14 DAY TRIAL // Just recently, the Mackay-based company Mining Logic Solutions has signed a contract with the Queensland University of Australia, which awarded it with the license to produce the new Nexsys™ real-time risk-management system, to be implemented at a global scale. The new system is expected to boost mine productivity, and also to offer a safer working environment for hundreds of thousands of miners around the world.
According to the QU researchers who developed the new management system, Nexsys™ will centralize massive amounts of digital data, coming in from a variety of sensors installed in modern mines, but which have thus far operated as systems independent from each other. The innovation allows experts in a central control room to monitor the conditions inside their mines in real-time, and can also draft up emergency response plans, in case it discovers something out of the ordinary in one of the exploitation's hundreds of parameters.
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) Exploration and Mining is the main developer of the new Nexsys™ system. Representatives from Australia's largest research group say that the innovation could benefit mines around the world, and that the management at such facilities should not pass on the opportunity of having their exploitations upgraded with state-of-the-art technological advances.
“The potential market for Nexsys™ is not limited to Australia, it is ideally suited for export to many other countries including India, China, the USA and Canada. Today, about 60 per cent of mining software used globally originates in Australia – and Nexsys™ will help that market share grow,” Dr. Mike McWilliams, who is the Exploration & Mining chief at CSIRO, explained.
“[The organization] has created a new safety tool that did not previously exist. They recognized it should be made available to the industry as soon as possible and have negotiated with Mining Logic Solutions to make that happen,” Mark Bennetts, the executive director of the Australian Coal Association Research Program (ACARP), added.
“We are Queensland built and owned, and are delighted to gain access to a technology that has the potential to improve safety and save lives. Nexsys™ will also bring new levels of efficiency to underground coal mines. For example, this technology will enable accidental damage to equipment or breakdowns to be pinpointed and repaired within minutes. We will ask operators exactly what they need to know in real-time and look at additional ways the technology can be used to streamline mine operations,” Mining Logic Solutions Director Dean Kirkwood concluded.