The Roles and Technology Trends of ICT in Mines
Yongkun Choi · Journal of the Korean Society of Mineral and Energy Resources Engineers · 2017
ICT in mining is linked to all information related to mining activities such as geology, production planning and performance, equipment productivity, human resources, mass flow, procurements, costs and markets. Based on these connections, ICT has created new management methods, automation technologies, and optimization technologies in mining field. As the mining environments are getting worse, overseas mining companies are actively introducing ICT as a tool to overcome the difficulties and to achieve sustainable growth. On the other hand, only a small investment has been made in several mines in Korea for safety and equipment monitoring purposes. Recently, domestic mines are faced with various problems that have not been experienced in the past, such as aging of manpower, rising costs, and deepening of resources. Therefore, it is considered urgent to introduce ICT for the sustainable operations of domestic mines.