Page 186 - Jan 2013

186 | Business World Magazine | January 2013
power to make decisions right in the mine
operators hands, and beyond that it offers
optimization of the entire mining process.
Computer intelligence and sophisticated al-
gorithms utilise data collected in real time
to bring productivity to new levels. “It’s all
about how best to get the maximum out of
the current arrangements you have in your
mine, particularly the equipment,” Bell says.
“Maintenance control, ore control, ore qual-
ity, collision avoidance, et cetera. SmartMine
is about helping control in real time the ac-
tions of the mine operations. We refer to our
technology as mine automation and control,
as that’s where the uniqueness is and that’s
what the industry needs going forward.” The
industry challenges Bell observes differ de-
pending on the region. In Australia specifi-
cally, he sees them revolving around a few
things. “What’s fairly evident to me right
now is the fact that most mining company
boards are really looking at two things. One
is they want to increase productivity, and
two they want to decrease cost. The huge
battle for the operational people at the mine
is ‘Okay, Mr. Chairman said we’ve agreed
to produce X amount of million tonnes, or
hundred million tonnes, per annum. How
do we do that?’” Another thing that Bell
considers a challenge in the mining industry
is data management and evaluation. He says
that the inability of people to comfortably
understand the data they gather, and then
making that data work for them, holistic