GroundHog Apps led by CEO Satish Penmetsa is already well known in the mining market for its underground digitisation and fleet management system (FMS) solutions, but the company is rapidly expanding and is also building up its position in the open pit mining space, including an FMS deployment with contract mining group Capital Ltd at Centamin’s Sukari gold mine in Egypt.
Capital has been providing services at Sukari since 2005, commencing with exploration drilling services, and expanding to include blast hole and grade control drilling and load and haul services. GroundHog states: “Capital Ltd has a strong culture of continuous improvement and at its Sukari mining operations, it identified an opportunity to upgrade the systems in use to improve fleet management and data collection. In doing so, it could also ensure it was using a vendor from whom it would recieve the necessary support to achieve its goals.”
It continues: “Additionally, it identified the opportunity for further efficiency upsides in upgrading from Excel and paper-based tracking to a digitalised platform that could support the company’s needs in relation to training, language translation and timely issues resolution. Solutions would also need to develop user confidence and acceptance of a digital transformation through a high level of customer support. Importantly, any new system would also need to be tailored to the mining process to ensure a fit-for-purpose solution.”
GroundHog says the Capital team at Sukari required solutions that were straightforward with easy-to-use user interfaces that were highly configurable and customisable to individual mine processes. “They were seeking fresh, innovative perspectives in a full-service platform designed to digitise arduous processes and allow the Sukari team to focus on safety and operations. Capital Ltd chose GroundHog to assist in their efforts to digitise operations and get better control over the mine plan, and a pilot phase was launched.”
For Phase 1 of the initiative, key KPIs would include data reliability – with data collection to match (or be close to) data collected from the dispatcher; enabling operators to adopt the technology; managing operator behaviour to work as per the mine plan; and identifying significant delays/down/standby times.
Solutions to be implemented in the Phase 1 pilot included FMS application for operators including a digital pre-shift inspection web-based ops centre to track trips, activities, and cycle times, GroundHog says 21 tablets were deployed in the pilot, with three loading tools and 17 mining trucks involved. With Arabic language support, there was direct data entry from the operators into the FMS app to be communicated to the ops centre. Key data was compiled through tracking of activities by location and equipment; trip data tracking via Groundhog’s unique GPS Playback; tracking of cycle time with a focus on idle times, wait times, delays, downs and standby; material tracking; and tracking engine hours and pre-op inspections.
GroundHog says: “The purpose of any pilot is to identify challenges that may be unforeseen, and to collect knowledge that will inform subsequent phases. The Phase 1 pilot was very successful in doing both. From a challenge standpoint, the physical technology infrastructure required was limited by availability of tablets and challenges associated with importing additional units. The charging of the initial tablets also took too long, necessitating the export of fast-charging tablets. Furthermore limiting capacity for growth.” There was also significant human error with entering data, with the dispatcher entering wrong commands. Change management and effective communication proved critical in the adoption efforts and involved:
- Daily/every alternate day meeting for 10 minutes
- Proper tracking of changes requested and follow-ups
- Direct conversation between dispatchers and the GroundHog team to clarify questions/raise concerns
- Continued and multiple training of the application to the operators and dispatchers
Previously, shift supervisors checked on progress every couple of hours. Now, shift supervisors see the plan unfold in real time and can adjust activities to minimise variation in the plan. The data also demonstrated several areas for improvement – first the mine was underequipped with trucks, meaning the plan was set up to fail. Night shifts consistently delivered more loads than day shifts. Examination of this variation revealed that night shift operators were travelling to the shortest/nearest dump location rather than following the plan.
Human input errors were identified with tablets, even with training – operators sometimes mistakenly hit incorrect buttons to record the status of loading and dumping. The solution is to have semi automated trip tracking which is currently being implemented.
Feedback provided on the utilisation of GPS Playback – a feature unique to Groundhog – was that the live map helped track the path of equipment – where it had been, how it traveled, where it stopped. “This proved particularly helpful to the tech services team and dispatchers. Observing truck speed and path also identified where infrastructure issues might be hindering operations. For example, at one intersection, a consistent drop in truck speed indicated the road was too steep, so construction services were able to adjust the grade to optimise performance.”
The estimated distance and measured distance as per the mine plan were 5 km per trip. Collected data demonstrated that it was, in fact, 5.25 km per trip, meaning for every 20 trips, the mine was losing one trip. Engineers were able to straighten the road to cut the distance to 5 km This brought the infrastructure into compliance with the plan, adding an additional load, and saving on fuel being used for the additional 250 m.
Tracking cycle time helps assess and provide opportunities for improvement on idle time, delays, downs, and stand-by. Incremental improvements to cycle time add up to increased safety because workers are not looking for workarounds or cutting corners to adhere plan. It also contributes to increased production time. At Sukari, measuring cycle time indicated a delay at shift change. Stand-by was improved by 30%. Measurement of blasting evacuation demonstrated a one-hour process per blast. Examination of the site showed there was a comparably safe location at a closer distance. This reduced down time due to evacuation by 20 minutes per blast.
As identified by FMS data, human error was still leading to inaccurate information around loading and dumping. Thus, the implementation of Semi-Automatic Trip Counting is underway with the addition of wireless BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) location tracking and positioning and sensors at loading and hauling. When a truck comes to a pre-determined distance to a loader, it will automatically detect loading. When the truck with its payload approaches a dumping location, it is detected as unloading based on geofences. This reduces human data entry errors.
GroundHog concludes: “Capital Ltd’s operations at Sukari have put the elements in place to embark on GroundHog’s Digital Transformation Roadmap. They are already experiencing the benefits of having electronic data for decision support, real time visibility to monitor progress of the mine plan, and increased efficiency of their operations through the implementation of GroundHog’s Fleet Management System.”
Ismail Ahmed Senior Mining Engineer at Capital stated: “GPS Playback has helped to optimise the haulage and the speed of the trucks. We tracked from it how much is the speed in different sections in the haul road to see if we can optimise specific area and sharp corners to get better speeds. It was helpful for the operation team to get better handover information delivered about the exact places for each equipment and the status of it.”
