Eltirus

Overview

The results above are sobering. At the exact time that our industry comes under increased pressure to move towards zero carbon and needs to embrace new technologies such as digital transformation and  resource optimisation, the skilled resource technical professionals needed to make them a reality will likely not be available.

Despite the fact that we live in an age where children are exposed to technology from the time they can hold a device in their hands. our industry struggles to interest, attract, pay and retain the professionals it will need to build the quarries of the future – so what to do?

Why does the industry need to change?

It’s easy to forget that the reason the mining industry employs so many surveyors, geologists, geotechnical and mining engineers is because the deposits they extract have become more and more difficult to manage.

Our industry is facing the challenges of sustainability, increasingly difficult deposits to extract and increased community and regulator focus – things can’t just continue to be done the same way as they were in the past. Digital transformation will be the key to the future.

To make this transition, industry will either have to compete for increasingly scarce professional resources (and potentially sky high salaries) or upskill the people they have. A likely way forward is a combination of both strategies.

Strategies for change

As we move towards semi-autonomous and autonomous extraction, the need to have a clear plan and schedule will become more and more important.

An autonomous machine has to follow a plan and it has to be the right plan.

We have worked out the standard workflows required to carry out the tasks conducted by resource professionals (surveyors, geologists, mining engineers etc), determined the best software and equipment to do that work (sometimes involving multiple pieces of software and equipment) and put it all together in such a way that anyone who can follow a set of instructions can do the work.

Workflows can be within a specific piece of software or across multiple different software and equipment systems.

For example, Process Maps are a menu driven system which can automate the use of Deswik mining software by doing things like creating standardised file names, validating data, applying the correct line color to data etc. This is extremely powerful as it saves time, creates a consistent, quality output and ensures users are not fumbling around for the correct settings.

In contrast, Deswik is but one of a number of pieces of software and equipment needed to take a design and turn it into the files needed by an excavator operator using machine guidance to ensure that they are digging to the correct RL.

Each step of each workflow is documented in our Knowledge Base in such a way that a user unfamiliar with the software or approach can turn out valuable work in relatively short order.

Our approach to Knowledge Transfer

When starting down the path towards digital transformation, some clients are happy for us to do the work for them and not hire or upskill their own team. Others want to create this capability in-house – we can help with either scenario or any combination of the two.

The steps down this path are generally:

1. Determine whether it makes sense to employ your own team or to outsource
2. If you are going to employ your own team, we can help identify the types of professionals you will want to hire and how much they are likely to be paid
3. We help identify what software and equipment you have in use and work with you to determine suitability
4. We help put in place standardised data filing, line coloring and naming conventions
5. We licence you to use our Workflows and Knowledge Base appropriate to your requirements
6. We work with you to train staff in the specific skills that you want to transfer e.g. you might decide to take on all survey activities, but not specialist geological ones that are rarely used
7. We provide ongoing support, troubleshooting and training as needed

We believe that it is vital that the research we have conducted is made available more broadly to the industry and are keen to work with any groups who have a similar passion.

To find out more, contact Steve Franklin on +61 474 183 939 or steve.franklin@eltirus.com