AU2016213833A1

AU2016213833A1 - A mine scheduling system

Info

Publication number: AU2016213833A1
Application number: AU2016213833A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Alistair Baron; Andrew White
Original assignee: Technological Resources Pty Ltd
Current assignee: Technological Resources Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2009-06-12
Filing date: 2016-08-11
Publication date: 2016-09-01

Abstract

A system is disclosed for scheduling mine activities. The system comprises a plurality of data gathering devices 5 arranged to gather data indicative of the status of mine activities at a plurality of interdependent mine operations including at least one mine site, at least one port facility and at least one rail network. The system also comprises a scheduling facility remotely disposed 10 relative to the interdependent mine operations, and a communications network arranged to facilitate transfer of the data indicative of the status of mine activities at a plurality of interdependent mine operations from the mine operations to the scheduling facility. The scheduling 15 facility is arranged to communicate the data indicative of the status of mine activities at a plurality of interdependent mine operations to a scheduling operator at the monitoring facility. 80779681 (GHMatters) P81250.AU.8 11/08/16

Description

A MINE SCHEDULING SYSTEM

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a mine scheduling system for scheduling activities at a plurality of mine operations .

Background of the Invention

It is known to provide a mine rail network with a scheduling system arranged to facilitate scheduling of operations in the rail network.

However, with such a scheduling system it is necessary for operators to travel to the scheduling system, which can be expensive for mining operators.

Summary of the Invention

In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of integrating the operations of a plurality of mine sites and associated infrastructure distributed across a regional area and producing one or more bulk commodities, such as iron ore, coal or bauxite, the method comprising the steps of: scheduling mining activities at each one of said plurality of mine sites so as to produce a scheduled level of ore at each said mine site and associated infrastructure; transmitting operational data from equipment at each one of said plurality of mine sites to an operations facility common to said plurality of mine sites and associated infrastructure; selecting a sub-set of said operational data from each said mine site and associated infrastructure and monitoring said sub-sets to identify a reduced production rate from one or more of said mines sites and associated infrastructure below said scheduled level of production; and re-scheduling said mining activities at one or more of the mine sites so as to minimise any reduction to aggregate output from said plurality of mine sites.

Preferably said associated infrastructure comprises a network of rail lines servicing said mine sites and said mining activities include loading trains with said ore at said mine sites and said re-scheduling includes rescheduling at least one of said trains so that ore is loaded at at least one alternate mine site to the mine site experiencing said reduced production rate.

Preferably said associated infrastructure comprises at least one stock yard common to said plurality of mines and said mining activities include stockpiling ore from said plurality of mine sites at said stock yard and wherein said rescheduling of mining activities includes rescheduling said stockpiling of ore at said stock yard.

Preferably ore is loaded onto ships berthed at a port associated with said stock yard and said mining activities include loading of ore onto said ships and wherein said rescheduling of said mining activities includes rescheduling supply of ore from said stock yard to said ships .

Preferably said associated infrastructure comprises at least one stock yard common to said plurality of mines and said mining activities include blending of ore from said plurality of mine sites at said stock yard so as to produce at least one stock pile of blended ore and wherein said rescheduling of mining activities includes comparing ores available for transportation to and blending at said stock yard with ore scheduled for blending at said stock yard and no longer available due to said reduced production rate and selecting an ore to substitute for the scheduled ore.

Preferably said associated infrastructure comprises a network of rail lines for transporting ore from said mine sites to at least one stock yard common to said plurality of said mine sites, and said mining activities include loading of trains with ore at said mine sites and blending of said ore at said stock yard so as to produce at least one stock pile of blended ore and wherein said rescheduling of mining activities includes comparing ores available for transportation to and blending at said stock yard with ore scheduled for blending at said yard and no longer available due to said reduced production rate and selecting an ore to substitute for the secheduled ore and re-scheduling at least one train to the mine site with the selected ore.

Preferably said operations facility includes a plurality of operating stations for controlling operation of equipment at said mine sites and associated infrastructure so as to control said mining activities and said monitoring of said mining activities comprises displaying said selected sub-sets of data on said plurality of operating stations.

Preferably said sub-sets of data are displayed on at least one display common to said plurality of operating stations. Preferably the display common to said plurality of operating stations is visible to operators of each one of said operating stations.

Preferably said sub-sets of data displayed on said display common to said plurality of operating stations is refreshed at a rate that is at least an order of magnitude slower than the rate at which operational data displayed on said operating stations is refreshed.

Preferably said operations facility is located remotely from said plurality of mine sites and associated infrastructure and at least one of said selected sub-sets of data is sourced from operational data transmitted by said equipment to at least one of said operating stations whereby transmission of data between said operations facility and said mine sites and associated infrastructure is minimised.

Preferably, said monitoring of said sub-sets to identify a reduced production rate comprises monitoring said sub-sets for equipment breakdown or other outage.

Preferably said sub-sets of data are derived from said operational data.

Preferably said sub-sets of data include one or more of the following: stock pile levels available for loading onto trains at one or more mine sites ore quality information associated with one or more stock piles of ore at one or more mine sites operational status of train loading equipment at one or more mine sites operational status of ore processing facilities at one or more mine sites operational status of said train network operational status of train consists on said network operational status of rail wagon unloading equipment at said stock yard operational status of stock yard and associated equipment operational status of ship loading equipment ships in port waiting to be berthed ships berthed at port waiting to be loaded berth status information for each wharf at said port facilities

In accordance with a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of scheduling mine activities, said method comprising: providing a plurality of data gathering devices arranged to gather data indicative of the status of mine activities at a plurality of interdependent mine operations including at least one mine site, at least one port facility and at least one rail network; providing a scheduling facility remotely disposed relative to the interdependent mine operations; gathering data indicative of the status of mine activities at a plurality of interdependent mine operations including at least one mine site, at least one port facility and at least one rail network using the data gathering devices; communicating the data indicative of the status of mine activities at a plurality of interdependent mine operations to the scheduling facility; and modifying scheduling of mine activities as necessary based on the data communicated to the scheduling facility.

In one embodiment, each data gathering device is arranged to monitor operation of at least one item of mine equipment.

At least one data gathering device may comprise at least one equipment interface such as at least one programmable logic controller (PLC).

In one embodiment, the system may further comprise a local VOIP device at each mine operation and a remote VOIP device at the remote scheduling facility, the local and remote VOIP devices facilitating audio communications between the mine operations and the remote scheduling facility through the communications network.

In one embodiment, at least one data gathering device may comprise a still and/or video camera disposed at a mine operation, and the system may comprise a display disposed at the remote scheduling facility, the system being arranged to display images captured by said at least one camera on the display. The display may be of sufficient size such that the images on the display are easily viewable by all operators at the remote scheduling facility. In one embodiment, the system is arranged such that images associated with multiple still and/or video cameras are viewable on the display, and may be arranged such that images associated with multiple still and/or video cameras located at multiple mine operations are viewable on the display.

In one embodiment, the system is arranged to monitor whether communications between the remote scheduling facility and the mine operations are possible and to generate an alarm signal when an indication is obtained that an outage may have occurred between the remote scheduling facility and one of more mine operations. The system may be arranged to require that a handshake occurs periodically between the remote scheduling facility and the mine operations, such as by configuring the equipment interfaces to periodically send a heartbeat communication to the remote scheduling facility to send a reply signal indicating that the heartbeat communication has been received.

The system may further be arranged to prioritise communications between the mine operations and the remote scheduling facility according to communication type. In one embodiment, the system may be arranged to allocate different bandwidth percentages to different types of communications, such as to communications related to monitoring activities, VOIP communications, CCTV data, email, file transfers, and so on. In one arrangement, communications related to monitoring activities, and VOIP communications are given higher bandwidth percentages than CCTV data, email and file transfers. In an alternative embodiment, different types of communications are allocated different priority values which are used by routers in the communications network to manage queues in the routers and thereby the speed of transfer of the communications through the routers.

In one embodiment, the scheduling facility comprises a plurality of monitoring stations, each monitoring station being arranged to monitor mine equipment at a different mine operation. Each monitoring station may comprise a plurality of computer terminals, each terminal being arranged to monitor different mine equipment at a mine operation. The computer terminals may be realized using multiple computing devices, or using at least one terminal server and at least one thin client device.

In one embodiment, the system comprises multiple network connection arrangements for connecting the scheduling facility with the communications network so that a backup network connection is available should one of the connections between the scheduling facility and the communications network fail.

In one embodiment, the system comprises multiple power supply arrangements for supplying electrical power to the scheduling facility such that should supply of electrical power by one of the power supply arrangements to the scheduling facility fail, another power supply arrangement is used to provide the scheduling facility with electrical power .

In one embodiment, the monitoring facility is disposed at or adjacent an airport.

In accordance with a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system for scheduling mine activities, said system comprising: a plurality of data gathering devices arranged to gather data indicative of the status of mine activities at a plurality of interdependent mine operations including at least one mine site, at least one port facility and at least one rail network; a scheduling facility remotely disposed relative to the interdependent mine operations; and a communications network arranged to facilitate transfer of the data indicative of the status of mine activities at a plurality of interdependent mine operations from the mine operations to the scheduling facility; the scheduling facility being arranged to communicate the data indicative of the status of mine activities at a plurality of interdependent mine operations to a scheduling operator at the monitoring facility.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a schematic conceptual diagram illustrating a plurality of mine operations and components of a mine scheduling system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a block diagram illustrating a mine scheduling system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 3 is a diagrammatic representation showing components of the present invention disposed at a remote scheduling facility; and

Figure 4 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example layout of components of the present invention disposed at the remote scheduling facility.

Description of an Embodiment of the Invention

An example conceptual diagram 10 illustrating relationships between mine operations and a remote scheduling facility 18 is shown in Figure 1. In this example, the mine operations comprise mine sites 12, a port facility 14 and a rail facility 16, although it will be understood that the invention is applicable to any operation associated with extracting, handling, processing or transporting bulk commodities in a mining environment.

In this example, the remote scheduling facility 18 is remotely located relative to the mine sites 12, the rail network 16 and the port facility 14. Typically, the remote scheduling facility 18 is situated at a significant distance from the mine sites 12, the rail network 16 and the port facility 14 such that it is impractical for daily commuting by operators via road or rail to the mine sites, the port facility and the rail network, for example a distance exceeding 250km.

The conceptual diagram 10 shows a plurality of mine sites 12 which may be of open pit or underground type. The mine sites 12 typically produce a single bulk commodity, such as iron ore, coal or bauxite, and are serviced by the rail network 16 comprising rail lines 20 that transport the bulk commodities produced at the mine sites 12 to a port facility 14, or other facility incorporating a stock yard 29 for storage and/or processing of the bulk commodities.

The mine operations each include a plurality of data gathering devices arranged to gather data relevant to mine scheduling. The data gathering devices may be in the form of equipment interface devices arranged to interface with plant and equipment and provide data relevant to mine scheduling, and may be in the form of still and/or video cameras arranged to obtain image and/or video information indicative of mine operations and which may be relevant to mine scheduling.

In the present example, each mine site 12 has associated locally disposed mine equipment interface devices 22, the rail network 16 has associated locally disposed rail equipment interface devices 24 and the port facility 14 has associated locally disposed port equipment interface devices 26. Each of the equipment interfaces 22, 24, 26 communicates with a regional communications network 25 that in turn communicates with the remote scheduling facility 18 via a wide area network (WAN) 28. The remote scheduling facility 18 may be in communication with a metropolitan area network (MAN) 30 connected to the WAN 28 .

Using the remote monitoring station 18, and in particular data obtained from data gathering devices, including the equipment interface devices 22, 24, 26, located at the mine operations, operators monitor operation of plant and equipment at the mine sites 12, the rail network 16 and the port facility 14 and using information derived from the monitoring process modify mine operation scheduling as necessary.

The data gathering devices may be arranged to gather operational related data including any one or more of the following : stock pile levels available for loading onto trains at one or more mine sites ore quality information associated with one or more stock piles of ore at one or more mine sites operation status of train loading equipment at one or more mine sites operational status of ore processing facilities at one or more mine sites operational status of the train network operational status of train consists on said network operational status of rail wagon unloading equipment at the stock yard operational status of stock yard and associated equipment operational status of ship loading equipment ships in port waiting to be berthed ships berthed at port waiting to be loaded berth status information for each wharf at the port facilities

Additionally, one or more of the mine sites, port facility and rail network may include one or more data gathering devices in the form of still and/or video cameras.

In operation, each mine site 12 has daily, weekly, monthly and annual schedules for mining of ore and waste. Transportation of ore from each of the mine sites 12 to the port facility 14 is scheduled according to the daily, weekly and monthly schedules of the various mine sites 12. A stock yard 29 receives ore from the rail network 16 at a train load out facility 32 which places the ore onto conveyors 34 that in turn route the ore to a designated stock pile 36. The placement of ore onto the stockpiles 36 is scheduled so that the ore from the various mine sites 12 is blended to produce a uniform product prior to loading onto ships 38 at the port facility 14.

Alternately, the stock piles 36 may be blended into various qualities of ores, such as high grade ore and low grade ore or ore with specific characteristics. Alternately, ore may be blended at each mine site 12 prior to railing so that each mine site 12 produces a specified average grade of ore that is then railed to the port facility 14. Under these conditions the ore is routed from the train load out facility 32 to a designated stock pile 36 without further blending.

In the event of a significant outage of plant/equipment at a mine site 12, at the port facility 14 or within the rail network 16 it may be necessary to dynamically reschedule production at one or more of the mine sites 12 so that a desired level of ore is loaded onto the ships 38 at the port facility 14. Similarly, it may be necessary to reschedule rail services to different mine sites and to reschedule the stock pile building operations. Such rescheduling is facilitated by the remote scheduling facility 18 that gathers operational data from the mine sites 12, the rail network 16 and the port facility 14 and displays relevant information derived from the data at a single location. This enables schedule personnel located at the remote scheduling facility 18 to overview aggregate production activities at the mine sites 12 and to rapidly identify outages likely to affect production levels. Once such an outage is identified, the schedule personnel can reschedule activities at the mine sites, and at the rail and port facilities as necessary so as to minimise any loss of production.

The operational data from each mine site 12, from the rail network 16 and from the port facility 14 is displayed centrally at the remote scheduling facility 18 so as to facilitate such dynamic scheduling and re-scheduling of activities at the mine operations 12, 14, 16. Preferably, the operational data for central display at the remote scheduling facility 18 is updated at a rate that is at least an order of magnitude slower than the rate at which data at the operator monitoring stations is updated. This updating may be in the order of once every minute through to once every 10 to 15 minutes. This reduces, and preferably minimises, the bandwidth requirements between the remote scheduling facility 18 and the mine sites 12, the rail network 16 and the port facility 14. A scheduling operator may carry out rescheduling of one or more operations as necessary, for example using terminals at the remote scheduling facility, VOIP communications, conventional telephone communications, or in any other way.

In one arrangement, the remote scheduling facility 18 may be used to transmit operating commands to plant and equipment located at the mine sites 12, within the rail network 16 and at the port facility 14 (including the stock yard facility 30) via a communications network that includes the MAN 30, the WAN 28, and regional networks 25. Plant and equipment transmit operational data to the remote scheduling facility which in turn displays the operational data on display screens for operators of the equipment at the remote scheduling facility 18.

In one arrangement, plant and equipment servers located on site and in communication with the data gathering devices, including the mine, port and rail equipment interface devices 22, 24, 26 receive operating commands from the remote scheduling facility 18. The plant and equipment servers translate these operating commands into signals which may be implemented by the relevant item of plant / equipment associated with the signal and operating command. The plant and equipment transmits operating signals to the server which in turn transmit operational data to the remote scheduling facility for display on one or more terminals. The operational data displayed on the terminals verifies for the operator of the operator monitoring station the operational status of the relevant plant and equipment.

In circumstances wherein the remote scheduling facility 18 communicates with the mine operations over a corporate network that also carries e-mail, and other non-time-critical data traffic, it is preferable that the operating commands transmitted from the remote scheduling facility to plant and equipment servers and operational data received from the plant and equipment servers occur in real time or near real time such that an operator located at the remote scheduling facility 18 perceives an average system response time between transmitting operating commands and seeing operational data displayed in response is less than 2.0 seconds. Preferably the delay is less than 1.5 seconds and preferably less than 1.0 seconds. A particular embodiment of the mine operation scheduling system 10 for the mine operations 12, 14, 16 shown in Figure 1 will now be described with reference to Figures 2, 3 and 4 of the drawings.

Each mine operation 12, 14, 16 includes mine equipment 40 which may be distributed around the mine operation, and each item of mine equipment 40 is electronically monitorable by an equipment interface device, and may also be controllable by the equipment interface. In this example, the equipment interface comprises an equipment controller 42 which may be in the form of a programmable logic controller (PLC).

The mine equipment 40 may include one or more of the following : train loading equipment mobile equipment ore processing plant and equipment train control equipment rail wagon unloading equipment at the stock yard stock yard equipment ship loading equipment

However, it will be understood that any other mine equipment which is relevant to scheduling of mining operations, including of associated infrastructure such as port and rail infrastructure, is envisaged.

The mine equipment controllers 42 are each connected to a local network 44, which may be of LAN type, so that the equipment controllers 42 can receive control signals for operating equipment 40. Also connected to the local network 44 is a control server 48 which is arranged to coordinate monitoring (and optionally control of) the items of mine equipment by the remote scheduling facility 18 .

The remote scheduling facility 18 comprises a network 62 which may be in the form of a local area network (LAN) in communication with the wide area network 60 and thereby with the respective local networks 44 at the mine operations 12, 14, 16.

As shown in Figure 3, the remote scheduling facility 18 comprises a plurality of monitoring stations 64, each of which comprises a plurality of terminals 66 arranged to display information indicative of (and optionally facilitate control of) different items of equipment 40 associated with the mine operation 12, 14, 16.

In the present example, the terminals 66 are of thin client type and, as such, a terminal server 70 and a plurality of thin client devices 68 are provided. This arrangement allows multiple computing devices to be realised without the need to provide multiple full function personal computers. With this arrangement, most of the processing activity occurs at the terminal server 70 with the thin client devices 68 functioning to drive the respective displays on the terminals 66 and receive inputs from terminal operators.

However, it will be understood that other arrangements are possible. For example, instead of providing each terminal 66 with a respective thin client device 68, a single thin client device may be provided to drive the multiple terminals 66. As a further alternative, multiple full function computing devices may be used. In the present example, the terminals 66 communicate with the equipment 40 through the control server 70, with each terminal 66 being arranged to send communications to and receive communications from the control server 70 particular to one or more different groups of equipment 40.

It will be understood that by providing a remote scheduling facility 18 associated with multiple mine operations 12, 14, 16, it is possible to monitor all of the mine operations from the same remote location and as a consequence to carry out scheduling activities relevant to one or more of the mine operations from the remote scheduling facility. It is also possible to minimise lost production through rapid identification of outages across the mining operations, including support infrastructure such as port and rail, at a facility from which said mining operations are scheduled and/or controlled.

It will be understood that by scheduling operations for multiple mine operations at the same location, significant cost savings can be achieved, particularly if the remote scheduling facility is disposed at a metropolitan location since the need for operators to travel to the mine operations, which are often at relatively inhospitable locations, is avoided.

As shown in Figure 2, in this example each mine operation 12, 14, 16 also has one or more associated VOIP devices 80, each of which is capable of communicating with a VOIP device 82 disposed at the remote scheduling facility 18, the VOIP devices 80, 82 being usable by personnel located at the mine operations 12, 14, 16 and at the remote scheduling facility 18 to communicate with each other through the wide area network 60 as required. As an alternative, the VOIP devices may be videoconferencing devices .

The system 10 in this example also includes an A/V server 84 disposed at each mine operation 12, 14, 16, the A/V server 84 being associated with an A/V client 86 disposed at the remote scheduling facility 18 and arranged to communicate with the A/V servers 84 so as to receive audio/visual information from the mine operations 12, 14, 16 and in particular video information for displaying on a common display 88. For this purpose, the A/V server 84 may communicate with one or more still and/or video cameras disposed at selected locations at the mine operation 12, 14, 16 for example so that the status of particular activities occurring at the mine operations 12, 14, 16 may be visually monitored and/or verified from the remote scheduling facility 18. In one arrangement, the cameras are also controllable from the remote scheduling facility 18 so that the direction and/or magnification of the cameras may be modified from the remote scheduling facility 18.

In order to improve the reliability of communications between the remote scheduling facility 18 and the mine operations 12, 14, 16, the system 10 may incorporate quality of service measures such as prioritizing communications through the WAN according to type. For example, the system may be arranged to allocate different bandwidth percentages to different types of communications, such as to communications related to monitoring and control activities, VOIP communications, CCTW data, email, file transfers, and so on. In the present example, communications related to monitoring and control activities, and VOIP communications are given higher bandwidth percentages than CCTW data, email and file transfers. In an alternative arrangement, different types of communications are allocated different priority values which are used by routers in the WAN to manage queues in the routers and thereby the speed of transfer of the communication through the routers.

In the present embodiment, in order to provide a degree of protection against system failure, multiple network connection arrangements 90 may be provided for connecting the remote mine monitoring stations 64 with the wide area network 60 so that a backup network connection is available should one of the connections between the central monitoring facility 16 and the wide area network 60 fail.

Similarly, a power backup arrangement is provided such that should mains power 94 to the central monitoring facility 16 fail, the failure condition is detected by a suitable sensor 96 which actives a backup generator 98 to commence providing electrical power to the central monitoring facility 16.

For this reason, the remote scheduling facility according to the present embodiment is located at an airport of the type which already comprises suitable backup communications and power arrangements.

The system 10 may also be arranged to monitor whether communications between the remote scheduling facility 18 and the mine operations are reaching their destination, for example by requiring a handshake to occur periodically between the remote scheduling facility 18 and the mine operations 12, 14, 16. In the present example, this is achieved by configuring the equipment controllers 42 to periodically send a heartbeat communication to the remote scheduling facility 18. On receipt of the heartbeat communication, the remote scheduling facility is arranged to send a reply signal indicating that the heartbeat communication has been received.

If the reply signal is not received, an alarm signal may be generated to indicate to appropriate personnel that an outage may have occurred between the remote scheduling facility 18 and one or more of the mine operations 12, 14, 16.

Referring to Figure 4, a conceptual layout of the remote scheduling facility 18 is shown. In this example, two mine operations 12a, 12b, one port operation 14, and a rail network 16 are monitored from the remote scheduling facility 18.

The display 88 is of sufficiently large size such that images and/or video shown on the display are easily viewable by all operators associated with the remote monitoring stations 64, and in this example the common display 88 is separated into a plurality of video display areas 100, each of which is associated with one camera.

In this way, all operators are able to view still images and/or video derived from multiple mine operations.

It will be appreciated that the remote scheduling facility may be used to monitor operation of the rail network and determine whether rescheduling of any train on the rail network is necessary because of outages at one or more of the mine operations, to monitor operation of the port facility and determine whether modification of any of the port activities is necessary because of outages at one or more of the mine operations, or to monitor any other activity at any of the mine operations, including associated infrastructure such as port and rail, and determine whether modification of any of the activities occurring at any of the mine operations is necessary in order to maximize production.

Moreover, by displaying scheduling related visual information on the common display 88 the scheduling operator is able to obtain important scheduling relevant information which may assist in determining an appropriate scheduling action.

Modifications and variations as would be apparent to a skilled addressee are deemed to be within the scope of the present invention.

Claims

Claims :

1. A system for scheduling mine activities, said system comprising : a plurality of data gathering devices arranged to gather data indicative of the status of mine activities at a plurality of interdependent mine operations including at least one mine site, at least one port facility and at least one rail network; a scheduling facility remotely disposed relative to the interdependent mine operations; and a communications network arranged to facilitate transfer of the data indicative of the status of mine activities at a plurality of interdependent mine operations from the mine operations to the scheduling facility; the scheduling facility being arranged to communicate the data indicative of the status of mine activities at a plurality of interdependent mine operations to a scheduling operator at the monitoring facility.
2. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein each data gathering device is arranged to monitor operation of at least one item of mine equipment.
3. A system as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein at least one data gathering device comprises at least one equipment interface.
4. A system as claimed in claim 3, wherein the at least one equipment interface comprises at least one programmable logic controller (PLC).
5. A system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, comprising a local VOIP device at each mine operation and a remote VOIP device at the remote scheduling facility, the local and remote VOIP devices facilitating audio communications between the mine operations and the remote scheduling facility through the communications network.
6. A system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein at least one data gathering device comprises a still and/or video camera disposed at a mine operation, and the system comprises a display disposed at the remote scheduling facility, the system being arranged to display images captured by said at least one camera on the display.
7. A system as claimed in claim 6, wherein the display is of sufficient size such that the images on the display are easily viewable by all operators at the remote scheduling facility.
8. A system as claimed in claim 6 or claim 7, wherein the system is arranged such that images associated with multiple still and/or video cameras are viewable on the display, and such that images associated with multiple still and/or video cameras located at multiple mine operations are viewable on the display.
9. A system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the system is arranged to monitor whether communications between the remote scheduling facility and the mine operations are possible and to generate an alarm signal when an indication is obtained that an outage may have occurred between the remote scheduling facility and one of more mine operations.
10. A system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the system is arranged to prioritise communications between the mine operations and the remote scheduling facility according to communication type.
11. A system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, comprising a plurality of monitoring stations, each monitoring station being arranged to monitor mine equipment at a different mine operation.
12. A system as claimed in claim 11, wherein each monitoring station comprises a plurality of computer terminals, each terminal being arranged to monitor different mine equipment at a mine operation.
13. A system as claimed in claim 12, wherein the computer terminals are realized using multiple computing devices, or using at least one terminal server and at least one thin client device.
14. A system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, comprising multiple network connection arrangements for connecting the scheduling facility with the communications network so that a backup network connection is available should one of the connections between the scheduling facility and the communications network fail.
15. A system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, comprising multiple power supply arrangements for supplying electrical power to the scheduling facility such that should supply of electrical power by one of the power supply arrangements to the scheduling facility fail, another power supply arrangement is used to provide the scheduling facility with electrical power.
16. A system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the monitoring facility is disposed at or adjacent an airport.
17. A method of scheduling mine activities, said method comprising : providing a plurality of data gathering devices arranged to gather data indicative of the status of mine activities at a plurality of interdependent mine operations including at least one mine site, at least one port facility and at least one rail network; providing a scheduling facility remotely disposed relative to the interdependent mine operations; gathering data indicative of the status of mine activities at a plurality of interdependent mine operations including at least one mine site, at least one port facility and at least one rail network using the data gathering devices; communicating the data indicative of the status of mine activities at a plurality of interdependent mine operations to the scheduling facility; and modifying scheduling of mine activities as necessary based on the data communicated to the scheduling facility.
18. A method as claimed in claim 17, comprising gathering data indicative of the status of mine activities using at least one data gathering device arranged to monitor operation of at least one item of mine equipment.
19. A method as claimed in claim 17 or claim 18, wherein the at least one data gathering device comprises at least one equipment interface.
20. A method as claimed in claim 19, wherein the at least one equipment interface comprises at least one programmable logic controller (PLC).
21. A method as claimed in any one of claims 17 to 20, comprising providing a local VOIP device at each mine operation and providing a remote VOIP device at the remote scheduling facility, the local and remote VOIP devices facilitating audio communications between the mine operations and the remote scheduling facility through the communications network.
22. A method as claimed in any one of claims 17 to 21, comprising gathering data indicative of the status of mine activities using a still and/or video camera disposed at a mine operation, and displaying images captured by said at least one camera on a display at the scheduling facility.
23. A method as claimed in claim 22, wherein the display is of sufficient size such that the images on the display are easily viewable by all operators at the remote scheduling facility.
24. A method as claimed in claim 22 or claim 23, comprising displaying images associated with multiple still and/or video cameras located at multiple mine operations on the display.
25. A method as claimed in any one of claims 17 to 24, comprising monitoring whether communications between the remote scheduling facility and the mine operations are possible and generating an alarm signal when an indication is obtained that an outage may have occurred between the remote scheduling facility and one of more mine operations .
26. A method as claimed in any one of claims 17 to 25, comprising prioritising communications between the mine operations and the remote scheduling facility according to communication type.
27. A method as claimed in any one of claims 17 to 26, comprising providing a plurality of monitoring stations, each monitoring station being arranged to monitor mine equipment at a different mine operation.
28. A method as claimed in claim 27, wherein each monitoring station comprises a plurality of computer terminals, each terminal being arranged to monitor different mine equipment at a mine operation.
29. A method as claimed in claim 28, comprising realizing the computer terminals using multiple computing devices, or using at least one terminal server and at least one thin client device.
30. A method as claimed in any one of claims 17 to 29, comprising providing multiple network connection arrangements for connecting the scheduling facility with the communications network so that a backup network connection is available should one of the connections between the scheduling facility and the communications network fail.
31. A method as claimed in any one of claims 17 to 30, comprising providing multiple power supply arrangements for supplying electrical power to the scheduling facility such that should supply of electrical power by one of the power supply arrangements to the scheduling facility fail, another power supply arrangement is used to provide the scheduling facility with electrical power.
32. A method as claimed in any one of claims 17 to 31, comprising disposing the monitoring facility at or adjacent an airport.
33. A method of integrating the operations of a plurality of mine sites and associated infrastructure distributed across a regional area and producing one or more bulk commodities, such as iron ore, coal or bauxite, the method comprising the steps of: scheduling mining activities at each one of said plurality of mine sites so as to produce a scheduled level of ore at each said mine site and associated infrastructure; transmitting operational data from equipment at each one of said plurality of mine sites to an operations facility common to said plurality of mine sites and associated infrastructure; selecting a sub-set of said operational data from each said mine site and associated infrastructure and monitoring said sub-sets to identify a reduced production rate from one or more of said mines sites and associated infrastructure below said scheduled level of production; and re-scheduling said mining activities at one or more of the mine sites so as to minimise any reduction to aggregate output from said plurality of mine sites.
34. A method as claimed in claim 33, wherein said associated infrastructure comprises a network of rail lines servicing said mine sites and said mining activities include loading trains with said ore at said mine sites and said re-scheduling includes re-scheduling at least one of said trains so that ore is loaded at at least one alternate mine site to the mine site experiencing said reduced production rate.
35. A method as claimed in claim 33 or claim 34, wherein said associated infrastructure comprises at least one stock yard common to said plurality of mines and said mining activities include stockpiling ore from said plurality of mine sites at said stock yard and wherein said rescheduling of mining activities includes rescheduling said stockpiling of ore at said stock yard.
36. A method as claimed in claim 35, wherein ore is loaded onto ships berthed at a port associated with said stock yard and said mining activities include loading of ore onto said ships and wherein said rescheduling of said mining activities includes rescheduling supply of ore from said stock yard to said ships.
37. A method as claimed in any one of claims 33 to 36, wherein said associated infrastructure comprises at least one stock yard common to said plurality of mines and said mining activities include blending of ore from said plurality of mine sites at said stock yard so as to produce at least one stock pile of blended ore and wherein said rescheduling of mining activities includes comparing ores available for transportation to and blending at said stock yard with ore scheduled for blending at said stock yard and no longer available due to said reduced production rate and selecting an ore to substitute for the scheduled ore.
38. A method as claimed in any one of claims 33 to 37, wherein said associated infrastructure comprises a network of rail lines for transporting ore from said mine sites to at least one stock yard common to said plurality of said mine sites, and said mining activities include loading of trains with ore at said mine sites and blending of said ore at said stock yard so as to produce at least one stock pile of blended ore and wherein said rescheduling of mining activities includes comparing ores available for transportation to and blending at said stock yard with ore scheduled for blending at said yard and no longer available due to said reduced production rate and selecting an ore to substitute for the secheduled ore and re-scheduling at least one train to the mine site with the selected ore.
39. A method as claimed in any one of claims 33 to 38, wherein said operations facility includes a plurality of operating stations for controlling operation of equipment at said mine sites and associated infrastructure so as to control said mining activities and said monitoring of said mining activities comprises displaying said selected subsets of data on said plurality of operating stations.
40. A method as claimed in any one of claims 33 to 39, wherein said sub-sets of data are displayed on at least one display common to said plurality of operating stations .
41. A method as claimed in claim 40, wherein the display common to said plurality of operating stations is visible to operators of each one of said operating stations.
42. A method as claimed in claim 40 or claim 41, wherein said sub-sets of data displayed on said display common to said plurality of operating stations is refreshed at a rate that is at least an order of magnitude slower than the rate at which operational data displayed on said operating stations is refreshed.
43. A method as claimed in any one of claims 33 to 42, wherein said operations facility is located remotely from said plurality of mine sites and associated infrastructure and at least one of said selected sub-sets of data is sourced from operational data transmitted by said equipment to at least one of said operating stations whereby transmission of data between said operations facility and said mine sites and associated infrastructure is minimised.
44. A method as claimed in any one of claims 33 to 43, wherein said monitoring of said sub-sets to identify a reduced production rate comprises monitoring said sub-sets for equipment breakdown or other outage.
45. A method as claimed in any one of claims 33 to 44, wherein said sub-sets of data are derived from said operational data.
46. A method as claimed in any one of claims 33 to 45, wherein said sub-sets of data include one or more of the following : stock pile levels available for loading onto trains at one or more mine sites ore quality information associated with one or more stock piles of ore at one or more mine sites operational status of train loading equipment at one or more mine sites operational status of ore processing facilities at one or more mine sites operational status of said train network operational status of train consists on said network operational status of rail wagon unloading equipment at said stock yard operational status of stock yard and associated equipment operational status of ship loading equipment ships in port waiting to be berthed ships berthed at port waiting to be loaded berth status information for each wharf at said port facilities