Navigating the future of European mining: MASTERMINE's high-level solutions and user-centric approach
By Kostas Botsialas (AuroraGeo Consulting)
Raw materials are not only essential to produce a broad range of goods and services used in everyday life, but also for the development of emerging innovations in the EU, which are notably necessary for the development of more eco-efficient and globally competitive technologies.
However, the industry is grappling with significant challenges such as deeper mining, securing a social license to operate, land accessibility, increased production rates at reduced costs, and navigating challenging environments both underground and on the surface. To thrive in this dynamic landscape, the industry needs to tap into a new generation of highly skilled entrepreneurial mining professionals and foster better understanding and acceptance from society as a whole.
In response to these challenges, the MASTERMINE project presents a multilevel structural transformation for mining operations, focusing on the Culture, Strategy, and Tactics axis. Culture embodies the intrinsic change required for the European mines, to embrace digitalisation and environmental sustainability while maintaining open communication with surrounding communities.
ESG ratings become pivotal in attracting sustainable financing, leading to higher value addition and increased job opportunities for Europe. The Strategy pillar addresses real industrial challenges by designing high-level modules such as CYBERMINE for digital transformation, AUTOMINE for autonomous and electric operations along with smart monitoring and maintenance, GEOMINE for safety and stability in critical structures, GREENMINE for enhanced environmental sustainability by improving KPIs like energy consumption, air quality and GHG emissions, water savings and waste valorisation and METAMINE for the mining metaverse. The concept of the mining metaverse is brand new, building a a virtual world for the European mines and incorporating all the technologies, along with Digital Twins and Business Intelligence to provide simulation capabilities and decision support to the user.
MASTERMINE's vision extends to creating OURMINE, uniting communities to build trust around the sustainability of raw materials and fostering social innovation. Each module incorporates specific technologies and tactics to achieve desired outcomes and impact, offering a holistic solution for Europe's mining twin transition into the future.
One crucial task within the MASTERMINE project is providing a comprehensive overview of user requirements and use case design.
Following a series of meetings and discussions between technology partners and end users, this task outlines the alignment of user expectations with the project’s objectives. The developed technologies will comply with the ISO/IEC 26702 framework, which guides the application and management of systems engineering processes.
At the aforementioned meetings, AuroraGeo Consulting registered the end-users’ needs and feedback, identifying any potential technical challenges that need to be addressed as leader of the specific task. Based on this information, the technical leaders were able to design and implement use cases for each module of the MASTERMINE project that aligned with the end user’s expectations and requirements.
Moreover, during the meetings with technological partners and end users, the technical leaders could leverage their expertise and collaborate with the technological partners to develop and integrate technologies that would effectively meet the end user’s needs.
Overall, the technical leaders’ effective communication and collaboration with end-users and technological partners will play a crucial role in the success of the MASTERMINE project, ensuring that it will meet the needs and expectations of end-users and effectively leverage innovative technologies to provide a high-quality solution, based on ISO/IEC 26702 (Systems engineering – Applications and management of systems engineering process).
Additionally, a detailed description of pilots in use cases was provided, based on the data supplied by the technical leaders for each demo case.
ITAINNOVA (ITA) provided data for THARSIS Mining, Tampere University for Tapojärvi, CORE IC for TERNA MAG, Glówny Instytut Górnictwa (GIG) for Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa S.A. (JSW S.A), University of the Witwatersrand (WMI) for Sibanye-Stillwater. We also provided insights into the MASTERMINE technologies deployed in the respective use cases, demonstrating how they address the identified challenges and requirements. A comprehensive work plan for the demo cases was included, outlining each end user's tasks, timelines, and responsibilities.
Furthermore, defining key performance indicators (KPIs) was discussed, enabling the continuous evaluation of the project’s effectiveness and adaptability to evolving user needs. These KPIs serve as a monitoring framework, ensuring the project remains on track and enabling necessary adjustments.
Overall, our work comprehensively described the use case design, aligned with end users’ expectations for the MASTERMINE project. It established a foundation for developing and implementing technologies that will shape the mine of the future while delivering tangible benefits to the participating end users.
