The mining industry is experiencing rapid change on all levels, and much of that is being driven by the rapid evolution of technology.
Digital technology is quickly being adapted in mining, and its impact was on full display when several companies came together to discuss how to make it work to their advantage.
The United Steelworker's Hall in Sudbury was packed with hundreds of people form major companies, service providers, and the curious about mining's future at the inaugural beyond Digital Transformation on Feb. 1.
Hosted and organized by Partners in Achieving Change Excellence (PACE), the hall was a hive of activity as people networked, checked out various displays, participated in games and listened to several keynote addresses by speakers throughout the day.
Neha Singh, one of the organizers and “Change Guru” at PACE, said she was very pleasantly surprised by the reception and number of people that came out to attend the conference.
“This has been an amazing event for us, to see so many people and have so many experienced and knowledgeable people come to talk,” she said. “I love how these companies are finally realizing that change management is an important thing.”
Change management, she said, is having a company realize change is a good thing, and anticipating that people are going to expect change, instead of resist it and fight it.
While many of the vendors, attendees and speakers were there to talk about their operations, goods and services, the theme remained the same: Digital is driving the change, and adapting it has become critical for the individual company's and industry's survival.
Many of the speakers agreed that people can be resistant to change, mainly due to fear of unknown factors and fear of failure. They agreed the key to a successful adaption is to make sure the programs are user-friendly, reliable at all stages of mining, and at any depth, especially as mines go deeper and the cost of operations increases.
The inspiration for Beyond Digital Transformation was to showcase the ever-growing influence of digital technology on the mining industry. Singh said there are so many companies providing products and services and clients taking those for various reasons, but no one was talking about how it was influencing the industry as a whole. That lead her company to host a conference just for the digital side of mining.
One major cultural change in mining that has happened is technical support going from being a watchdog, to a leader. Singh said she agreed with those who were talking about this, saying those companies were critical to staying ahead of the innovation curve.
“We know we are big, ginormous beasts, so it's a big challenge for the mining companies to keep up with technology and change at a pace that allows them to stay competitive,” she said.
The driving factors, she said, are to bring costs down, increase health and safety, and also preserve and create jobs. As an example, she said many underground jobs can be done at surface, with people running the machines remotely. As well, many of those machines now run on batteries, cutting back on the need for diesel and lowering the cost of ventilation needs.
While companies are competing, she said they are also learning from each other, especially as projects get bigger and they turn to more partnerships to reap profits and spur more innovation that is mutually beneficial.
The keynote speaker was Rick Howes, president and CEO of Dundee Precious Metals. Regarded as the “Godfather of digital mining,” he said obviously technology is moving fast, and people are trying to cope with the changes without negatively impacting their business.
“Things that are available now, weren't a year or two ago, that's how quickly the technology is moving,” he said. “What people are speaking about, clearly they are thinking about how to adapt it. It allows companies to think about what's possible differently than they could five years ago.”
He agreed that moving forward partnerships will become more common. Many of these companies are realizing they cannot embrace these changes alone, so they are going to need to work with others who have expertise they may not have, and teach each other skills and share knowledge.
In the future, he said it will be companies teaching each other systems, software and applications that will be the heart of mining operations.
There have been problems in the adaption process, one of the biggest, according to speaker Samantha Espley, general manager at the Mining and Mineral Processing Technical Excellence Centre at Vale, was communication underground. In a relatively short period, that problem was solved at Vale and other mines, with fibre optic, underground communication, information technology infrastructure, WiFi and other systems.
“It's been a game changer for us and the whole industry, now we can communicate right to the face and that brought along all kinds of process changes,” she said.
Collaboration has been something that Vale has been keen to do throughout the history, she said, and understands why it will become the future of mining as a whole. It's about improving the industry together, and they do that by learning from each other, even though they are competing for resources and profits.
Attending conferences like this one helps to both learn and see if there is any improvement needed in their business model.
“From what people are talking about, I see no fatal flaws on our thinking,” she said. “It gives us confidence that we are on the right path. But to see so many companies open to collaboration, it opens the doors for us.”
There are plans to have another Beyond Digital Transformation. Singh said PACE will be reviewing feedback, but are already organizing for a two-day conference the first week of next February. They have secured a few speakers, as well as expand the timetable, and possibly focus more on the technology.
