Start with data consolidation to achieve mining's strategic goals.
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Data consolidation and the ability to analyze it in real-time provides miners with the perfect cocktail for success.

Many businesses within the mining and metals sector have the same problem: data.

It is not always that there is a lack of it - in fact, sometimes it's quite the contrary - it's that it is siloed so cannot be combined with other data streams to give a complete and accurate picture, can't be analyzed rapidly enough to be of use to drive results on the ground, or that even if it can be, there is no way of actioning optimizations in real-time.

The mining sector's data problems and the missing piece.
In recent years, the proliferation and adoption of lots of new and novel technologies has driven better outcomes within businesses. From wearables that are preventing workforce harm through to new types of plant and machinery that are delivering productivity and efficiency savings. The one thing that they all have in common is that they are generating new streams of data.

For businesses that are already struggling to create a true and accurate picture of their performance on overarching strategic goals, these potentially invaluable new streams of data aren't being capitalized upon.

Take carbon emission tracking, for example. Tracking emissions from individual pieces of plant to monitor performance and find savings is very possible today with the use of low cost IoT sensors or from new plant's operating systems (as well as combining them to give a real-time, accurate view of emissions), however miners are struggling to even get an accurate view of total operational carbon emissions because:

1. Their systems and third party data sources can't be combined to create a true, measured picture of what's occurring;
2. The data points that they do have aren’t being effectively analysed or made available in a timely manner for analysis and the formation of predictive insights; and
3. Businesses don’t have the technological ability to do something about the data they're seeing in real-time on the ground (i.e. before optimizations are lost or a failure leads to a much bigger problem).

Fundamentally, interoperability is a massive challenge, but so is the merging of data sets and the analysis of them in context with each other to give a real-time view; the forming of predictive insights as to what is (or isn’t) about to occur based on that view and past performance using machine learning; and the development of the functionality to take action, execute, or program actions based on what the data is showing then and there.

To connect these silos and make use of real-time data via automations, AI and human-led intervention, what is required is a foundational piece of technology that will be critical if businesses are to create a true digital mine and find answers to key strategic problems: a Sustainability Performance Platform (SPP).

Get a real-time single source of truth - eliminate the reporting burden.
A Sustainability Performance Platform (SPP) is critical for miners because it’s the one place in an organization where all of its ESG data (both historical and real-time, from any system, sensor or data lake) can flow and be standardized for analysis in real-time, where machine learning algorithms can be leveraged, and where cross-functional decisions can be orchestrated and executed: it’s a Mining 4.0 brain dedicated to achieving sustainability outcomes.

This piece of technology is the foundation that miners need to achieve their strategic goals, including: zero carbon, zero harm and zero waste. Why? Because without a true and accurate view of real-time performance based on actual real-time data, not just estimates, the margin for error in the view that is currently being provided is either too great to make strategic and operational decisions upon, or doesn't exist at all except in monthly and annual reports.

What's more, there are many additional benefits that can be seized upon by having this real-time single source of truth applied to particular use cases. For example, take the carbon accounting discussion earlier, by accurately monitoring and tracking carbon emissions, it’s easy then to:

• Create a real-time view of SDGs, TCFDs or any other key environmental metrics at a moment's notice;
• Compare current performance to benchmarks and, through the use of machine learning, predict and model future performance based on asset, personnel, sites and entire operational changes (digital twin);
• Get a real-time view of individual environmental measures across sites and entire operations;
• Use it for aggregated risk profiling;
• Create better EIAs, SIAs and mine closure plans; and a whole lot more.

A Sustainability Performance Platform (SPP) is now and will continue to be critical to miners if they are to achieve their strategic goals for 2030 and beyond. Without it, they will never have the objective, accurate picture needed to make the strategic and in-field decisions necessary to deliver on them.

I4 Mining is a sustainability technology provider to the mining sector, offering ready-to-deploy ESG solutions that help miners to succeed both strategically and operationally without ever getting in the way of good business.

Our solutions enable you to easily develop strategies, deliver accurate sustainability metrics and reports in real-time, improve sustainability and business performance, as well as make predictive analytics and forecasts part of your everyday so that you can reduce risks and optimise from mine-to-market.

Speak to us today to book a demo and discover how you can get started on your digital sustainability journey.