AUTOMATION IS MINE Mining is one of the most crucial sectors in modern production industry.

Most of the products we use today come from mining. But, mining has a rather uneasy air about it that makes the common folk distance themselves from anything remotely related to it. The scale of rawness in the mining industry is probably the highest, in that it is the most basic element of the production industry. It is this raw nature of the mining industry that makes it even more essential for modern engineers to sense that something as basic as the mining industry ought not to be dismissed a just another boring production subject. Most of Indias electricity comes from thermal power, which in turn requires huge amounts of coal. Millions are employed in the mining industry in India, and as a large part of India still remains unexplored for mines, it represents an opportunity to explore more avenues for expansion of our export capabilities, and keeping pace with the rapidly increasing demand for natural resources. Automation is usually associated with mining from the perspectives of: i) Increased safety and, ii) Improved productivity. Safety in mines is a big, big issue. Mining is probably the most hazardous job in the world today, and safety measures needed to prevent any disaster, or respond in time to one are being associated with the automation of the mine. There is a counter argument that automation will lead to loss of scores of mining jobs, and will therefore endanger the miners more than, say, a 60-40 chance that they may die in a disaster. They probably

find it more worthwhile to take a chance on their lives, just because suitable alternative jobs are on the wane. This is unacceptable, and, in a sense, bizarre too. The loss of jobs due to the automation of the mining process will be compensated by the need for specially trained personnel to monitor the machines handling the mining process. Automation also improves the productivity of the mine. Increased productivity is the hallmark of a developed industry. The degree to which a mine is automated depends on the type of mining viz. long wall, drill-blast, and so on. During the drilling process, the automated systems existing today make use of motion detecting sensors, which detects the direction in which the crack is heading. Torque measurements are used to control excavation motions during interactions with rock particles. Battery powered, standalone measurement systems are capable of handling the tasks very efficiently. A striking advantage of an automated system is that the operation cell need not be in the vicinity, which further reduces the risk factor which emanates from the possibility of a gas leak. Trials of automated mining have been conducted in Australia. However, economic experts there say that all it has done is build up a mining companys bottom-line and profile, rather than create a sustainable environment for employment. Only partial automation has been achievable so far, owing to lack of answers to imposing questions like how to deal with damages to the system due to mechanical shocks and exposure to extreme conditions. That would require another automated system, and

nobody, with any degree of certainty, can say that it will end there. This makes complete automation very expensive. The solution to this conundrum probably lies in sticking to partial automation. Obviously, a completely automated machine would be known as an autonomous machine, and not an automated one! Partial Automation would include the excavation and drilling processes, but with manual maintenance of the machines. This brings back the need for personnel at the mine site, but does not completely defeat the purpose. Providing extensive safety gear to a few hundreds of men for maintaining the machine periodically is probably a better idea than sending scores of poor men down long tunnels not knowing what would happen next. This is probably the most optimum of all the alternatives before the mining industry. An example of the above would be placing the maintenance troupe in fully sealed cabs, with an emergency shutdown of the mining machine in case of gas penetration into the cab. Mining disasters are large scale disasters that affect the lives of all those living in the vicinity of the mine, not to mention the miners themselves. In todays world, where technology has invaded petty things and made them better, it is probably long overdue that the world decides on a better mining mechanism, an automated mechanism that will do justice to all the scores of innovations taking place in industries that totally depend on inputs from mines; because, in reality, EVERYTHING IS MINED!!! -Sriram Viswanathan,

S.E Instrumentation, VESIT