To identify those areas where the technologies associated with the Fourth Industrial Revolution have not yet fully penetrated in the mining sector, and the paths that can be followed to promote this technological adoption is that the Center for Copper and Mining Studies created the Mining 4.0 Commission.

After meeting during June and December 2019, the commission headed by the General Manager of GEM and academic from the Universidad de Chile, Juan Ignacio Guzmán, presented his main conclusions on April 29 before the directors and members of Cesco.

Guzmán explained that the commission managed to identify 77 technologies associated with the fourth industrial revolution, such as artificial intelligence, robotics and the internet of things, among others. These were analyzed according to a series of criteria and were subsequently classified according to the possibility that they would be implemented over three years.

Based on this analysis, the commission made a review of the main obstacles faced in the industry when incorporating new technologies, and the responsibility of the actors involved in the process to face these gaps, both  the mining company and the providers, but also the academy and the state.

Finally, the main recommendations made by the commission focused on the roles that each of these actors must play. Among other things, the mining ompany should make a change in the evaluation method to decide whether or not to invest in order  to incorporate new technological solutions, which have not usually been tested on a large scale.

As for the supplier companies, they have a great responsibility not only to continue advancing towards more robust, reliable and lower-cost technologies so that CAPEX is lower, but they also have a role in knowledge and in the generation of their own cultural change, to generate new technologies in their  services, even if the client does not explicitly require it.

As for the academy, being the intellectual engine of society, it plays a fundamental role in generating new solutions that exceed the capabilities of the industry. This knowledge must be imparted at the level of students of careers associated with mining who today are not being trained in these new technologies. And lastly, the state, through the different financing mechanisms at its disposal, can generate instruments that enhance knowledge of this type of technology in the industry, and develop the capacities and skills associated with knowledge.

About the Commission

The Mining 4.0 Commission held a session between July and December of 2019. Among its participants are Nicolás Jubera, CEO of TI Mining; José Joaquín Jara, director of Cesco and professor of Universidad Católica; Darko Louit, CEO Komatsu Cummins Chile; Cristian Barrientos, Superintendent of Management and Operational Programming at Los Pelambres Mining; Sebastián Carmona, Innovation Manager at Codelco; Osvaldo Urzúa, director of Cesco and independent consultant; Pablo Klein, Continuous Improvement Superintendent at Sentinel; Leopoldo Reyes, President of the Cesco´s Board of Directors; and Juan Ignacio Guzmán, General Manager of GEM.