In February last year, Newmont announced a trial of 5G in partnership with Ericsson and Telstra Purple at its Cadia mine in New South Wales – one of the largest underground gold and copper mines in the world.
Before the trial, Cadia was limited to upload speeds of 20–30 megabits per second (Mbps) using Wi-Fi to operate autonomous equipment such as ore loaders and remote-controlled mining machines.
These Wi-Fi connections were unreliable and unpredictable when under load.
Newmont found insufficient capacity to operate the required number of machines in the one area at the same time, particularly with the amount of video upload involved, and automation safety stops were regularly falsely triggered due to network packet loss.
Using Ericsson Private 5G, Newmont was able to demonstrate the ability to achieve upload speeds of around 90Mbps along access drives and declines throughout the underground complex, and 150Mbps upload and 500Mbps download on all-important extraction drives.
“The trial results show the extraordinary potential of 5G to improve safety, increase the number of machines that can be operated on a single network and boost production efficiencies in underground mining,” Newmont chief safety and sustainability officer Suzy Retallack said.
“These trials are part of the new frontier of technology in mining – using innovation to make our people safer and our mines more productive.”
The company will now use 5G to roll out more autonomous fleet like drill rigs, graders and auto haul trucks as part of future mining operations, relying on 5G’s unique capacity and capability to facilitate and streamline operational capabilities while deploying additional safety systems like radars and collision avoidance to improve overall mine safety systems.
Following support for the Cadia 5G trial from the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), Newmont has now applied to ACMA for Area Wide Licenses to extend and embed its use of 5G technology across its Australian, and global, operations.
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