The process of automation in the African mining sector has been a hot topic for a while. Mining Examiner has published some articles about this issue, but there are new technologies out there that can help reduce the difficulties the industry is facing.
The software giant SAP is working on solutions for the mining sector in Africa, which holds up to 90 percent of the world’s chromium and platinum reserves and 40 percent of the gold reserves, state official sources.
At the latest meeting of the SAP Russian and South African Mining Forum in Johannesburg, SAP’s director, Nikhil Chaturvedi, revealed that most mining companies based or working in the continent are looking for next-generation mining solutions.
The company’s director for mining and metals, IBU mining and mills products, confirms the idea. Georg Gradl noted that mining companies in Africa require integrated IT solutions to improve the efficiency of their operations.
To deal with some of the challenges that are affecting the mining sector locally, SAP wants to deploy integrated software solutions that can build a digital mining enterprise vision. The expected results are more flexibility, scalability, improved security and interoperability of data across multiple devices, says the company. This investment in a new technology will provide greater operational efficiency and productivity, allowing the mining companies to react in real-time to geological conditions.
According to Nikhil Chaturvedi:
The real-time visibility of what happens on the shop floor and the possibility of all those involved in the manufacturing and delivery process working together is essential to improve processes, reduce costs and intermediate stock levels and, moreover, the improvement in various industry operational indicators.
A digital mining enterprise can be the amazing answer the mining sector has been waiting for, taking into account the constraints like declining grades, inadequate skilled people availability, difficult terrains, greater depths, higher rock stress and impact on the environment. This solution can also help to reduce the operational costs in mines and processing plants, as well as the combined total cost of ownership of various applications running in the mining. Nikhil Chaturvedi adds that:
The other benefits include reacting real-time to geological conditions using intelligent and remote-controlled surface mining equipment and underground mining equipment. Increasing exploration efficiency using intelligent drilling rigs and improving the quantity and quality of data acquired from borehole are the other benefits.
As stated by the company, this digital mining enterprise software offers a vast range of pertinent solutions, including the SAP ERP application, the SAP for mining solution, SAP HANA and the SAP operations management for mining application.