Page 14 - EngineerIt July 2021

ICT MINING

Two Rivers Platinum Mine sees

major breakthrough in

underground communications

wo Rivers Platinum, a large where challenges include the density of the rock, establishing a stable underground
underground platinum mine communication network has been difficult.
Tlocated in Steelpoort, Limpopo, “The use of Wi-Fi communications underground is not new in terms of large mining
has made significant progress in setting setups, but our mine specifically is comprised of narrow, dense tabular rock. This posed a
up a reliable underground Wi-Fi network, unique obstacle since many communications networks, like radio-frequency identification
providing wireless services to the rock (RFID) technology, require line of sight to be effective. This lack of visibility meant that
face and full wireless coverage from the enhance LTE (eLTE) connectivity was also not a viable option”.
face to the tipping area. From a safety perspective, Two Rivers already had several underground
This marks the first time in 15 years communications measures in place, such as two-way radios and Bluetooth tracking,
that the organisation has seen consistent enabling early communication in the case of an emergency, but the previous system’s
communications from deep within the setup was at a fixed point, some distance away from the operating face of the mine. This
mine, while realising the benefits to be meant that to make a simple emergency call, an employee might have had to walk back
gained via location-based services, quite a distance to reach the communications point to inform mine management of any
such as the remote monitoring of its urgent issues or specific needs.
underground fleet and real-time location Furthermore, administration within the mine was historically heavily paper-based,
data, as well as information on the health adds Reynard Cronje, IT Coordinator at Two Rivers. “The miner would go underground
status of these vehicles. and complete the paper requisite forms, which were then only returned to the surface
at the end of the shift. This meant that the mine could only respond to information after
Overcoming unique the shift had been completed. And with our equipment upgrades over time to smart
underground challenges machinery, with the ability to communicate, we needed a network that could facilitate this
A fully mechanised underground platinum close to the face.”
mining operation with over 3,200
employees, Two Rivers is a joint venture Better use of data, improved decision making
between African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) “Data is power,” Joubert continues. “And access to data empowers you to make immediate
(54 percent) and Impala Platinum (46 decisions based on real-time information. This has a significant impact on costs for a
percent), which is managed by ARM. mining operation, and provides endless opportunities in terms of automation with other
According to Two Rivers’ Business equipment throughout the business.
Leader, JJ Joubert, one of the mine’s “Live condition monitoring is critical for mining operations. If you can access real-time
overriding strategic objectives is to data on operations, equipment and machinery and respond timeously to this, you can
achieve efficient operations, underpinned make informed decisions based on the trends uncovered by this data. Therefore, it was
by the support of technology. However, important that we introduce live condition monitoring and a live information feed from our
due to the complex environment, smart machines and people underground.”

EngineerIT | July 2021 | 12