What Does the Future Hold for Automation in Mining Industry?

Metals and Mining Review | Sunday, January 17, 2021

Great efforts are being made to implement automation across the mining sector as firms seek to embrace the technology to enhance safety and efficiency standards.

FREMONT, CA: Over the past few years, automation in the mining industry has gradually mitigated the miner's role in the pit, edging them further away from the coalface. Recent innovations in autonomous robotics have promised to take mining processes to new heights. Mining firms across the globe are quickly adopting the latest automation technology to advance their operations. Autonomous technologies offer benefits that simply cannot be overlooked. Firms that deploy automation technologies will rapidly realize a significant increase in productivity and expenditures. Some firms have seen productivity increase by 15-20 percent as they adopted automation technologies. Read on to know more.

The sector also will benefit from considerable rises in safety. By leveraged automated equipment that can be maneuvered into unsafe areas and difficult locations, mining firms can send fewer miners underground while extracting a higher output with less risk to their employees. This quickly shifting landscape is expected to offer substantial value to the mining industry and its stakeholders. The combination of accelerated productivity and safety with reduced expenses may cause the mining automation industry to grow by almost 50 percent in the next few years, reaching US $3.29 billion by 2023.

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The implementation of automation technology is rapidly accelerating and changing the landscape of the mining sector. The short-term advantages are straightforward, scaled use of automation technology has considerable ability to increase productivity and safety at mines while lowering expenses, resulting in higher profits throughout the sector. But this is quickly transforming reality will also significantly impact the long-term relationship between the mining sector and the communities that host and regulate mines across the globe.

Effective mining automation solutions need interoperability, as most mines have a mixed fleet of devices. Turning a blind eye to the challenges that automation technologies present is not an advisable strategy for mining firms. The industry must consider the long-term realities and relationships to ensure continued advancement and growth for the advantage of both mining firms and their host communities.

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