The virtual world is quickly materializing in the mining sector

The virtual and robotic revolution in Australia’s mining industry could mean the end of fly-in-fly-out (FIFO) workers within decades, according to one of the world’s leading geologists and immersive technology experts.

Virtual and augmented reality, along with automation, are transforming the mining sector, says UniSA professor Tom Raimondo, enabling more work to be done remotely, saving time and money, and eliminating much of the risk and travel for workers.

Professor Raimondo, dean of information technology and mathematics at the University of South Australia, is leading the development of VR and AR platforms to improve core capture using machine learning, create fully digital reconstructions of mining operations and even simulate the drilling process.

This innovative work was made possible by MinEx CRC, the world’s largest mineral exploration collaboration. It includes projects such as the RoXplorer digital twin, an ultra-realistic simulation of the drilling site of the future, and the Exploration Metaverse, a collection of immersive AR and VR platforms for collaboratively viewing and analyzing complex mining data with colleagues and experts from around the world. world in real time.

“Around the world, discovering new mineral deposits is becoming more difficult and expensive because they are deeper than ever before,” says Professor Raimondo.

“It is also more difficult to extract and process minerals. VR and AR platforms enable us to better visualize and interpret highly complex data and spatial information and make good decisions about where we should direct our search efforts.”

The RoXplorer digital twin, which recreates a drilling site and its operations, enables industry workers to virtually conduct repeated drilling simulations safely and efficiently, with zero environmental impact.

“When it comes to employee training, it also removes hazards. Mining is an inherently dangerous activity, so the more we can transition to autonomous systems, the better off the mining industry will be.”

His LIVE project team, in collaboration with UniSA’s Australian Research Center for Interactive and Virtual Environments (IVE), is also exploring the potential of digital twins for other industries that involve hazardous processes, including forestry, construction and fire services.

Prof Raimondo explains that these technologies will enable zero-entry mining, where all operations will be performed remotely and future miners will interact with digital twins and autonomous robots, rather than with rock cutting and blasting sites.

“This technology is constantly being improved. Even 10 years ago, we almost exclusively used desktop computers or even pen and paper to interpret data. It was often clunky, slow and out of context. We’re now integrating VR headsets, mobile phones and wearable technologies like AR headsets to do this analysis much faster and on-site, with data informing our decisions every step of the way.

“Instead of being limited to a small screen, keyboard and mouse, we now have a full 360 degrees of the environment around us to interpret things more accurately and intuitively, freeing our hands, giving us space to think and engaging our brains in this very exciting future.”

A video explaining this technology can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/CgP31J5w9Ng