Abstract
In 2017, a very large seismic event generated a significant amount of damage and dust throughout a large scale block cave operation. It was then thought that a visual alert and evacuation system may improve the safety of underground personnel, with the initial idea being inspired by airplane emergency exit strip lighting. With the demand for safer mining operations, the mine owners began to search for an off the shelf, existing system that the mining sector could possibly utilise.
The initial scope for this emergency/evacuation system, was that it needed to be able to provide real time demarcation of where it was safe or unsafe to be inside the cave footprint, at any point in time. And then to be able to trigger real time emergencies and evacuation events. This required multiple colours (red/blue/amber/green/white) combined with synchronized flashing and chasing modes. This system needed a centralised software control platform. And ultimately, to be able to be automatically triggered by the mine’s micro seismic monitoring system.
Various LED strip lighting technologies were trialled and ultimately found not to be suitable. Total cost per meter vs features was big concern.
IoT Automation was then approached to design and develop such a system that would be suitable for an underground block cave mining environment. With the FireFly Smart Lighting System being the result.
In 2018, the FireFly system was initially deployed into just one of the panels in a key production block of the mines extraction level, with encouraging results. Subsequent modifications to both the hardware and software of the FireFly system throughout 2019, including the use of the system as a network link for geotechnical instrumentation, RFID tag detection (pedestrians and mobile equipment) and software integration with micro seismic and ventilation monitoring systems - resulted in approval to expand the system into all production block areas of the mine.
This paper details the planning, design, initial rollout, feature development, and expansion of the FireFly smart lighting system at this large scale underground caving mine.