The global mining sector is quickly adapting to an Internet of Things (IoT) revolution, according to research by mobile comms company, Inmarsat.
200 decision-makers from large organisations in the mining industry were interviewed for the research. A majority reported successes in implementing projects to safeguard workers via remote tracking, monitor drilling, and observe acid mine drainage remotely.
According to the survey, most organisations (65%) have fully deployed at least one IoT project, while 33% are trialling or have trialled a project, with only 2% of respondents not having begun one.
There is a considerable geographical variance in IoT adoption and maturity across different regions, with 98% of North American respondents having successfully deployed IoT-enabled projects, compared with only 50% in Africa and 38% in South America.
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A lack of skills, investment and cultural challenges, as well as unreliable connectivity, patchy cybersecurity processes and underdeveloped data management processes were also highlighted in the report and will all need to be remedied in the coming years, said Inmarsat.
Joe Carr, global mining director at the business said: “Two years on from our last research, Inmarsat wanted to get a measure of what had changed in the mining industry. IoT has begun to take a foothold in the sector with increased rates of adoption across the board. What we discovered was an industry that, historically slow to adopt radical ideas, is now beginning to embrace the use of IoT, but still working out how to make the most of it.
“We want to help drive IoT adoption in the mining sector and encourage mining companies to plot a route to IoT success using our free online IoT Maturity Tool. The tool allows miners to understand their progress in IoT adoption across a number of areas and to compare this with the 200 respondents who contributed to our research.
“Using these findings miners can start to develop a roadmap for improvement and provide a tangible proof point for influencing internal conversations.”
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Source: Written from press release
