Abstract
Digital transformation has been the talk of the mining industry for the last decade with large multinational mining companies (such as Teck with RACE21™) investing significantly to fully integrate all their operations on a digital platform. At the frontline of this digital transformation are the new technologies that can be successfully phased into operations and have direct positive impact on day-to-day operations within workflows when well implemented.
The present core logging workflows, in particular in high volume production operations such as Sudbury’s nickel mines, tend not to integrate digital technologies beyond a camera set-up for validation (quality assurance / quality control). Although new digital technologies such as core scanners can be highly effective in improving productivity and quality of work, for example by reducing the amount of routine tasks of data acquisition performed by core loggers or by providing additional data such as elemental analysis, there is a latency to their integration within production core logging workflow. Northern Prosperity has been supporting major mining companies over the last three years as the industry gradually gains interest in assessing, improving and integrating digital technologies within core logging.
Based on our experience, best practices and a case study, topics to be covered include:
- Areas of impact: productivity, safety, costs and knowledge
- Assessment tools including surveys and time studies
- Understanding both the loggers workflow/requirements and the various “data user” requirement
- Core scanning technologies available
- Going beyond the digital library
- A digital workflow example
Digital technologies can be transformative and rewarding to many parts of mining operations including production core logging. The challenge is in the journey to make the transformation happen, to integrate the technologies into a modern workflow and to bring forward beneficial results.