2024.04.11
A New Era of A.I. & the Mining Industry
A paradigm shift is occurring in the mining industry, one most never could have imagined decades ago.
Major players, who are competitors by nature, are sharing and even pooling information and resources in order to attain improved efficiencies and productivity. While it may fly in the face of everything that we believe about competitive business, it actually makes complete sense, and recent notable examples are already providing the proof.
One of the first big developments came in 2018 (ELYSIS), when Alcoa and Rio Tinto came together to develop the world’s first carbon-free smelting process in a joint venture that included funding from Quebec, the Canadian government, and Apple. Just last month, giants Aluminium Bahrain (ALBA) and Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) signed a technology services agreement covering operational consultation, process audits, tech support services, and hands-on operation support.
This is an incredible leap forward in terms of shared resources in an industry justifiably protective of proprietary data, technologies, operational processes, and skilled people. And while the four industry giants mentioned in the examples above may seem to be best-equipped (and resourced) to take advantage of this shift in thinking and practice, the advantages they seek are in fact available to most operators through the democratization of new technology.
Not surprisingly, the technology behind this transformational shift is the application of AI to shared systems. The trick will be pooling common data to improve productivity while protecting and isolating sensitive and extremely valuable corporate information. Unquestionably, AI is already changing the mining industry rapidly and forever, but its ability to exponentially improve data analysis, maintenance scheduling, equipment-life management, and help maximize overall efficiencies are the most real and tangible benefits among a very large pool that will lead to greater profits and project value.
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