Safety, Productivity Fuel Growth in Vehicle-Related Technology

Mining companies across North America will focus their investments on a range of vehicle-related technologies over the next two years, according to Timetric’s Mining Intelligence Center (MIC).

In a recently conducted survey, respondents were asked to outline their attitudes and plans towards investing in a range of mine-site technologies in the coming two years. The results from more than 100 mine managers and other senior decision-makers from operations throughout the United States and Canada show a growing focus on vehicle-related technologies.

Respondents were asked to outline the state of their investments across 12 different mine-site technologies, including a range of mine-management and vehicle-related technologies which are used at an operational level. This includes: environmental monitoring and emissions management, communication products/systems, fleet management, and collision avoidance technologies.

While a large share have already invested sufficiently in mine management-related technologies, there is far more scope for investment in vehicle-related technologies, both from those that have already made some investments and those yet to invest at all.

Nez Guevara, senior mining analyst at Timetric’s MIC said, “Even though mines are cutting costs and focusing on productivity, safety is still paramount. This is shown through the intentions to invest in vehicle-related technologies such as collision avoidance and fatigue management. These improvements will bring about a much safer working environment.”

The greatest share of respondents, with a total of 57 percent, are planning investments in collision-avoidance systems, followed by fatigue-management (56 percent), real-time video training (50 percent), remote control/machine automation (49 percent) and fleet-management with 47 percent. Technologies such as collision avoidance and fatigue management enable mines to improve equipment utilization by minimizing downtime, and providing a safer working environment.

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