When a fire compromised primary communications at Heathgate Resources’ Beverley uranium mine in SA, Vocus and Peplink came to the rescue.
Through its inspired telecommunications solutions, Vocus has solved some of the most difficult connectivity quandaries in the Australian resources sector.
The company has enabled remote mine sites around the country’s to access high-speed internet and communications to not only drive higher productivity and performance but also ensure improved worker safety and wellbeing.
Vocus’ offerings have proven just as versatile as they are robust, as was the case at Heathgate Resources’ Beverley uranium mine in remote South Australia.
When a fire broke out at the nearby Gammon Ranges and an off-site microwave communication tower Heathgate uses for primary connectivity was compromised, the miner leveraged bonded Vocus Satellite – Starlink services.
The month prior to the fire, Vocus had installed eight Starlink terminals at Beverley, bonded together to provide up to 1.3 gigabits per second (Gbps) downstream and up to 200 megabits per second (Mbps) upstream throughput.
Heathgate wanted to improve connectivity for its 250 workers, enabling them to access entertainment and keep in contact with family and friends. But when disaster struck and operational connectivity was felled, the mining company needed an internet solution to support its entire site.
Vocus came to the rescue with its Vocus Satellite – Starlink service, utilising Peplink bonding technology and stepping up to the plate to ensure the continuation of operations.
In transitioning operational traffic to the bonded Vocus Satellite – Starlink platform, Heathgate incurred no loss of production, network availability or connectivity.
“Previously, our redundant communication option was a limited two-megabits-per-second satellite link,” Heathgate chief information officer Hugh Banister said.
“During outages, business communications were restricted to essential safety and operational services.
“The bonded Vocus Satellite – Starlink service has significantly improved our situation, allowing the mine site to keep operating even in unforeseen circumstances.”
The beauty of the bonded Vocus Satellite – Starlink service is its versatility, with the ability to bond multiple connection types to create a reliable redundancy platform across diverse network infrastructure. This includes moving vehicles, ensuring first responders and emergency services can attend to emergency situations.
Vocus satellite development manager Ashley Grove said the bonded Vocus Satellite – Starlink service showcases the possibilities of fusing two complimentary technologies to create a novel offering.
“You don’t often see revolutionary new technologies enter the market, but you can get new outcomes by pairing two existing technologies to deliver performance improvements,” Grove told Australian Mining.
“Peplink’s services work really well with satellite-based technology. Peplink has a couple of specific technologies within their native firmware which help smooth out any packet loss issues that can arise with satellite technology. This is done through packet duplication.
“So when you combine Vocus’ Starlink low-earth orbit satellite internet and the Peplink bonding solution, that’s when you start to see new outcomes. Such was the case with this Heathgate case study.”
Vocus and Peplink have created a winning combination that can provide and maximise internet bandwidth across the entirety of Australia’s 7.7 million square kilometres, including the most remote mine sites.
Grove said several Tier 1 mining companies are “sitting up and taking notice” of the bonded Vocus Satellite – Starlink service, particularly in the wake of the Heathgate success.
This comes as the mining industry better understands the importance of optimising camp welfare and fitting out living precincts with lightning-fast internet for entertainment and communication purposes.
Grove said the success of the Heathgate deployment of the bonded Vocus Satellite – Starlink solution can be replicated for other mining customers anywhere in Australia, due to the breadth of Vocus’ fibre and data centre infrastructure.
“A key part of making any network solutions work well is reducing the physical distance data needs to travel,” Grove said.
“The proximity of Heathgate’s bonded Vocus Satellite – Starlink solution with the Peplink head-end at the Adelaide data centre keeps performance levels high.
“If a customer in Kalgoorlie deployed a bonded Vocus Satellite – Starlink solution, we’d connect them to a Perth data centre.”
Although new technology, the bonded Vocus Satellite – Starlink solution has proven its effectiveness in terms of primary and redundancy applications. Vocus is confident in the technology’s potential to suit many applications and industries.
This feature appeared in the June 2024 issue of Australian Mining.
