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Modernisation is the name of the game at the Gold Fields South Deep mine. The operation's digitalisation journey began in 2019 and has culminated in a state-of-the-art surface control centre, which drives the mine to safer, greener, smarter efficiencies for Goldfields, its employees, and the Witwatersrand region.
The mind of the mineEnclosed in glass, this impressive control centre is situated in the epicentre of the executive offices on the mine, and the workings are purposefully transparent both visually and symbolically. The control centre functions as the nerve centre of this massive-mechanised mining operation located in the Witwatersrand Basin, near Westonaria, 50km south-west of Johannesburg. It is the hub of the convergence of an integrated technology solution, which manages people, equipment, and the environment on a level of digitalisation which astounds.
This operation boasts a mineral reserve of 32.2Moz of gold – almost 80,470 gold bullion bars. It was developed to safely extract one of the largest known gold deposits in the world using a longhole stoping method to mine the large volumes required to exploit the thick upper Elsburg reef package at an average depth of 2,700m below surface, and has the installed capacity to produce 330,000 tonnes of gold-bearing ore per month.1
Heads, Hearts, Hands and Heaven of their peopleSouth Deep's Life-of-Mine (LOM) is estimated to be 80 years and is the heartbeat of nine host communities, with a combined population of about 109,000 people, which are directly affected by the operation due to the sharing of roads, water, and the physical environment.2 The mine currently employs over 4500 people (permanent employees and contractors), and it is estimated that each employee supports between 5 and 10 family members.3
Martin Preece, executive vice president, Gold Fields South Africa, is emphatic, "Our people are the heart of who we are. As Gerrit Lotz, our vice president of people and organisational effectiveness, always stresses, our mission is to employ not only the hands, but the heads, the hearts and the heaven of each of our employees, offering jobs with a purpose." Preece explains that mining is not just about physical work. It involves the intellect, the passions and dreams of people, and South Deep has therefore implemented an in-depth, transparent change management approach, taking its people with it on the journey to digitalisation to ensure a sustainable operation that continues to be the economic backbone of the region.
The approach: Integrated operationsJohan Sliep, head of technical and production intelligence systems at the mine and architect of the South Deep Mine Technology Strategy, which has culminated in the unified production management housed in the digital control centre, explains that at the start of the digitalisation journey the value chain within the mine and the data emanating from these different departments was spatially disparate – version control and real time data were a challenge. The objective was therefore to move all information generated onto one platform in step one of the process. Fragmented mining technical data was therefore amalgamated into a unified spatial management platform to allow for unified business planning (see figure1).
"The team is currently getting the second step, the planning and scheduling process, right. At this stage we connect the financial systems to the planning and scheduling systems to enable the reconciliation of actual cost and activities against the plan and schedule. The third step – execution – happens in the control centre." The third step is smart, digitalised execution through unified production management and control to enable safer, greener and smarter efficiencies for the operation. Once all areas of the mine have been connected to the control centre, as data becomes more accurate, data analytics will enable management to further improve output, as all processes, targets and achievements and the associated bottlenecks in the value chain will be visible at any one time.
Technology deploymentSliep details the deployment of technology in the Execution Strategy, "We have defined three horizons within the digitalisation journey: Horizon 1 involves laying the foundation, Horizon 2 is the optimisation phase and Horizon 3 is the automation phase."
"Foundation laying, optimising and automating all take place in sequence respectively across four main areas of development: The first is the installing of operational technologies involving the IoT (Internet of things) – sensors to monitor people, machines and environment to collect data; the second is establishing the network backbone – the Wi-Fi footprint portion to transmit the collected data; the third is creating the surface IT architecture, application design and data infrastructure – the control centre and servers (including trailing surface tele remote rock breaker and LHDs, Safety/Water/Maintenance Management, Backfill monitoring/Mining control); and then taking it one step further in area four with integrated platforms of reporting, and the analytics portion."
Preece and Sliep highlight that the phases and areas of development happen in parallel and not independently. This project has been a complex development of different technologies with different timelines and interdependencies, and all the while current operations continue. (See figure2)
People centricityOver and above this, Preece notes that because of the complexity of the process and development, South Deep has created the control centre ahead of completing all the other phases of the digitalisation roll out, even though it is the culmination of all the operational elements. The mine adds components to the control centre's portfolio, as and when they are ready.
"The mine has had to 'go slow, to go fast,' as any one organisation has a limited capacity for the absorption of change," adds Gerrit Lotz, VP people and organisational effectiveness at South Deep. He explains that it is vital to lay the groundwork first – identifying technology and building the infrastructure, while preparing the work force mentally for a digital future in tandem. This involves an array of interactions from making the control centre visible, tangible, and accessible, through to something as seemingly insignificant as communication methods with employees, for example communication via WhatsApp when briefs go out to the workforce, right up to training methodology such as virtual reality, simulation and other immersive training experiences with digital surveys to monitor workforce feedback. It's about moving at a pace that the "heart" of the organisation is comfortable with. People-centric technology is critical to leave no one behind and to achieve success, says Lotz.
Objectives for the underground operationSliep continues, "The objective here is that at any point in time we know where our people are underground, what our equipment is doing and what the environmental conditions are. The network enables this connection between all three elements and the monitoring thereof. The results we are looking for are safety and health improvements, building the capability of our people and delivering improved production efficiencies."
Infrastructure/tech supporting the objectivesIt has taken three years to install an extensive future-proof and scalable fibre infrastructure connecting the surface control centre to the underground communication rooms directly. Sixty plus kilometres of fibre attached to a Wi-Fi mesh network with Wi-iI access points/nodes deployed in critical areas where data dumps take place fulfil this function. Sliep explains that connectivity even up to the point of the cuts is enabled by MineHops Mesh Network points, which are battery powered for limited data dumps, each node supplying minimum data including position of employees, equipment, and the condition of the environment (monitoring temperature, gases and seismic activity). He notes that, "The team selected a combination of Sandvik Optimine software and Newtrax technology for the work management platform which connects the sensors underground with the control centre on the surface.
"With regards traffic management, the mine is installing Level 9 Collision Avoidance Systems (CAS) – enabling vehicles to automatically slow down and stop when in proximity of pedestrians, other vehicles or hazards – together with the Newtrax Cap Lamp which will signal a pedestrian presence to a TMM (Trackless mobile machine). "Geo referencing of equipment and personnel has been a high priority for us," says Preece.
Sliep explains that the implementation of the Newtrax CAS system will take a phased approach to allow the workforce to familiarise themselves with the new technology, starting with Level 7, moving to Level 8, which is advisory and will highlight to an operator via an alarm that there is an object that should be avoided. Over and above this, the CAS technology ensures safety, as it will not allow a TMM to start up if the sensors are not working. Sliep notes that, the phased approach is essential to avoid traffic jams and resultant production upheaval.
The new cap lamp solution South Deep plans to implement will enable the operation to badge employees before going underground allowing for the tracking of personnel, allow personnel to communicate with the control centre if in distress via text message on a belt pack and offers 'man down detection,' which will alert the control centre should a person collapse and be immobile.
"Combined with the next-generation IoT Hub 3D Map and location-based analytics modules, Newtrax provides real-time notification over any backbone (Wi-Fi, LTE, or Minehops Mesh) and generates heat maps identifying areas that are more prone to collisions," says Sliep. All the sensors on machinery and personnel will 'talk' to one another and the control centre, and this data will enable the mine to determine where the high traffic areas are, detail incidents should they occur, track personnel, but most of all avoid collisions and make the environment safer. The end goal here is to use technology and data analytics to manage previously uncontrolled situations, says Sliep, where TMM accidents have proved to be a major cause of fatalities. (See figure 3.)
Preece concludes, "If one cannot increase productivity faster than inflation rises, and if the gold price stays static, then one will go out of business." The digitalisation drive at South Deep is critical to making the business sustainable. "It is vital to both survive and to thrive – for our people, our communities and our shareholders that depend on the operation."
Watch this space next month for Part 2 of the South Deep: Control through digitalisation series to take a tour of the South Deep control centre where the tele remote action happens and smart technology converges to streamline operations and improve safety and efficiencies to run a greener operation.
