Abstract
In recent years, digital twin (DT) technology has received much interest from the mining community, due to its potential to maximize operational efficiency, enhance workers’ health and safety, and reduce production time and cost. For successful integration in the field and meeting user expectations, demystification of the roles and capabilities of this evolving technology is needed. We provide an overview of state-of-the-art applications of DT technology in the mining sector. We analyzed real-life examples of early adopters in the field to discover how is this technology already being used to assist mining operations. With respect to the application type, we summarized the results in 8 main categories: 1) Simulation; 2) Remote control; 3) Monitoring and maintenance; 4) Prediction modeling; 5) Data analysis and visualization; 6) Presentation and communication; 7) Quality control and optimization, and 8) Management. Early applications of DT technology have yielded valuable preliminary results for revolutionizing processes across all stages of the mining life cycle. As technology becomes more mature, long-term gains will become more apparent and new use cases within the industry will emerge.