Hatch-Glencore Technology Venture

Improved safety.

24/7 visibility of underground activities.

25% increase in productivity.

Challenges

Glencore needed to improve the daily development rates at its Onaping Depth mine. The goal was to obtain the highest possible advancement rate by minimizing the time needed to access the ore body and providing the tools to support a connected-worker paradigm.
The daily face advancement was highly variable and impacted by many different factors. Unfortunately, conventional underground operational-management practices did not provide the means to manage and address this variation problem.
Today, traditional mechanisms have issues and limitations, which make it difficult to visualize in-shift activities. The data collected is not acted upon, and opportunities to use performance data to improve the operation are lost.

Teamed with Glencore to conduct trial operational-management-system philosophies aimed at reducing in-shift variability.
Created a digital underground operational management solution to more closely plan and manage in-shift performance, from the start of shift stand-up meetings to monitoring in-shift performance to handover at the end of shift.
The project centered on creating a connected worker who has full knowledge of the schedule, the workplace status, and in-shift performance disturbances. Underpinned with at-the-face communications connectivity, mine operators will know when their next face task starts and what equipment they have been assigned along with full work instructions.
The team designed and installed a robust underground communication network for data and voice.
Procured and installed an underground tracking system for people and equipment, and designed and implemented a mobile-based work management system to support real-time monitoring and in-shift decision making.
Created a repository of operational performance metrics to support continuous process improvements.

Increased Glencore's mining intensity in a safe and cost-effective manner.
Provided newfound visibility into underground operational activities, enabling faster and more informed decision making.
Empowered Glencore to continuously improve its operations through the analysis of historical performance data.
Enabled new insights and significantly reduced process variation by implementing the digital underground mine operation management system.
Anticipated to deliver a 25% increase in productivity.

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