Fleet assignment paradox in mining: traditional vs modern solutions

Titan40-DMB Dedicated Mining Battery Series The Titan40-DMB (Dedicated Mining Battery) series, available in 12V and 24V variants, is the largest battery ever certified and approved as safe for underground mining applications. Engineered and accredited under SANAS certification, the Titan40-DMB ensures unrivaled safety, performance, and reliability in the harshest mining environments. Purpose-built for the demands of modern mining, this series is ideally suited for: - Vehicle Starting Applications – Heavy-duty performance for underground and open-pit mining vehicles. - Powering Communication Systems – Reliable energy for mission-critical systems both above and below ground. Key Advantages of the Titan40-DMB Series ◙      Certified for Underground Safety: SANAS accredited – ensuring compliance and operator safety. ◙     Rugged & Reliable: Designed to withstand vibration, shock, and high-temperature operation common in mining. ◙      Extended Storage Life: Low self-discharge, ensuring readiness when needed. ◙      Deep Discharge Protection: Maintains performance even if discharged to zero. ◙      Fast Recovery & Recharge: Rapid recharge capability, minimizing downtime. ◙      Total Cost Efficiency: Longer cycle life and reduced replacement costs compared to traditional battery chemistries. ◙     Eco-Friendly Chemistry: Designed for a reduced environmental footprint compared to lead-acid alternatives. Contact Mega-Titan Power for Technical and Sales requirements: power@megatitan.co.za

Mining Magazine posted an article about Conservaco, LLC, #TheIgniteAgency client, GACW (Global Air Cylinder Wheels), today titled, "’The wheel of the future’ gains traction.” The article written by editor Beth McLoughlin spotlights GACW and the potential of its #AirSuspensionWheel (ASW) technology. This concept is described as poised to disrupt the mining industry by addressing long-standing challenges associated with wheels and #tires. I have provided a link below, but unfortunately, it is hidden by a paywall. However, I have secured a copy of the article. Below are four key highlights: - Innovation for Mining – Global Air Cylinder Wheels’ Air Suspension Wheel is a non-pneumatic, mostly steel wheel with built-in suspension and nitrogen-filled cylinders, designed to replace failure-prone rubber tires. - Cost & Time Savings – The ASW can last the full life of a mining vehicle (10–15 years), potentially reducing tyre replacement costs by up to 60% and cutting maintenance downtime from eight hours to minutes with its replaceable treads. - Sustainability Impact – By eliminating rubber waste and reducing emissions, the technology helps lower landfill impact while providing a safer, more durable alternative for heavy-duty mining operations. - Momentum and Growth – With $6M in anticipated purchase orders and a growing pipeline of mining partners, GACW is positioning its “wheel of the future” to become the industry standard. Harmen van Kamp, co-founder and CEO of GACW, was also quoted extensively in the piece from the company's recent press release, focusing on how its ASW technology reduces tire waste, cuts mining costs, and landfill impact in tackling a billion-dollar problem. Published by Aspermont Media (UK-based) under the Mining IQ brand, Mining Magazine (https://lnkd.in/gRKrWrPY ) covers breaking news, world/regional mining developments, feature reporting, and in-depth “Expert-led Insights” into ESG, digitalization, automation, exploration, and future fleet strategies. Its past circulation reached 80,000 print readers retained after transitioning behind a paywall, plus over 7,000 tablet readers as of 2016. No updated figures are publicly available. Publishes the annual Mining Magazine Awards (13 categories like Innovation, Safety Excellence, Exploration, Woman of the Year, etc.), with winners featured in its November 2025 print edition and online promotions. You can check out GACW’s equity crowdfunding campaign on #StartEngine, here: (https://lnkd.in/gfMkayZM). Stay tuned for more company news. #miningindustry #tireindustry #autoindustry #investment #investors #greentech #MiningMagazine https://lnkd.in/gibb2tbV

💨 A new underground mining development of Valterra – the Sandsloot Underground’s exploration decline shaft – has seen the deployment of a dual-speed fan system to offer ventilation-on-demand (VoD). Sourced and assembled in South Africa by Dwyka Mining Services, the VoD system allows switching between high speed (1 495 RPM) and low speed (990 RPM) settings, which enables the delivery of “just the right amount of air when and where it’s needed”, Dwyka Mining Services CEO Jamie van Schoor tells Mining Weekly. 🤯 HERE'S THE REALLY COOL PART: “By dropping the speed by just 30% we still maintain 70% of the airflow delivered but drop the power consumption from 110 kW to 37 kW, providing huge operational savings,” explains Clemcorp Australia GM Justin Coetzee. 🛠 THE NITTY GRITTY: The essential fan components were imported from Australia using a flat-pack shipping model, after which they were built in South Africa by Dwyka. While the dual-speed motors were wound in Australia for quality assurance, Van Schoor points out that Dwyka technicians recently underwent training in Perth, Australia, enabling them to handle the rest of the fan build, locally. “This ‘glocal’ approach helps us deliver world-class global technology in a way that makes long-term financial and environmental sense for local operations,” he says. The Clemcorp fans were installed using the company’s Suspension Wing design, which Van Schoor says enables their easy and safe installation, even in tight spaces underground where traditional PGM mines can pose a challenge…   📖 Find the whole story on Mining Weekly: https://lnkd.in/dSt7DJb8

Did you know? Fragmentation analysis in mining is a powerful, data-driven approach that evaluates the size distribution of blasted rock to significantly enhance the efficiency and profitability of downstream operations. By leveraging advanced imaging technologies and sophisticated software, this method provides precise, quantitative measurements of fragment sizes, transforming subjective assessments into actionable insights. The result? Smarter blast designs that minimize oversized rocks and reduce the burden on crushers and mills, leading to substantial reductions in energy consumption of up to 10–15%, increased equipment throughput by as much as 20%, and improved operational safety. In tangible business terms, this optimization translates into a measurable 12% annual increase in recovery rates and operational profitability, directly impacting financial statements and performance reviews. In today’s competitive mining environment, mastering fragmentation analysis isn’t just a technical advantage, it's a strategic differentiator that demonstrates clear leadership in operational excellence. It delivers documented, quantifiable results that go far beyond routine tasks, proving that technical expertise directly drives real business value.

Why Mining Engineers Need to Write More Mining is an industry defined by practice. Every day, engineers on the ground confront technical, logistical, and environmental challenges that demand immediate solutions. They innovate, adapt, and often develop practices that push the boundaries of efficiency and safety. Yet, when one surveys the body of literature available, a striking gap becomes apparent: much of the published work on mining focuses on theoretical frameworks, research models, or consultant-led analyses. Far less comes directly from mining engineers engaged in day-to-day execution. This underrepresentation raises an important question: why are the very practitioners shaping the industry’s future not equally shaping its written record? Mining engineers possess first-hand knowledge that cannot be replicated by external observation. Their insights encompass the nuances of execution, the intricacies of field decision-making, and the hard-earned lessons that emerge when theory collides with practice. However, these insights often remain confined to site reports, informal discussions, or—more commonly—personal memory. The consequences of this silence are significant. As the saying goes, “Knowledge not shared is knowledge wasted.” Valuable practices and lessons risk being lost to time, rather than serving as a foundation for collective industry progress. Another adage, “The palest ink is better than the best memory,” reminds us that what is documented endures; what is not, disappears. Encouraging mining engineers to contribute to professional and academic literature is therefore not just desirable—it is essential. By sharing experiences, case studies, and even failures, practitioners can enrich the body of knowledge available to both current peers and future generations. Writing should not be seen as the domain of universities or consultants alone. Practitioners have an equally important role in ensuring that the lived realities of mining are captured, analyzed, and disseminated. In an industry where documentation often determines whether an event is remembered or forgotten, one might adapt a familiar maxim: “If you don’t write about it, it will never be remembered.” The mining sector stands to gain immensely from the voices of its engineers—not just in practice, but in print. Gangapuram Kishan Reddy Ministry of Mines, Govt of India Ministry of Coal - Official Coal India Limited Hindustan Copper Ltd National Aluminium Company Limited - NALCO Mineral Exploration And Consultancy Limited Sanjiv Kumar Singh Sounak Sarkar Coalfield Times

🚨 MINING WITHOUT MINERS? A Reflection from a Young Mining Engineer-in-the-Making ⛏️🌍 Sometimes I pause and ask myself: “Where would the world be without mining?” From the phone in your hand to the road you walk on, the electricity you use, the water you drink — mining touches it all. Yet, how often are miners appreciated? How often do we raise questions about their safety, their dignity, and their future in an industry that’s evolving faster than ever? 💭 Automation is advancing. AI is entering the scene. Green mining is no longer a dream but a demand. But are we training minds fast enough to keep up? Are we ready to balance production with protection — of both people and planet? As a passionate Mining Engineering student, I’m not just studying rocks and rigs. I’m studying people, problems, and possibilities. Let’s talk: 🔹 How do we protect artisanal miners while promoting large-scale efficiency? 🔹 What’s the role of youth in reshaping the mining sector? 🔹 Can mining be truly sustainable — socially, economically, and environmentally? To my fellow engineers, professionals, policymakers — and dreamers: 📣 What changes do YOU want to see in the mining industry? #MiningMatters #MiningEngineering #SustainableMining #FutureOfMining #EngineeringVoices #GreenMining #MiningStudent #WomenInMining #GhanaMining #TechInMining #MineResponsibly #UMaTVoices

Mining project generation is often described as “finding a needle in a haystack.” I’ve heard this countless times from mining companies, corporate finance analysts, and fellow explorers. But what if we used a magnet? What if AI and data could surface the most promising, acquirable mining projects before they even hit the market—giving you a competitive edge, like securing a Sydney property before it ever goes to auction? Today, project generation is still reactive: sifting through government databases, relying on word of mouth, or waiting for a broker to call. We set out to flip this process—to make it proactive and predictive. That’s why we built a Project Opportunity Map: not just showing where projects are, but which ones are most likely to come up for sale in the next 6–12 months—and why. We modeled five key factors to calculate a Divestment Score for every project: - Maturity stage - Importance of the commodity in the company’s portfolio - Geographic isolation within the portfolio - Nearby competitors and infrastructure - Strategic fit indicators The result? An interactive intelligence map that narrowed 11,000+ projects down to fewer than 1,000 ranked, filterable opportunities. And when we validated it against historical data, over 95% of the projects we flagged were later sold or put into JV. You can read the full blog post linked in the comments—or reach out if you’d like to test drive the map.

🚨 Mining Autonomy: Revolution or Economic Mirage? The recent news on incidents with autonomous fleets highlights what many of us in mining already know: current autonomy was designed for Pilbara, not for deep copper deposits. 🇦🇺 In iron ore mines, with 2–3 benches, wide ramps and simple geometries, it works flawlessly. 🇨🇱 In copper, to be fair, autonomy performs reasonably well in prestripping and the first benches of exploitation, where space is wide and communication coverage is stable. It’s also true that equipment utilization improves and tire life is extended. But once extraction moves deeper, the picture changes dramatically: oversized ramps, exaggerated turning radii, and millions invested in LTE repeaters just to keep trucks “on track.” In practice, that means sacrificing NPV to sustain a technology that was never designed for this business. 🤖 Calling this a “revolution” is misleading. We don’t need trucks that follow hard-coded rules and static maps. We need systems that learn in the field: Reinforcement Learning, sensor fusion, and real-time adaptation. Autonomy that understands the operation, not autonomy that forces us to redesign it. 🇨🇳 Meanwhile, in China, 100 cabless electric autonomous trucks are already in operation, running on 5G-Advanced networks with cloud-based AI and multi-sensor fusion, delivering 20% higher efficiency than manned fleets. The paradox is clear: we sell them copper, but we don’t bring back the technology they’re already applying… and on top of that, this technology can cost half or even less than what we’re currently paying. 📉 Today’s high copper prices may cover any decision, even those that erode NPV. But if the cycle turns, those choices will come back to bite us. ❓ So the real question is: will we keep adapting our mines to the limits of current autonomy, or will we demand autonomy that finally adapts to the reality of deep copper mining?

Inside Caterpillar’s Next-Gen Excavator Evolution As featured in Mining Digital's report “Mining Equipment Giant Caterpillar’s Next-gen Excavators,” Caterpillar continues to lead the evolution of hydraulic excavator technology—focusing not only on performance and size, but also on reducing fuel consumption, emissions, and long-term maintenance costs.  Caterpillar’s journey with hydraulic excavators began in the late 1960s, and by 1970, the 28-ton 225 model marked a significant breakthrough in machine capability. Today, machines like the 6090—a behemoth with over 4,500 horsepower and a bucket payload of 103 tons—represent just how far the company has come in scaling up power and productivity. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eG6BR7b6

🔹 Breaking Down Mining in 4 Simple Steps 🔹 Mining isn’t just about digging the ground—it’s a science, an art, and a driver of industrial growth. 🌍 Every mineral that shapes our modern world—from cement and steel to the technology in our hands—goes through a structured journey: 1️⃣ Prospecting – Identifying where valuable mineral deposits exist. 2️⃣ Planning – Designing the safest, most efficient, and environmentally responsible extraction process. 3️⃣ Operations – Deploying advanced machinery and engineering expertise to extract minerals. 4️⃣ Processing – Refining raw minerals into usable resources that power industries and everyday life. ⛏️ From infrastructure to innovation, mining is the backbone of progress. At Mining 360 Services, we believe in creating awareness about how responsible mining practices fuel economic development, sustainability, and engineering excellence. 📌 Let’s start conversations on making mining smarter, safer, and more sustainable. #MiningExplained #MiningProcess #Minerals #IndustrialGrowth #Sustainability #EngineeringExcellence #Mining360 #LinkedInLearning #KnowledgeBytes