Swedish Mining Automation Group Brochure – 2018

SWEDISH MINING AUTOMATION GROUP (SMAG)

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S P E A R H E A D I N G A D I G I TA L TRANSFORMATION IN THE CANADIAN M I N I N G I N D U ST RY

SWEDISH MINING AUTOMATION GROUP

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PROMOTING DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IN CANADA’S MINES WRIT TEN BY

L AUR A MULL AN PRODUCED BY

RICHARD DE ANE

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Business Sweden Canada with partners from the Swedish mining industry has created SMAG to help the mining sector evolve into a more sustainable and innovative industry. We spoke to Project Manager and Mining Industry Advisor, Christian Orrego Silvander, to find out more

M

ining is often cited as one of the last remaining industries to be disrupted by technology, but that is changing quickly.

From driverless trucks to robotic drills, digitisation is quickly bringing a new measure of safety to mines. It’s also boosting the efficiency of how we obtain the precious minerals needed to make everything from modern cars to devices. In the coming years, mining automation is primed for explosive growth, and it seems that one Nordic country is set to be at the epicentre of it all.

Sweden may be a small mining nation but when it comes to mining technology, it’s considered to be in a league of its own. Looking to collaborate and foster innovation in the mining sector, six Swedish mining technology firms have joined forces with Business Sweden to create the Swedish Mining Automation Group (SMAG). Formed just one year ago, SMAG is a collaborative ecosystem that plans to revolutionise mining, creating a more sustainable industry by innovating holistic solutions together with mining companies.

Jointly owned by the Government of Sweden and representatives from the Swedish business community, Business Sweden works across an array of different industries but mining has proven to be a key area for optimism. One such person who helped to steer this new focus is Business Sweden’s Project Manager and Mining Industry w w w.busi ne ss - swed en . s e

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Advisor Christian Orrego Silvander. He believes that this collaboration between Swedish automation groups and other global miners is a win-win partnership.

“Our mission is to help Swedish companies grow internationally, as well as to attract foreign investments to Sweden,” Silvander explains. “Sweden has a long history of providing solutions to the mining industry and it’s quite famous for having some of the leading original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in 06

mines. Today more than 50% of the technology used in underground mines comes from Sweden.”

Ericsson, Eprioc, SKF, Mobilaris, Sentian Technologies and Scania Mining: the founding members of SMAG make for impressive reading, and in conjunction with Business Sweden, they plan to bring the latest industry know-how and technologies to mining regions across the globe. One such country where SMAG is leaving a lasting impression in is Canada. A force to be reckoned with on the mining stage, Canada is a country that is renowned for its mining heritage. Last year, the industry contributed CAN$72bn

“ SWEDEN HAS A LONG HISTORY OF PROVIDING SOLUTIONS TO THE MINING INDUSTRY AND IT’S QUITE FAMOUS FOR HAVING SOME OF THE LEADING ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURERS (OEMS) IN MINES.” — Christian Orrego Silvander, Project Manager and Mining Industry Advisor at Business Sweden

(US$54.8bn) to its GDP, according to Natural Resources Canada. As such, Business Sweden and SMAG decided to zero in on Canada as a key regional focus.

“The reason we revived this focus on mining was due to the positive outlook on mineral prices as well as the environment here in Canada,” summarises Silvander. “The mining industry is also focusing greatly on creating a more sustainable and innovative future through industrial collaboration and this resonates quite well in Sweden.

Even though we’re quite a small mining nation – we only have 15 active metals mines – we have a long history of innovating through collaboration.

That aligns well with the vision of the w w w.busi ne ss - swed en . s e

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CLICK TO WATCH : ‘SIMS MINING — THE HORIZON 2020 PROJECT’ 08 Canadian mining industry too, which is

don’t have a strategy for digitising or

hoping to become more sustainable

automating their mines, but rather they

and innovative.”

have a strategy to improve safety and

There’s a lot Canada can learn from

increase productivity,” Silvander explains.

Sweden, observes Silvander, citing

“For them, the best way to do that was

Swedish mining operators Boliden and

to use digital technology.” Looking at

LKAB as “amongst some of the most

connectivity, precision technology,

progressive in the world”. Both of these

stabilising processes and eliminating

companies have been early adopters

waste as well as implementing new

of digital and automation technology

mining methods, these mines have

but interestingly, Silvander points out

proven to be gleaming examples of the

that this isn’t about technology for

benefits of mining automation and this

technology’s sake it’s, first and foremost

technological prowess hasn’t gone

about safety, productivity and efficien-

unnoticed worldwide.

cy. “For example, Boliden said that they

“Recently, there’s been a lot of

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FA C T S

• Last year, the mining industry contributed CAN$72bn to Canada’s GDP, according to Natural Resources Canada

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examples of different demonstration projects that have been done mainly in

with other leading mining nations.”

Cross-country collaboration is at the

Sweden and Europe quite recently,”

core of SMAG’s mission and ethos. But

continues Silvander. “All of them have

how has the organisation managed to

a goal to create safe and efficient mines

bridge both a geographic and cultural

by implementing automation technology.

divide? “When we started this initiative,

But this shouldn’t only be on Swedish

we tried to connect with key mining

soil. This should be something that is

organisations, the ones that are driving

implemented internationally. For Sweden,

innovation within the industry. We

with a population less than 10 million

started working with these regional

that’s dependent on international

and national companies. We found out

collaboration, I see this as a very good

their needs, how they operate, and how

opportunity for us to be the one who’s

we can collaborate with them because

leading the development but together

we all more or less have the same

ambition of transforming the industry to make it more sustainable.” By analysing the individual needs of mining operators and disseminating the ‘Swedish mining model’, SMAG has the ambition to help Canadian miners navigate their long-term roadmaps to digitise and automate their mines but, perhaps more importantly, they are also lowering the barriers between suppliers and mining companies to foster cooperation and future innovation.

“With SMAG, we’re trying to foster a co-development culture and lower

E X E C U T I V E P R OF IL E

Christian Orrego Silvander Management consultant with passion for innovation, strategy and collaboration. Strong communicator with expertise in conceptualizing business ideas and pitching technology solutions.

In depth experience of business development and internationalization of tech companies and start-ups in industries such as mining, healthcare, biotech, and cleantech.

Currently leading the Swedish Mining Innovation Group (SMAG) with six leading mining suppliers with the intention to enable holistic solution within mining through cooperation with mining companies. In addition establishing strategic alliances with Canadian stakeholders with the objective to establish a mining collaboration platform between Sweden and Canada. w w w.busi ne ss - swed en . s e

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the variant between vendors and

they’re very keen to transform the

mining `that can really be learned

industry. But I think by allocation

from Sweden,� observes Silvander.

more resources to trying innovative

“The Canadian Mining industry has

solution in the mine rather than

created solid roadmaps for innova-

establishing new roadmaps for them,

tion but there is a need to convert

will accelerate the transformation.

them to actions. Most of the industry

That is really what I see as the missing

also have innovation managers so

link to this puzzle. I think they are

“ TODAY MORE THAN 50% OF THE TECHNOLOGY USED IN UNDERGROUND MINES COMES FROM SWEDEN” — Christian Orrego Silvander, Project Manager and Mining Industry Advisor at Business Sweden

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True digitalization of underground mines, enabling doubledigit productivity increases AND safety improvements.

Real-time Situational Awareness

Ventilation On Demand

Fix those low hanging fruits that waste time and lower face utilization.

We let the presence of machines control the ventilation which is very fast to setup remotely.

Short Interval Control

Emergency Evacuation

From just being monitoring to become operational and able to replan during a shift.

Save lives by shorten the time to evacuate the mine in the case of an emergency.

Optimized Machine Utilization

Mass Localization

Analyze integrated machine data vs plan to optimize your machine utilization.

Another low hanging fruit that locates equipment in a very cost-efficient way.

Traffic Awareness

Improvements by Analytics

Minimizing traffic congestions and make your transports smooth and safe.

Enables you to continuously monitor the face utilization outcome and track productivity.

www.mobilaris.se/mce

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going in the right direction and SMAG

munication company that offers mine

could definitely help with this challenge.”

connectivity and today, they’re deploy-

How to meet the demands of Industry

ing 5G technology which could be an

4.0 is one of the most pressing ques-

innovative way forward for mines in

tions for mining operators today. By

Canada. We also have one of the most

working with a rich ecosystem of holistic

prominent OEMs, Epiroc, who when it

solutions rather than single products,

comes to the automation of equipment

SMAG believes it provides a unique

or meeting KPIs in underground mines,

solution. “This way of working together

they are one of the firms leading the way.”

with a group, as opposed to one vendor

Other members of the ecosystem

is a very new concept, especially in the

include Mobilaris, which provides critical

mining industry,” asserts Silvander.

decision support for production

“There’s also a mix of different compa-

efficiency and safety. “They’re very

nies. Take, Ericsson: they’re a telecom-

prominent in the mining intelligence w w w.busi ne ss - swed en . s e

480+

Number of Business Sweden employees

2017

Year founded

53

Number of offices around the world

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“THIS WAY OF WORKING TOGETHER WITH A GROUP, AS OPPOSED TO ONE VENDOR IS A VERY NEW CONCEPT, ESPECIALLY IN THE MINING INDUSTRY” — Christian Orrego Silvander, Project Manager and Mining Industry Advisor at Business Sweden

area and are developing tools for positioning and enabling real-time short-interval control,” highlights Silvander. Sentian Technologies has also played a key role in this ecosystem, standing as a company with a long background in AI. Additionally, Scania Mining, which Silvander says “provides fleet management and mine site optimisation by applying lean manufacturing principles” has gotten onboard

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alongside SKF, which has “been in

is eyeing up further opportunities in

Canada for over 100 years and are

mining hubs like Australia and Chile.

experts in rotating machinery, reliability

“We have an ambition to go global,�

and offer advanced data analytics

he says brightly.

and predictive maintenance. Looking forward, Silvander is keen to include more suppliers in this ecosystem and

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Swedish Mining Automation Group (SMAG) 2 Bloor St West Suite 2120 Toronto, Ontario ON M4W 3E2 Canada T +1 647 971 8152 www.business-sweden.se