TRANSFORMING SAFETY AND EFFICIENCY IN MINING
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TRANSFORMING SAFETY AND EFFICIENCY IN MINING WRITTEN BY
WILLIAM SMITH PRODUCED BY
RICHARD DEANE
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MST GLOBAL
Haydn Roberts, CEO of mining technology company MST Global, reveals the integrated, platform approach futureproofing mines worldwide
M
ining technology firm MST Global can trace its origins back some 30 years to an urgent need for improved commu-
nications in a mining setting. Inspired by a tragic mining disaster at Moura colliery, the company was involved in pioneering a form of through-the-earth 04
communication known as PED. “It provided the ability to communicate through the rock and send a one way message to trapped miners,” says CEO Haydn Roberts. “From there the company started out of Sydney and grew into offering other types of technologies and solutions, all focused around underground coal and hard rock mining linked to voice or data communications and the tracking of people. We’ve really built a whole digital ecosystem around that initial offering.” When he joined four years ago, Roberts brought years of experience in the mining industry, as well as a passion for technology. “When I was very young, around 1980, I got my first computer – a Sinclair ZX80. I had a passion for computing and technology from a very early age, and right when the worldwide web was taking off I moved
Below: Corey Nesbit Systems Engineer and Nick Miller Senior Solutions Architect, Underground in a mine
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MST GLOBAL
“ Technology is going to change over time, and whatever we put into the underground space has to be upgradeable” 06
— Haydn Roberts, CEO, MST Global
to the US and worked for a surface mining company in California. I got quite involved in the technology side of mining at this particular open-pit surface mine with things like fleet dispatch, GPS and mine planning.” Roberts’ career has seen him involved in a number of technological advances in the mining industry, including the introduction of autonomous trucks back in the mid-90s. Digital transformation has perhaps an even more critical aspect in an industry such as mining, with lives potentially on the line in the harsh environment of an underground mine. “Communication’s very difficult, you can’t see each other that easily, you’re working in different parts of the mine and so forth,” emphasises Roberts. “So by definition you’re a very distributed workforce in a very risky environment.” Gone are the days, however, when miners had to rely on canaries for safety. “Digitalisation lets you build a digital ecosystem where everything is connected. You have the ability
1989 Denis Kent with MST founder Gary Zamel and Voest Alpine founder Chris McGuinn Newstan Coal Mine
to track people and equipment, you have the ability to put in sensors that can detect methane and different
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘MST GLOBAL: AXON PRODUCT LAUNCH VIDEO’ 07 poisonous gases, you have the ability
time, and whatever we put into the
to detect movement of the rock. All of
underground space has to be upgrade-
this can be converted into data in real
able. That’s a key differentiator versus
time and acted upon.”
other vendors out there.” The company
This sense of integration character-
is able to combine solutions thanks
ises MST’s approach to its offerings.
in part to its vertically integrated
“We’re technology agnostic in terms
model. “We do our own manufacturing,
of wireless technologies and tracking,”
design, development of software and
Roberts emphasises. “We don’t just
hardware, and then direct selling and
bat for LTE or wifi. We realise that, in
support. That’s a very important part
an underground situation, you’re going
of it all, the service that goes around
to be using Bluetooth, you’re going
deploying it and supporting it. We’re
to use LoRa, you’re going to use wifi
very much focused on that.”
for certain things and LTE for others. Technology is going to change over
Another differentiator is the company’s AXON platform. “We’ve just launched w w w.mstgl o b a l. com
MST GLOBAL
our latest smart infrastructure or smart network platform,” says Roberts. “We realised that our older platform, Impact, wasn’t as easy to upgrade when new technologies came along. With AXON, we knew we had to take a different view on that. We designed it so that it could be in a mine for 10, 15, or 20 years, but have the ability to be upgradeable as different technologies come along.” With an eye on upgrades comes an openness to integrating emerging technologies into the 08
platform. “We work with Microsoft quite closely and we designed AXON to use elements of Microsoft Azure. Within Azure there’s things like voice
also need the ability to be tracked,
and video recognition. For instance,
just like people. Using wearables you
we plan to pick up certain phrases that
can track where people are in a mine,
the Azure module will allow us then
and then, for instance, if they go into a
to act on and turn on a fan or send a
certain area, secondary fans will turn
request for a piece of equipment to
on to make sure that those areas are
go down to a certain end.”
ventilated. The automation of fixed
Automation has a part to play across
assets underground is something that
the full spectrum of technologies
excites us – it’s a more sustainable
deployed in mines. “Automated vehicles
and safer way of mining.”
need real-time communications, so
Considering his experience in the
they need a platform like AXON that
mining industry, Roberts views the
can connect high bandwidth wirelessly
community as a family, a stance
to those vehicles,” says Roberts. “They
MST extends to the work it does with
partners. “With all of our customers, we take a long-term partnership view,” he says. “There’s probably 30 mining companies in the world that mine 80% of the minerals. The truth is that it’s a very small industry when you compare it to something like automotive. We do business with about 300 mines. Every one of those needs to be a special relationship and a partnership.” MST Global’s work with gold-mining firm OceanaGold is one such example. “From the very get-go we sat down and worked out how we could share
E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE
Haydn Roberts Haydn is the CEO of MST Global. Haydn commenced his career in underground gold mines in South Africa before joining Rio Tinto, with roles in manufacturing, smelting and mining in the UK and USA. He has held senior leadership roles with Groundprobe and Komatsu Modular Mining Systems based in the US and Australia. Prior to MST Global, Haydn was the CEO of Leica Mining and COO of Hexagon Mining. He has extensive experience in executive management, mining technology and best practice. Haydn has a Mining Engineering degree from Cardiff University, Wales and a Master’s Degree in Systems Management from the University of Southern California.
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“ It’s incumbent upon all of us to accept the reality of global warming and to do something about it” — Haydn Roberts, CEO, MST Global
A tunnel project to access a gold ore body at a new gold mine in Australia
our roadmap with theirs and identify the common alignment. We had workshops where they listened to what we felt about the strategic vision for the technology in this space, and then we started to deploy solutions at their various mines. They’ve been a great partner.” As for the future, Roberts is clear that one challenge facing MST and the wider industry above all others is sustainability. “It’s incumbent upon all of us to accept the reality of global warming and to do something about it. What I seek for MST is to ask: ‘how do we address sustainability?’ How do we bring youth into the discussion and get their feedback on how we can improve the business? To me, that’s probably the most important external factor that we have to address in a meaningful way.” While there’s a long way to go, MST is on the path and encourages fellow industry members to do the same. “It’s a journey of a thousand steps, but you’ve got to make that first one.”
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MST Global 113 Wicks Road, Sydney, NSW 2113, Australias T +61294916500 www.mstglobal.com