Development trend and path analysis of China's smart mine

Over the past 40 years of reform and opening up, the mining industry has created huge social wealth at the same time, but also faces huge challenges, there are multiple pressures such as energy, resources, and the environment, and traditional industries such as mining need to solve a series of problems such as extensive development methods, low production efficiency and energy utilization efficiency, and low utilization level of mineral resources as soon as possible, and accelerate the pace of transformation and upgrading. The mining industry needs to use modern intelligent technology to promote profound changes in the way of resource development and achieve intensive, efficient and sustainable development, and the construction of intelligent mines has become the only way to achieve high-quality development of mining.

1. Development status of smart mine

In the first industrial Revolution, human beings entered the steam age, and the rapid development of industry made the mining industry enter the historical stage in the real sense. At that time, the mine was mainly mined by manual mining. In the second industrial revolution, human beings entered the electric age, which put forward higher requirements for mining development, and the mechanization and automatic mining of mines became the mainstream. In the third industrial revolution, human beings have entered the era of science and technology, and the demand for mineral resources has reached an unprecedented height, while the green development concept of mining and the intelligent concept of mining have matured, and the construction of green mines and intelligent mines have been rapidly developed. With the arrival of the fourth industrial revolution (intelligent era), automation, digitalization, intelligent technology in the mining industry has been more and more common attention, mining enterprises began to carry out a lot of practice in the process of intelligent construction according to their different application goals, according to the focus of technology application can be divided into automated mine, digital mine, intelligent (intelligent) mine and so on. At present, it is generally believed that intelligent mine is a safe, efficient and intensive modern mine that realizes digital planning and design, automated operation, unmanned operation and intelligent management in geological survey, resource management, mining design, planning, mining production, mineral processing, tailings treatment and mining and beneficiation equipment.

1.1 Development status of foreign smart mines

Since the 1960s, some developed mining countries abroad began to study automation, digitization and intelligent mining technology; In the 1990s, in order to gain a competitive advantage in the mining industry, these developed mining countries began to implement intelligent mine research programs and began to develop "intelligent mine" and "unmanned mine" development plans. At present, it can realize geological modeling, three-dimensional digitization of mining process, large-scale and intelligent mining equipment, and centralized management and control by establishing mining and selection operation centers, which are mainly reflected in fewer front-line operators, high production efficiency, and fewer safety accidents. For example, the Canadian International Nickel company (Canada Nickel) has been committed to the study of automatic mining technology for a long time, and plans to achieve unmanned mining in a mine in 2050, and achieve mechanical automatic mining through satellite control of all equipment in the mine. Anglo American The latest technology system used by plc is called "future intelligent mining", which is reflected in four aspects: concentrated mine, waterless mine, modern mine, intelligent mine, etc. The future intelligent mining is more inclined to save and intensive resources and ecological environmental protection, and high-tech greatly reduces the dependence on fossil fuels and traditional energy; Kiruna Iron Ore, Sweden Mine,Sweden) has basically realized unmanned intelligent mining, in the underground operation surface in addition to seeing maintenance workers in the overhaul, almost all the control is completed by the remote computer centralized control system, the degree of automation is very high, mainly thanks to the use of large mechanical equipment, intelligent remote control system, as well as modern management system, highly automated and intelligent mine Mountain systems and equipment make mining more efficient; Rio Tinto Group (Rio Tinto's "Mine of the Future" plan, mainly around the computer control center of driverless trucks, driverless trains, automatic drilling RIGS, automatic excavators and bulldozers, the project will use more than 70 innovative technologies, including the processing plant of the digital simulation system, fully integrated automated mine and simulation system, advanced automation technology applications, leading Production analysis system, etc.

With the rapid development of digital technology, information technology and artificial intelligence technology, various countries have accelerated the innovation and promotion of intelligent technical equipment and operation management in the mining field, and the industrial supporting system has developed rapidly. Through intelligent technology and intelligent services, the intelligent mining technology system has integrated the equipment, products, processes and personnel of the mine in an unprecedented way and improved Mine safety, reduced operating costs and improved efficiency; Mine intelligent management system can connect operators, dispatchers, site managers and central control room monitoring personnel to the same platform, and realize the whole process control of mining technology through system integration, optimize the production process, and improve mining efficiency and mine safety. To provide mining enterprises with powerful Internet of Things, advanced analytics and artificial intelligence technologies to improve safety, productivity and operational efficiency, while in order to enhance the strength of mine intelligent systems, companies in the field of underground mine automation have also accelerated mergers and acquisitions.

On the whole, many foreign countries and mining companies have exceeded the scope of mechanization and automation in the construction of smart mines, and the green, safe, intelligent and efficient concept of smart mines has penetrated into all aspects of mine production.

1.2 Domestic smart mine development status

Over the past 40 years of reform and opening up, China's mining industry has provided a large number of basic raw materials for economic and social development, but there are also multiple pressures such as energy, resources and environment. As a traditional industry, mining industry needs to solve a series of problems such as extensive development methods, low production efficiency and energy utilization efficiency, and low resource utilization level as soon as possible. The state's continuous attention and support for the mining industry requires that we vigorously promote the coordinated transformation and development of digital green, especially the "promoting digital technology to enable the green transformation of the mining industry" as an important task for the transformation and upgrading of mining enterprises and to accelerate the development. In recent years, with the promotion of the "efficient, safe and environmental protection" of mine construction and mining activities, the penetration rate of digital design tools and the numerical control rate of key processes in many domestic mining enterprises have been improved to a certain extent, and the intelligent level of mines is also constantly improving, especially the popularity of big data, automatic control, Internet of things and 5G technology applications, so that the intelligent construction of some mines A breakthrough has been made.

China's mine intelligent construction has its own characteristics. For example, Shandong Gold Sanshandao Gold Mine excavates a new engine for mine development through new network, new technology and new application construction, creates a new model of mine construction and operation, and realizes industrial digitalization. The 5G intelligent mining industrial application of Yunnan Pulang Copper Mine has successfully landed in the mine, realizing the automation and intelligence of underground threading shovel, transportation and unloading operations, and successfully creating intelligent solutions for the whole process of small and unmanned production operations. Yuxi Dahongshan Iron Mine integrates more than 30 subsystems, integrated control of intelligent mining and beneficiation, data decision-making, energy control and safety management, 3D modeling of ground survey and mining production, unmanned shovel, remote centralized control of main production equipment and real-time dynamic adjustment of production parameters in mineral processing, automatic control and online monitoring of road spray dust removal on the ground. Zhejiang Puxin Mining has built a decision command and dispatch center and a three-dimensional geological twin model of mineral resources, as well as six systems such as mine cross-border mining early warning, online real-time monitoring of mine dust, real-time positioning and tracking of personnel and vehicles, all-round video surveillance, intelligent vehicle scheduling, and online detection of aggregate quality. The intelligent mine of Baowu Resources has been improved as a whole, and the unmanned and centralized indexes in 2022 have reached 60.2% and 54.2% respectively. The intelligent mineral processing system of Zhangzhuang Mine of Masteel has realized the intelligent operation of the whole process, which has increased the concentrate production capacity by more than 10%, and the intelligent filling system has realized the intelligent control and one-click filling of the whole filling process. Based on the whole process control of "ore flow", WISCO Daye Mine has built an intelligent management and control platform integrating mining, selection and charging. Aiming at shock wave damage in stope, power network technology has been introduced to establish intelligent decision-making and remote control system for mine ventilation, and technologies such as aerial photography, subsidence area monitoring points and three-dimensional reconstruction have been integrated. Xizang Yulong Copper Mine realizes intelligent truck scheduling, intelligent ore allocation, high-precision positioning of electric shovel, automatic hole layout of drilling rig, etc., as well as high-precision online grade detection of raw, fine and tail ore dressing and intelligent control of crushing and grinding. Through production, safety and environment energy monitoring platform and MES system, cost process control and comprehensive mobile application are realized. 

The West Mining Xitieshan Lead and zinc mine has carried out a complete architecture design from three aspects of mining, beneficiation and management, realized electric locomotive driverless, remote loading, mining data integration, intelligent ventilation, and centralized control of the whole process of beneficiation, grinding and flotation expert control system, realized automatic statistics and intelligent analysis of mine data, and fully realized process cost control. Tongmao Datang Tashan Coal Mine has carried out intelligent construction and transformation of 27 professional subsystems of 10 large systems covering mine production, such as mining, digging, machinery, transportation, communication, geological water control and ground washing, etc., and built an intelligent decision-making platform of mine cloud map. Through modern communication technology and control technology, remote, collaborative and automatic control of the whole process of safe production is realized. Luoyang Molybdenum Sandaozhuang open-pit mine adopts a new generation of Internet of Things, big data, artificial intelligence and other technologies, integrates UAV dynamic modeling, multi-metal multi-target ore allocation, intelligent scheduling of loading and unloading and intelligent analysis and management of production data, and builds a comprehensive new modern intelligent production control and decision system for open-pit mine.

1.3 Problems in the construction of intelligent mines

First, the concept of smart mine is unclear. At present, the understanding of intelligent mine is still relatively one-sided, that intelligent mine is the realization of digitization, automation, unmanned operation in all aspects of mine production, so as to improve management efficiency and realize resource intensification. However, the more significance of intelligent mines is reflected in the realization of digitalization, automation and collaborative control of various elements, and its operation system must also have the ability of perception, analysis, reasoning, judgment and decision-making.

Second, the concept of intelligent mine construction is outdated. There are many kinds of mineral resources in our country, the total amount is large, but the big ore is less, and the medium is inchworm. Less open-pit mining, more mine mining; Less independent ore, more common (associated) ore. Regional differences are great, so the construction of intelligent mines should be adapted to local conditions, and appropriate ways and methods should be adopted to realize the intelligent construction of mines. However, many mines copy in the intelligent transformation and construction, and can not formulate intelligent mine construction plans according to the actual situation.

Third, the intelligent mine construction system is not mature. The links of intelligent mine construction lack linkage, information and data are isolated, and a system cannot be formed, which makes the benefits of intelligent construction of a single link greatly reduced. Intelligent mine is a comprehensive system that combines digitalization, automation, intelligence and other technologies closely with the mine production and management process to realize intelligent mine production and management. For most mines in our country, system construction has become the biggest difficulty and pain point.

Fourth, the smart mine policy support is insufficient. The state proposed to "promote the green transformation of the mining industry enabled by digital technology" as an important task for the transformation and upgrading of mining enterprises and to accelerate the development. However, on the whole, the support policies and support are still slightly insufficient, for most small and medium-sized mining enterprises, the systematic intelligent construction benefits are not enough to cover the construction costs. At the same time, mining enterprises are difficult to predict the survival and development, which also affects the decision-making and promotion of enterprise upgrading.

Fifth, the supporting industries of intelligent mines are not perfect. At present, most third-party technology enterprises rely on information services, in addition to 5G mining technology, the lack of sufficient strength of science and technology enterprises to support the intelligent construction of domestic mines, intelligent mining equipment manufacturing and production services and other industries are not perfect and do not support the system.

Overall, China's mining intelligent technology research and development started late, compared with the international advanced level, most mining enterprises have a low degree of production automation, decentralized system, poor information integration, especially the level of three-dimensional geological modeling of resource reserves management is not high. With the rapid development of China's digital communication technology, it has greatly promoted the rapid development of China's intelligent mine construction, and some links have even been in the international leader, but there is still a certain gap in the systematic and comprehensive aspects.

2. Development trend of smart mine

In order to lead and standardize the mining industry to accelerate the construction of intelligent mines, the Ministry of Natural Resources organized many automation design units, scientific research institutes, universities, mining enterprises, etc., after more than two years of efforts, compiled and released the "Intelligent Mine Construction Code" (DZ/T) 0376-2021) Industry standard, become an important guide to promote the automatic intelligent application of the whole link of mine exploration and development. At the same time, the practice of industry standard implementation has been increased, and 16 enterprises have been included in the Ministry of Natural Resources "smart mine construction standard pilot unit", through the practice demonstration of these mining enterprises, it will inevitably become a model of smart mine construction with Chinese characteristics. In addition, in the Catalogue of Advanced and Applicable Technologies for the Conservation and Comprehensive Utilization of Mineral Resources (2022 edition) issued by the Ministry of Natural Resources, digital information technology is regarded as an important field, and many digital intelligent technology and equipment applied by scientific research institutions and mining enterprises are included in this catalogue. Overall, the development trend of smart mines is reflected in the following aspects.

The first is to achieve the "safe, green and efficient" development and utilization of mineral resources as the core goal. From the actual production of mines, through modern new technology to enable resource development, in order to improve the efficiency of mine development and resource utilization level as the ultimate goal, mining enterprises need to strengthen their sense of responsibility, promote the intelligent construction of mines is an important part of the country to promote the digital green collaborative transformation, anchor the direction in the process of promoting the intelligent construction of mines, adhere to efficiency improvement and resource conservation Green development, safety based.

Second, the development of resources is enabled by modern new technology. Relying on the "ore flow" in the process of resource mining, the intelligent construction of the whole process such as mine geological survey, reserve management, mining, mineral processing, resource conservation and comprehensive utilization and ecological governance is standardized, and attention is paid to the innovative integration and application of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, Internet of Things, industrial Internet, cloud computing, three-dimensional and virtual reality with the mining industry to build a solid mine data base Promote the intelligent application of automation in the whole process of mine development.

The third is to improve the intelligent control level of mineral mining process. The new generation of network, navigation, high-definition video cloud computing and other common enabling platforms are used to achieve accurate detection and geological simulation, intelligent identification of mineral layers, and accurate positioning of mineral resources. We will vigorously develop intelligent applications such as unmanned driving and mining robots, and realize unmanned drilling, shovel loading, remote control of transportation and automatic driving. Carry out geological modeling of mining process, improve resource recovery, optimize fault monitoring of transportation links, and reduce parking energy consumption.

The fourth is to strengthen the intelligent and efficient utilization of mineral resources and the ecological protection of mining areas. Promote intelligent mine upgrading projects, improve the intelligent level of mineral processing, promote the comprehensive development and utilization of common (associated) biological resources, achieve energy conservation and emission reduction, clean mineral production and effective use of mineral waste, and improve the environmental friendliness of mine production; Actively use various sensing equipment and digital intelligent technology to carry out ecological environment monitoring in mining areas and surrounding areas to improve ecological protection and restoration effects; Strengthen geological environment detection, use comprehensive remote sensing monitoring technology, sense the stability of mountain slopes, and enhance the early warning ability of geological disasters such as landslides and debris flows on mountain slopes.

Fifth, comprehensively strengthen the construction of mining digital industrial chain and supply chain system. Build a digital mine operation platform, open up the intelligent management of production exploration, mining, beneficiation, processing and reengineering, mineral sales and other links, improve the overall reserve and adjustment capacity of mineral resources, and create a new model and new network for mineral production and marketing.