Search Documents

By L. Yuan, J. H. Rowland, D. Bahrami, R. Thomas

Blasting is the main method of production in many non-coal underground mining operations and produces multiple toxic gases as a result. The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) requires mine operators to measure the level of toxic gases in mines as frequently as necessary to ensure they are below regulatory safety limits. The current practice uses portable gas monitors to check the concentrations of toxic gases after a fixed post-blast time. This paper studies the application of a gas monitoring system in the return entry of a limestone mine to determine a safe re-entry time. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) conducted such a monitoring program in a limestone mine from September 2016 through May 2018. NIOSH/PMRD (Pittsburgh Mining Research Division) is endeavoring to develop workplace solutions to improve detection of and reduce the risk of hazardous conditions. This study showed that the use of gas monitoring in the return air can be a useful tool at the mine operator’s disposal to detect and reduce the risk of hazardous conditions and also to reliably estimate the re-entry time.

By G. Blackwell

In the 1980's the Canadian surface mining industry was confronted by declining competitiveness in the face of low cost foreign producers and alternative materials. Low metal prices undermined profits for many mining companies. Restructuring, rationalization, capacity reduction, technology transfer, as well as favourable currency rates and higher commodity prices, helped revitalize the industry by the close of the decade. Now in the 1990's, however, the need to improve competitiveness for profitability has re-emerged in greater intensity. In the current climate it is considered that there are three strategies available to industry to ensure profitability: continued rationalization and restructuring; optimization of operating practice; and technology development and transfer.

Jan 1, 1993

By K. V. Raj, R. Jacksha

Conveyor systems persist in being a source of injuries and fatalities in the mining industry. To reduce these incidents, better methods are needed to enhance the monitoring of probable hazards and improve situational awareness during the normal operation and maintenance of conveyor systems. To address these issues, researchers from the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) continue to investigate emerging technologies that show the potential to improve miner safety around conveyors. This paper presents a feasibility assessment by NIOSH researchers of a fully integrated, commercially available wireless Internet of Things (IoT) system to improve situational awareness around conveyor systems.

By Donald W. Gentry

This section deals with one of the most fascinating aspects of mining the evaluation of mine investment opportunities. Be-fore proceeding further, it is important to clarify the meaning of some fundamental terms used frequently in the text. 6.0.1.1 Mine Valuation vs. Evaluation The words "valuation" and "evaluation" in a mining context are often used interchangeably. However, for the purposes of this section, a distinction is made between the two terms in accordance with commonly accepted practice. The word valuation in a mining project context has the rather narrow meaning of placing a dollar or other currency value on the worth of the project as a whole. In other words, the value of a mining project refers to a measure of the desirability of ownership of that property. As such, the major item of interest is, "what is the mine worth?," or `what is the value of the mine?" The value of a mining project may actually be determined in the marketplace at any specific point in time, or it may be estimated by one of several methods. The topic of mine valuation is discussed in more detail in Chapter 6.1. The word evaluation in a mining project context connotes the broader meaning of determining the numerical values of all

Jan 1, 2008

By B. Gorain

"INTRODUCTION The last few decades have seen some remarkable advancement in information technology, but recently various digital technologies have resulted in several synergies to deliver innovation in diverse applications. The mining industry has been relatively slow in adopting these technologies compared to the other industries, but this scenario is changing fast. Keywords: Digital Transformation, Operational Intelligence, Gold Recovery, Mine to Mill integration, Planning and Execution strategy, Theory of Constraints. Challenges Mining companies globally are going through a series of challenges such as declining ore grades with complex metallurgy, increasing depth of ore bodies, high capital and operating costs, lower productivity, shortage of technical resources, significant pressure from stake-holders to deliver, along with growing environmental and corporate social responsibility issues. Improvement in profitability would need significant improvements in operational performance. Consequently, over the last few years, there has been a major focus amongst some mining companies to imbibe Operational Excellence. This has been only possible because of the replacement of a silos based approach by an integrated view of the organization. Such an integrated view is now possible via the evolving digital technologies. Even so, such a transformation calls for a change in culture, which, for most organization is not trivial. Attempts in the past to integrate functions such as through Mine-to-Mill initiatives in the mining industry have demonstrated significant benefits to many operations (McKee, 2013). Still, sustaining these benefits has clearly been a challenge due to manpower turn over and lack of proper systems and structures that integrate information between business functions within an operation and between operations and the corporate.Opportunities The advent of digital technology has opened-up opportunities to integrate inter-departmental information for a unified understanding of, and across, an entire organization. The advances in instrumentation, equipment control systems, supervisory control systems (SCADA/Historian) and industrial networks have helped in the direction of enterprise wide integration. The availability of real time information across an enterprise has given rise to numerous possibilities to improve organization performance. As suggested by Seshan & Gorain (2016), some of the potential opportunities are as follows:"

Jan 1, 2018

By SUHAINA ISMAIL, NORLIA BAHARUN, SHAIK ABDUL RAHMAN, WAN NUR SYAFIQAH ANUAR, MOHAMMAD REZAEI ARDANI

Refractory gold ore contains sulfide minerals like pyrite, chalcopyrite and sphalerite that are difficult to be directly leached by cyanidation or by lixiviants such as thiourea and halides. In such cases, it is necessary to perform oxidative pretreatment of the ore to oxidize the sulfide matrix, and gold particles can be exposed to the solution during the leaching process [1]. In recent years, hypochlorite and chloride solutions have been introduced as alternative materials for hydrometallurgical methods of gold extraction instead of cyanide solution [2]. A previous study by Hasab et al. [3] reported that the gold dissolution rate in hypochlorite solution was higher than in the cyanidation process, due to the presence of hypochlorous acid (HOCl) as a strong oxidizing agent. In a hypochlorite leaching system, the change in pH can influence the presence of oxidant species in the solution: the hypochlorite ion (OCl−) is stable in pH greater than 7.5, HOCl can be found in pH between 4.0 and 7.5, and aqueous chlorine (Cl2 (aq)) is the predominant oxidant when pH is below 4.0. As HOCl is the most effective oxidizing agent for gold extraction, pH should be maintained in the range of HOCl stability [4].

By Brendan Donnelly, Jung-Hoon Sul, Lasitha Piyathilaka, Sanghyun Jeong, Benjamin Probyn

The chains of armored face conveyor (AFCs) are constantly in contact with water and wet coal, which results in a significant proportion of unplanned downtime experienced on longwall equipment due to corrosion. While reverse osmosis (RO) is one of the most prevalent water treatment methods for reducing salinity and dissolved solids in coal mining, its impact on the corrosion of the AFC chains has not been well studied. This work studies the direct effects of RO water on the corrosion of AFC chains. Immersion tests followed by surface micromorphology analysis and corrosion indices indicate that the RO water increased the corrosion rate of the AFC chains due to the reduced tendency of preventive films on the chains.

May 1, 2024

By B. Slaker, M. M. Sears, G. Rashed

Ground falls represent a significant hazard at underground mines in the stone, sand and gravel (SSG) sector in the United States. Researchers from the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) are conducting detailed investigations into the complex loading conditions at underground stone mines operating in challenging conditions. This paper presents the application of numerical modeling to analyze pillar and roof stability at a dipping underground limestone mine.

By D. Bahrami, G. Danko, W. Asante

"It is prudent to interpret atmospheric monitoring signals in real-time for checking the safe limits of the air conditions in underground mines. In gassy mines, such real-time evaluation increases the safety of operation. In all mines, the continuous monitoring and evaluation contribute to maintaining air conditions to be within healthy and safe limits. Signal interpretation for safety conditions in mines is difficult for many reasons. An increase of hazardous contaminant concentrations can be predicted by signal pattern recognition, root-cause analysis of rapid changes toward deterioration and forward prediction in time using algorithms and numerical models. This paper focuses on analyzing signal patterns to recognize dangerous trends as well as forward predicting the various environmental and working conditions that may affect safety in underground mines. Efficient numerical ventilation model with heat and gas contaminant simulation components is needed for the analysis of real-time atmospheric monitoring data. Computational speed enhancement methods are discussed and tested in numerical examples, using the Jacobian sensitivity matrices for signal propagation prediction. INTRODUCTION The focus area of this paper is mine safety, related to hazardous atmospheric conditions in a mine ventilation system. Improvements by recognizing safety hazards caused by heat of combustible gases or the accumulation of poisonous gases in a mine are addressed. The recognition of safety hazard by manual evaluation is difficult because of the complex nature of information and the large amount of monitored data from measurement by atmospheric sensors such as air velocity, pressure, hazardous gas contaminants and temperature. In order to recognize problem-causing trends, it is necessary to evaluate continuously individual measurement data from the Atmospheric Monitoring System (AMS) of the mine during their time-dependent variations. In addition, the combined effects of various signal trends need to be simultaneously interpreted in their cross-effects. It is very difficult to foresee the possible outcomes of intertwined signatures of various problems by continuous human observation. For example, a steady, continuous methane concentration measurement together with a sharp drop in barometric pressure from the AMS sensors may be a case for worry in future time due to pressure-induced methane increase from the coal seam or the gob (Danko et al., 2013). This future increase can be predicted by a time-dependent Ventilation Air Model (VAM) and its surrogate Air Parameter Predictor Solver (APPS) model. A calibrated VAM or APPS model can indeed predict a likely methane concentration variation in future time as a function of previous and new air pressure as well as air velocity (Danko, et. al., 2013). Such a future trend, however, cannot be seen from the raw measurement data."

Jan 1, 2017

By Ari Jokilaakso, Junjie Shi, Zhuo Chen, Pekka Taskinen, Xiang Gao

The amount of copper flash smelting slag has increased during the recent years along with an increasing slag-to-metal ratio. During slag tapping, some copper sulfide is mechanically entrained. As a result, it is necessary to recover copper matte from the slag by suitable methods. At present, the most common way is slow, controlled cooling in a transfer ladle. However, research on the detailed effects of slow cooling and the function of slag modification is rare. This paper described experiments that were performed at different cooling rates (0.5, 1.5, 3, and 7 °C/min), with and without additive. A detailed characterization of the copper-rich phase and its particle size was subsequentlymade using SEM-EDSmicrographs and image analysis software.With a decrease in cooling rate, the particle size of the copper-rich matte phase became larger. The addition of gypsum and carbon as a slag modifier affected the size of the copper-rich phase slightly, and its chemical composition was modified compared with the experiments without additive.

Jul 31, 2020

By Thomas Novak, Sampurna Arya

Controlling dust generation and keeping it below permissible limits to meet federal dust standards at the working face of a roomand-pillar coal mine is a challenge for a mine operator. With the recent changes in federal dust regulations requiring lower worker exposure, maintaining compliance has become increasingly difficult. The current most effective practice of dust control at a continuous miner face in an underground mine is the use of a flooded-bed scrubber. A study carried out by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) indicated that a flooded-bed scrubber could achieve cleaning efficiencies between 58 and 90%. But, the operation of such a system is maintenance intensive. The flooded-bed scrubber screen becomes clogged with dust particles and requires frequent cleaning to maintain performance. However, the dust control issue is not solely a mining industry problem. Other industries face similar issues. The University of Kentucky collaborated with Toyota Motor Manufacturing on the development of a novel wet scrubber, called the vortecone scrubber, for capturing oversprayed paint particles in automotive paint booths. The vortecone scrubber achieved a cleaning efficiency of 99% and required minimal maintenance. This study aims to assess the ability of this vortecone scrubber to capture respirable dust in an underground coal mine. The paper presents the results of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling of this vortecone scrubber. It discusses the effects of air quantity and dust particle size on the performance of the scrubber.

By Muhammad Azeem Raza, Muhammad Zaka Emad, Muhammad Usman Tahir, Saqib Ahmad Saki, Muhammad Usman Khan

Shotcrete is a key initial rock support component used in underground mining and civil projects. The strength of shotcrete plays a vital role in providing and deciding the support adequacy. The strength of shotcrete is evaluated by its uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) test that is usually conducted on extracted core samples. Shotcrete cores are commonly extracted from the test panels along the direction of its application; thus, its strength perpendicular to the direction of application is often neglected. The true bearing strength of shotcrete is thereby ignored despite the fact that higher stresses act normal to the direction of its application. Although the anisotropic behavior of shotcrete is well reported, no study has reported extensive testing of this scale and nature. This study reports extensive testing of shotcrete cores extracted from tunnels of a mega hydroelectric project in Pakistan. The study reports 7- and 28-days strength tests of shotcrete cores. The research also investigates the anisotropic behavior of steel fiber reinforced shotcrete and suggests that shotcrete exhibits higher strength perpendicular to the direction of its application.

Dec 26, 2022

By M. K. McCarter

Surface mining applies to extraction of mineral resources from water and sediments of rivers, lakes, seas, and oceans; from solutions circulating through broken rock and soil; and from rock and soil excavated from the earth. Surface mining is responsible for the majority of mineral production in the United States and a substantial portion of the world?s total production. This section deals specifically with extraction methods which employ mechanical processes in a relatively dry environment to free minerals from the earth. The following section, Section 15, deals exclusively with aqueous methods. With recognition of the importance of reclamation in all activities which temporarily disturb the earth?s ecosystems, it is appropriate to classify mechanical extraction methods as either deferred reclamation or concurrent reclamation. Deferred reclamation is necessary when the shape and logistics of the excavation require that it remain open throughout the productive life of he project. Upon exhaustion of economic reserves, the opening is then reclaimed in a manner consistent with public safety, environmental acceptability, and land use policy. Methods employing deferred reclamation are commonly referred to as open pit or quarry mining. Metallic ores, industrial minerals, and coal are all extracted using open pit methods. Typical examples are provided in Chapter 14.1.

Jan 1, 2008

By J. S. Meyer

Although salmonid fishes (including Pacific salmon and trout) have only intermediate sensitivity to copper (Cu) for traditional toxicity endpoints (survival, growth, and reproduction) and thus do not ?drive? the freshwater Cu criteria (e.g., see species-sensitivity ranking in US EPA 2007), Cu concentrations as low as 1 to 2 µg/L have been reported to impair olfaction (the sense of smell) in salmonids in laboratory experiments using dilute fresh water (see references in Meyer and Adams 2010 and DeForest et al. 2011). Olfaction is crucial to predator avoidance, recognition of kin, and reproductive synchronization (Baldwin et al. 2003); and Cu is of general ecotoxicological concern because it can be present in acid/mine rock drainage, industrial and municipal effluents, agricultural runoff, and urban stormwater runoff (Meyer et al. 2007). Therefore, there is public concern that the current regulation of Cu in surface waters is not stringent enough to protect salmonid fishes against olfactory impairment (e.g., OSU 2007; Pearson 2007). Because the toxicity of metals to aquatic organisms is a function of water chemistry [e.g., acute toxicity of Cu generally decreases as pH, water hardness (Ca2+ + Mg2+), alkalinity, and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations increase; Meyer et al. 2007], hardness-based freshwater criteria for metals are lower at lower water hardness. The recently-developed biotic ligand model (BLM) explicitly takes into account all four of those water chemistry parameters and the concentrations of other major inorganic cations (Na+, K+) and anions (Cl-, SO42-) to predict the acute toxicity of cationic metals (e.g., Ag, Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn) to aquatic organisms; and the BLM has been adopted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) to calculate acute and chronic national freshwater criteria for Cu (US EPA 2007). Consistent with observations of Cu toxicity to aquatic organisms, BLM-based Cu criteria generally are lower at lower pH, water hardness, alkalinity, and DOC concentrations. Therefore, although threshold concentrations for olfactory impairment by Cu can be low in dilute fresh waters, the corresponding hardness-based and BLM-based Cu criteria for the same waters also tend to be low. This leads to a logical question: Are Cu criteria already protective against impairment of olfaction in salmonid fishes, thus obviating the need to decrease those criteria even lower to protect against adverse effects to this physiological/ecotoxicological endpoint? Herein, we demonstrate that in all studies conducted to date, the US EPA?s BLM-based freshwater Cu criteria would have been protective against olfactory impairment in salmonid fishes, but the US EPA?s hardness-based criteria would not always have been protective. This distinction is important because all 50 States in the USA still use hardness-based Cu criteria in their water quality standards, and only some of the States allow use of the BLM to calculate site-specific Cu criteria. Additionally, in the absence of empirical results for calibration of a saltwater Cu-olfactory model, we demonstrate that a proposed unified freshwater-saltwater Cu-olfactory BLM predicts the US EPA?s current saltwater Cu criteria would be protective against olfactory impairment caused by Cu in sea water.

Feb 27, 2013

By T. R. Ellis

"Editor’s Note: This is an expanded abstract. The full report is available on SME’s website at http://www.smenet.org/publications-resources/ resources/sme-valuation-standards-tutorials.The author has three goals for this review of mineral valuation standards internationally.1. To place the SME Standards and Guidelines for Valuation of Mineral Properties (SME Valuation Standards) and International Mineral Property Valuation Standards template (IMVAL Template) within the global context of existing mineral valuation standards.2. To review the current status of harmonization of each International Mineral Valuation Committee (IMVAL) member’s mineral valuation standards (or code) with the IMVAL template and suggest remedies for issues found.3. To suggest future enhancements for the IMVAL Template and SME Valuation Standards, and to suggest future roles for the IMVAL and SME committees. From the author’s review, Ellis draws the following conclusions.The SME Valuation Standards comprise a minimum set of principles-based standards and guidelines for developing and reporting valuations of mineral properties (including petroleum properties) for public and private use, subject to jurisdictional requirements. The standards are also designed to provide mineral valuation guidance that supplements application of the International Valuation Standards Council’s International Valuation Standards (IVS) and the U.S. government endorsed Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP), published by the Appraisal Foundation.The SME Valuation Standards is the first set of valuation standards developed by a minerals institute adopting and modifying the IMVAL template. As a result, the SME standards are essentially totally harmonized and otherwise aligned with the IMVAL template. IMVAL was initially conceived in 2012 as a discussion body to aid harmonization of each member’s valuation standards, by modifying to function the same. IMVAL primarily developed the IMVAL template, published in July 2016, to produce an agreed reference framework of essential mineral valuation guidance content as the goal for harmonization of the Australasian Code for Public Reporting of Technical Assessments and Valuations of Mineral Assets (VALMIN Code), The South African Code for the Reporting of Mineral Asset Valuation (SAMVAL) and the Canadian Standards and Guidelines for Valuation of Mineral Properties (CIMVal standards and guidelines). The harmonization would result from each mineral valuation standards committee modifying its standards to operate similarly to the IMVAL template, producing valuation reports with similar content and value for the same mineral property. The template is also available for other bodies to adopt and modify for their regional setting’s needs, as SME did, or use as a convergence goal when updating an existing standard."

Jan 2, 2018

By A. D. S. Gillies

Diesel engine particulate matter pollution is a matter of concern currently in underground mines worldwide. A number of real-time Diesel Particulate Matter (DPM) monitors have been developed in recent years; two of these by the National Institute of Occupational Health and Safety (NIOSH) in the US. One, the D-PDM, is based on an adaption of the successful NIOSH?s Personal Dust Monitor (PDM) unit which is being taken up very successfully for mine respirable dust monitoring. The D-PDM measures all particulate matter within a sub-micron range as classified nominally at 0.8 micrometers by a purpose developed cyclone. The other, the FLIR Airtec, measures the Elemental Carbon (EC) component of DPM by a laser scattering approach. Both instruments have been evaluated underground in robustness and reliability testing in coal mines by the authors. Real time DPM monitors allow greater understanding of the sources and levels of DPM pollution in underground activities. They allow engineering evaluations to determine how conditions can be improved or mining personnel relocated to lower concentration levels. Studies are discussed that examine DPM concentrations from vehicles under varying ventilation conditions. Some of these concern tests undertaken during high activity longwall face moves. They focus on evaluating DPM during the various phases of the face Chock Shield moves. An initiative in some mines has been to limit the number of vehicles in the mining section or panel by the use of a Tag Board or Traffic Controller at the panel travel road entrance to manage exhaust DPM and gases. Diesel tags or tokens are used to control the number of vehicles entering a section or panel and so limit level of pollution. Summation of DPM levels from points monitored throughout a panel demonstrates increasing DPM levels from influence of additional equipment in series within the ventilation circuit. An alternative approach is to invest in underground continuous real-time monitoring of exhaust gases, DPM and section air quantity and integrate this information to determine whether an additional vehicle can enter without exceeding diesel target limit. This optimizes the access of diesel vehicles and replaces the existing manual tag board system. Real-time DPM monitoring allows the industry to pin-point high exposure zones such as those encountered where various vehicles work in areas of constrained or difficult ventilation. Identification of high DPM zones allows efficient modification of mine ventilation, operator positioning and other work practices to reduce underground miners? exposures.

Jan 1, 2012

By Ronney Rodrigues Silva, Renata Mendonca, Gabi Knesel, Cathrine Monyake

Locus Mining is working side-by-side with a prestigious iron ore company to evaluate the addition of Locus ESG-friendly green flotation reagents with the primary goal of improving recovery and grade. In this paper, we will focus on the cationic reverse flotation application. The most “established industry” reagents for cationic reverse flotation are amine as the collector, starch as the depressant, and in some cases frothers are also used (among them MIBC, pine oil, others). Here, we evaluate the synergies of different classes of eco-friendly biosurfactants and industry-standard reagents during the cationic reverse flotation method. Exploratory research was done first with an analog sample under different pHs, eight different biosurfactants with starch and no-starch, and a customized DOE was used to perform 145 microflotation tests. The results show Separation Efficiency from 20% (baseline) to 50% (biosurfactant), and Selectivity from 3.27 (baseline) to 5.67 (biosurfactant). Optimized result conditions were then applied to the iron ore samples received from our client to perform flotation tests on a Denver Lab cell. Similar results were obtained by improving Separation Efficiency and Selectivity, which corroborate with the previous work.

Feb 1, 2025

Software exhibitors at MINExpo will feature the newest, the best, the most comprehensive computer-based tools available to get minerals from the ground to the market. From the ?cloud? to the pit, the variety that will be featured is almost limitless ? a digital tool for every phase of the mining lifecycle. Blue Sky Network SkyRouter brings the Blue Sky Network to the cloud. Using its interactive Web portal, SkyRouter, with detailed mapping and integration with Google Earth, the Blue Sky Network links enterprises to personnel and assets anywhere on earth through Iridium satellites. The cloud-based solution is designed to support connectivity with remotely dispersed mobile assets, including Blue Sky?s dual-mode GSM and Iridium tracking and communications services. This enables seamless connectivity with assets in problematic cellular reception areas, where only 10 percent of the Earth is covered, and in remote locations.

Jan 1, 2012

By L. R. Moore

The World Health Organization (WHO) considers contamination from oxyanions, such as selenium and arsenic, a global concern. While their elemental forms are toxic, the aqueous oxyanions are more so. These aqueous forms, which exist at a higher oxidation state, are the most common forms released during mining processes. Many technologies are capable of meeting the governmental discharge criteria for oxyanionic contaminants, but may possess limitations due to redox chemistry as well as the water matrices. An innovative technology was developed that can successfully reduce such aqueous forms generated during mining processes to a level below the discharge criteria. This paper discusses how an understanding of the sensitivities of this novel adsorbent towards these variations in water matrices and redox chemistry can be used to optimize its application.

Feb 27, 2013

By S. Schade, G. Möllemann, C. Niestroj

"Mining environments, whether open-pit or underground, pose difficult conditions for any sensor system. However, the ever-increasing need for automation requires the application and use of sensor systems in order to gather relevant information required for process automation. Ultra-Wideband radio (UWB) is a robust technology well-suited for underground applications. These applications include positioning and communication. This paper introduces UWB and presents results from measurement campaigns in harsh environments. Using filtering and sensor fusion precise and robust positioning can be achieved even in confinements of underground mining environments. INTRODUCTION Indoor positioning systems (IPS) are gaining ever more importance. Especially in light of ongoing efforts to reach the goals of what was coined as Industry 4.0 by the German government, the development of IPS is inevitable. According to a recent report about the “Global Indoor Location Market Outlook 2019” a growth from $ 597 million in 2014 to $ 3961.8 million by 2019 is expected [1]. Hence, there is also an economic incentive to pursue this topic. The mining industry is profiting from this development as well, since IPS are the basis for the automation of especially mobile mining equipment. Ideally, indoor positioning systems offer to position the equipment continuously and, what’s more, even in real-time [2]. Different approaches are available for IPS. The difference of these systems lie in terms of accuracy, cost, precision, technology, scalability, robustness and security. [3] At the Institute of Advanced Mining Technologies (AMT) of RWTH Aachen University, research suggests that one of the more auspicious approaches for IPS in the mining sector is the employment of ultra-wideband (UWB) radio technology. Because of this, there has been ongoing research into the best way to introduce UWB technology for the application in underground environments. The research started with an indoor positioning application, which only consisted of the UWB system. In the course of this, different algorithms were developed to enhance the system’s performance for the use in the mining industry. This led to the idea of sensor fusion in which the information of the UWB system are combined with infrastructure-independent technologies like inertial navigation systems (INS) and image-based technologies."

Jan 1, 2017