The Mining of the Future

Mining is rapidly adopting automation and incorporating digital technologies into its operations. These digital applications require network connectivity suitable for mission-critical business operations and industrial-grade wireless mobile communications for their operators.

In the last decade, various wireless connectivity solutions, such as Wi-Fi, have been deployed, but their capabilities have become limited. The 4.9G/LTE mobile technology is available for private wireless networks, is easy to install, maintain, and expand, and meets the needs of the most ambitious digital mining applications.

The results of digital transformation and automation can be substantial. Advances in technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and Extended Reality (XR) will enable mining companies to optimize decision-making, automate processes, and, over time, replace all manual operations with autonomous systems.

To fully leverage these technologies and digital applications, mining companies need high-performance wireless connectivity. However, many mines still rely on legacy networks that were not designed to meet the demands of ultra-broadband and mission-critical use cases.

Mining Today

Mining companies, often operating in remote and challenging environments, must strive to meet strict environmental and worker safety regulations. The industry is pursuing a strategy of extreme autonomy, where all manual equipment—such as excavators, ore conveyors, crushers, and trains—will eventually be replaced by their automated versions.

The appeal of an automated application is not always related to cost savings; an autonomous ore transporter is not significantly cheaper than one with a driver. While mining companies are always interested in reducing cost per ton, they also focus on the predictability and continuity of operations. Accidents, delays, and handling errors are more common with human drivers and often result in significant financial losses.

The data collected from a vast array of underground and aerial sensors would allow miners to gain near real-time situational awareness across the entire mine, railway, and port, identifying potential bottlenecks at every stage of the process. By leveraging advancements in artificial intelligence, miners could dynamically track assets and adjust movements on demand.

The Key to Digital Transformation in Mining

There is one essential ingredient for the success of digitalization in mines: industrial, homogeneous wireless connectivity. Without it, most of these technologies would not reach their full potential or might not even be deployable.

Current IT wireless network technologies, such as Wi-Fi and Wi-Max, are not designed for critical connectivity on an industrial scale. Wi-Fi was developed for best-effort local area networks in offices or homes, mainly for email exchange and web browsing. In the past, these technologies have been adapted for industrial applications, but with limited success.

In recent years, Nokia has led the way in making critical wireless networks available to enterprises through industrial-grade private wireless solutions that comply with 3GPP standards.

Wireless access points, known as cellular base stations (BTS), are available in both outdoor and indoor versions and can support up to 800 active users per small cell, with even more capacity for macro cells. Nokia's industrial wireless solution can scale from very small field operations to very large ones, covering up to 400,000 km² outdoors and 20 km² indoors. They can be connected via existing or new CAT cables, PON wiring, or microwave links.

Network access and priority/performance parameters are controlled by the mine. Defined applications, machines, sensors, and workers have access and are guaranteed the appropriate level of service. Both LTE and 5G support network segmentation, allowing specific network resources to be reserved for particular applications.

This application-focused approach is achieved by combining LTE with IP/MPLS as the foundation of the entire network. For example, autonomous ore transporters can be assigned a specific network segment, TETRA communications another, and IoT sensors a third. This ensures that no other application running on the network can compete for those bandwidth resources.

The digital transformation of mining is progressing rapidly. There is a strong push among mining companies to embrace automation. The initial applications of autonomous technologies have already delivered productivity, predictability, and safety for workers.