Impact of Internet of Things (IoT) on the Mining Industry

Mining and Mineral extraction productivity has declined by around 15% in the past 10 years. This has led to value erosion for mining companies on both capital expenditure and profitability fronts. Apart from this double edged sword problem, rising labor inflation, environmental regulation complaince costs and declining commodity prices due to slowdown in China have also squeezed the profits of the mining companies.

In order to maximise profitability and reduce cost, mining companies are implementing advanced techniques such as Internet of Things (IoT).

Internet of Things is sought after because of low cost advantages, increase in mineral production output, safety and streamlining supply chain.

Introduction

• Mining companies subjected to commodity price fluctuation, wage inflation and mineral ore degradation problems. All these affect the profitability in the negative way.
• In order to maximize the output of their capital equipment expenditure on equipment and mines, mining companies must resort to technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT).
• 5-25% of savings can be achieved depending on the type of equipment, mine, technology.
• In mining industry, Internet of Things (IoT) can be further classified into 3 categories

Author: Pakshaal S.Shah