Industries that rely on equipment for their work, such as mining, manufacturing, and oil and gas companies, are shifting towards IoT. Amongst these industries, mining and mineral extraction productivity has declined by around 15% in the last decade. The Internet of Things controls or senses objects remotely across existing network infrastructure and creates opportunities for more direct consolidation of the physical world into computer-based systems. This would result in improved efficiency, precision, and economic benefit with reduced human intervention. For the mining industry, this transformation is important. This would help improve performance, boost productivity, and increase profitability while eliminating unnecessary costs and waste while mining. Here are a few benefits of using IoT in the mining industry.
Time-saving technology
The Internet of Things technology helps in maintaining and developing a mine site. Data is collected before starting the initial digging. This ensures the process is being managed properly and with reduced risk. The tasks are completed in very little time using this technology, thus t=saving the workers’ precious time. Some mining companies are already using technologies without human intervention, such as driverless vehicles or autonomous drilling systems.
Improving safety
The operations taking place in mines are mostly in far-flung areas, with hazardous conditions. Therefore, the safety and security of the employees and the equipment become important. IoT can benefit a lot in this aspect, such as:
- It can provide real-time analysis of the mine and send warning signals to workers at any time.
- Gas detection sensors and airflow and ventilation monitoring sensors can be used to keep a check on the mine’s environment.
- Such technology can assess a new or unexplored environment with automated machinery and protect miners from injury or long-term health hazards.
- This technology can also predict which machinery is likely to require repairs or maintenance, hence removing the danger of equipment malfunctioning while used.
Cost and energy saving
Mining operations use a large numbmanynd energy while working, and any fault in some equipment can exuberate thgreatly e energy wastage greatly. Th IoT results in reduced asset downtime as workers work proactively, and consequently, a reduction in costs can be noticed. By following preventive measures, the supervisor can ensure that the right machine is available at the right moment and place, preventing production delay costs.
Improve traceability and visibility
With the help of IoT, data is automatically transferred and received over a network without requiring any human intervention. Remote monitoring of operations ensures maximum efficiency, improved traceability, decreased variability, and better identification of performance problems.
Move from preventive to predictive maintenance.
Using the Internet of Things approach, monitoring every mining operation aspect becomes easier and leads to greater productivity and safety. This helps predict the problems in advance, thus ensuring the supervisors know what their next step would be. This IoT technology has changed the entire working method; we can shift from preventive to predictive maintenance and improve the quality of work.
