perfected just twenty years after the advent of Gramme’s dynamo; these processes are still in use today to purify metals. Flotation, the most effective method of separating minerals from the gangue, or the barren parts of mined ore, emerged in Broken Hill, Australia, in 1903, and rapidly spread throughout the world.

Mining techniques are the Formula- One race cars of the industry: devised for a difficult and competitive world, they are at the cutting edge of new ideas and represent the testing ground for larger-scale applications.

 

FlOTATION  REAGENT SYSTEMS

Flotation Reagent System

The reagent scheme employed in a small flotation concentrator should be as simple as possible consistent with metallurgical goals. The utilization of a multiplicity of reagents having the same function is to be scrupulously avoided. Methods of reagent preparation and associated equipment, or the lack thereof, can have a profound influence upon the success or failure of the facility.

If possible, reagents should be added from a centralised position in the plant. If head tanks are used, the overflow must proceed back to the tank of origin. By this means, solution strengths can be corrected by re-circulation. Screens for the removal of oversized materials should be included at appropriate points in the system. Reagents which are staged to flotation are usually added by means of a cup and disc feeder located at the appropriate position along the flotation bank. 

Spillage of reagents will occur and the system must be designed to allow for such spillage. Usually the spill is collected in a tray and directed to a strap from which large quantities of spilled reagents may be reclaimed. Usually, the small amount of material which normally collects in this sump will be intermittently discarded to tailings.

Brief comments relative to the preparation and feeding of various reagents are as follows:

pH Modifiers

a. Lime – Calcium hydroxide, usually applied as a water-lime slurry known as milk-of-lime, is the most important flotation pH modifier. In developed areas, pebble lime is usually available. This material is converted to milk-of-lime by means of a lime slaker or small grinding mill operated in closed circuit with a classifier. In underdeveloped areas, the lime sources may be extremely variable. In some cases, the only lime available may be pulverized slaked lime of relatively low calcium oxide availability usually packaged in 50 kilogram bags. The average percent calcium oxide availability and the type of calcined lime which can be acquired locally should be determined prior to the design of the lime preparation system. In some cases it is best to design a dual system which can handle either pebble or bagged lime. The prepared lime product is usually stored in an agitated vessel and delivered to appropriate, addition points in the circuit by means of a circulation loop which commences and terminates at the milk-of-lime storage vessel. The design of a functional milk-of-lime feeding system can be difficult. Usually, milk-of-lime is withdrawn from the loop header by means of air operated pinch valves located in close proximity to the loop line. Valves are opened and closed by an air pulse generated by a solenoid operated valve which in turn is driven by a percent-of-cycle timer.

b. Sulfuric Acid – In certain flotation concentrators, sulfuric acid is used to decrease the flotation pulp pH. In remote areas, the acid may be of doubtful quality. Consequently, fiberglass reinforced plastic or opoxy lined storage tanks should be considered for acid storage. In addition, if precise pH adjustment is required, concentrated acid must be diluted to avoid wide swings in pH as the reagent is added to the pulp. Acid resistant dilution tanks should be supplied and acid resistant piping and valving must be included under these circumstances. The transfer of acid from one location to another should be accomplished by low pressure compress air.

Frother

Frothers are usually added undiluted and required only an appropriate cup and disc reagent feeder attached directly to the reagent shipping drum.

Collectors

Mineral collector reagents are manufactured in several forms including those which can be used as full strength liquids and those which must be dissolved or diluted. Reagents which can be fed directly are usually added in a fashion similar to that employed for frothers. For other reagents, dilution or dissolution tanks coupled with constant head tanks are usually provided. These reagents are added to the flotation circuit in dilute form through percent-of-cycle timers and solenoid valves (similar to the milk-of-lime system) or through rotometers.

Activators and Depressants

Chemicals which are used to activate or depress minerals are usually added as acqueous solutions. Consequently, dilution or dissolution tanks with associated head tanks must be provided. It should be noted that certain depressants tend to be corrosive to mild steel. Therefore, appropriate coatings for reagent tankage must be specified.

Flocculants and Filter Acids

These reagents are only sparingly used in small concentrators and are normally added as aqueous solutions.

 

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