Remember when the original Terminator movie came out? Old Arnie could scan a room or the landscape and structures around him to make pinpoint accurate decisions and take the appropriate actions.

Production is the number one goal along with safety and scope 1 emissions onsite, so imagine technology that can truly improve all three, not to mention headaches.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not even close to suggesting mine sites employ cyborg assassins to increase production and eliminate poor performance.

Love or hate technology, like time, it marches on. Used wisely though, a lot can be achieved from both. Poorly managed and run mining operations are guaranteed to struggle to keep up with even reasonable production targets. That puts pressure on the people out in the pit, the decisions being made in production offices, and then returns drop significantly along with safety standards. Then ‘you know what’ gets real.

What technology can now allow us to do though, is ensure maximum efficiency and payload performance on every measure to increase overall production achievements. All the while maintaining safe operations and lower overall stress on people, machines, and the overall production management process.

Haul fleet optimisation might sound like some over complicated solution, but in reality, it is the exact opposite.

Using both mine payload scanning and a user-friendly real-time data platform to gather and thoroughly analyse payload data, pit crews and management can develop a comprehensive suite of actions and directions that can be used to increase performance and enhance profitability.

Mining of the future is being built around technology and using actual data to manage and optimise machines and an operation’s output. Adapting payload scanners on mine sites is the future.

No more making assumptions on commodity moved, best practices or suitable equipment quantities for your site thanks to real-time accurate data collection. A real-time data platform enables the development of a much more comprehensive and visual interface to optimise truck factors, enable informed decision making in real time, and positively influence all-important scope 1 emissions and CO2 reductions based on actual haul fleet data from site.

One such company we spoke to who are leading the charge and development to improve production through mine payload technology solutions are Brisbane based SBK Solutions. Their platform, ‘EYEMINE’ is a real-time data, IoT + AI solution platform used to collect, automate and process identified data sources for analysis by systemised application and live scanner outputs.

Sounds complicated but it’s not.

SBK Managing Director Wayne Morris told us, “This solution creates a user-friendly asset management dashboard that allows key personnel at multiple levels and sites in mining organisations to monitor areas of the dig & haul process and make informed decisions, before actioning them. It’s worth a look to get reductions in Co2 emissions, underloading & overloading, off-centre loading and carry back.”

Even a technophobe like myself can get my head around this kind of technology being the way of the future. Ifs, buts and maybes just don’t have a place in today’s operations. Being able to fine tune a big part of the whole thing on the go, seems the way to go for us.