DINAMINE aims to set a new benchmark for digitalisation in the mining industry by demonstrating the potential of a modular mine management system. The approach to digitalising mineral exploitation includes fusing data from sensors with uncertainty propagated geomodels, as well as mining equipment and processing plant interaction with the ore.
DINAMINE will contribute to safe and environmentally friendly, resource- and production efficient mining by enabling decision-making to improve recovery rates, while optimising efficiency, increasing safety, and reduce environmental impacts. Achieved through more selective mining (reducing energy consumption, transportation volume, CO2 emissions) and optimisation of the value chain. DINAMINE technologies can decrease the cutoff grade of ores, making poor quality resources more economically attractive. DINAMINE will improve safety of mines using real-time monitoring. A full life cycle analysis is evaluating the environmental impacts of the project’s approach, while recommendations on optimal low-emission transport solutions has the potential to decrease environmental footprint. Through use of advanced geophysical exploration methods, DINAMINE goes beyond the state-of-the-art by demonstrating applicability of the methods in both project pilot sites, and beyond. The pilot sites represent deposits that present challenges for exploration methods and therefore novel approaches are required to reduce exploration risks.
Successful implementation of the DINAMINE approach will decrease the environmental footprint, while improving productivity and economic margins of small-medium mining operations. This enables European mine operators to take advantage of poor resources with low grade ores by making the mining more economically feasible, while fostering the attraction of further investments and stimulating a reshaping of the current practices, technologies, and approaches used in mining operations. This is especially important for REE resources, which typically have irregular geometry, low ore grades, and which are economically marginal. This is achieved through improved productivity of mines and more selective mining, paving the road for future precision mining. The approach will also make currently active mines more resilient toward market fluctuation. Additionally, DINAMINE embeds circularity and sustainability aspects of the raw materials supply chain through waste and tailings monitoring and studying their valorisation potential.
The demonstration of the technologies is tailored to the needs of small-medium mining operations. However, in large and complex mining activities involving mining and processing of several types and qualities of ores and orebodies, the DINAMINE products can be implemented in a limited scope of mine-to-mill for a specific section of an orebody at the current stage of development. The federated architecture of the mine management system allows for flexibility to be tailored to most mining operations. Future additions, outside of the project’s scope, would ultimately support more complex and larger mining operations.
