The underground exploration at the Kanmantoo Copper-Gold Mine required an additional portal and the construction of the decline without the use of any blasting. The construction on the mine’s decline requires the site to have a smart lighting system that can be used in managing day-to-day operations and in the event of underground mine emergencies.
Hillgrove Resources contracted IoT Automation to install FireFly Lighting—a software-controlled smart lighting system that helps manage operations and enables safer evacuations and emergency responses in underground mines and tunnels.
“The FireFly network was initially deployed around the portal and start of the decline to facilitate the oncoming traffic of the trucks being used to cut the portal and construct the start of the decline. But its future applications are limitless and integral to other innovative technology and systems that we plan to employ at the mine.”
FireFly’s ability to be integrated with other solutions enables the mine operations to be safer, smarter and more efficient. With FireFly’s cost-effective and easy-to-use solution, the mine now encounters:
- Real time hazard reporting, such as pit rockfall activity – linked to Lidar and Doppler radar sensors
- Personal proximity detection and vehicle awareness with Bluetooth tagging
- Vehicle traffic management systems
- Zone demarcation, such as blasting clearance, tip points and open holes
- Emergency response – personnel tracking, evacuation and direction to refuge chambers
- Fans and ventilation – variable speed drives that only use as much power as we need based on zone demarcation and personnel underground.
For further read, download the case study below.