Technological revolution approaching for Australian mining

Smart technology and big data will deliver productivity in the increasingly challenging Australian mining environment, research scientists say.

“Real-time sensors and data processing allow us to operate in a very data-rich environment with much more precise control over the operation,” said Jonathan Law, director of CSIRO’s Minerals Down Under Flagship.

This framework is a “fundamental change that’s going to come very quickly,” Law said, and will make the sector more efficient.

Law will outline the latest technological applications about to transform current operations, as well as his longer-term research and development strategies, when he presents to Chief Operating Officers in the sector at the Media Corp International Summit in October this year.

According to Law, following the example of manufacturing, which uses complex interaction of machinery on the production line and standardised equipment, will deliver significant productivity gains for the resources sector.

“At the moment much of the technology that’s deployed is actually uniquely made for that specific mining operation and we see great opportunities to modularise and standardise equipment and monitor and deploy that equipment from remote sites so we can start to take advantage of those economies of scale that the industry hasn’t been able to take advantage of so far,” Law said.

The scientific community is working to develop more efficient processing methods, Law says. One of the latest techniques being trialled is the use of nitric acid in nickel laterite processing, developed in partnership with Direct Nickel. It will reportedly unlock 70% of the world’s nickel and make laterite mining competitive with sulphide mining, the source of the bulk of Australia’s current production.

The key to success on the world stage, says Law, is a different approach to future development. The entire industry, in partnership with the research community, needs to cooperate and share innovation and be less protective of intellectual property.

“There is a lot of repetitiveness in the system at the moment and a lot of technologies end up stranded because they are either protected by one company or they simply don’t have a commercial partner to deliver them into the market.”

But change is afoot, Law says. “Many in the industry are realising that being over-protective of intellectual property actually works against the larger-scale savings that potentially come from having standard technologies deployed across the industry.”

The COO Leaders Mining Summit 2013 is organised by Media Corp International and will be held on 9 and 10 October in Perth. For more information, visit www.coo-leaders.com.au.

For more information on Jonathan Law’s presentation, watch his YouTube video: