2023-04-17 20:37:55
The mining and metallurgical company Eramet has worked in close collaboration with Capgemini to transform, thanks to artificial intelligence, the mining operations of its subsidiary “Grande Côte Opérations” (GCO), which specializes in mineral sands, and to promote revegetation and of rehabilitation.
In Senegal, Eramet operates through its local subsidiary GCO which produces mineral sands. To extract the minerals from the sand, the company has a mobile mine consisting of a dredge and a concentration plant[1] which operate in an artificial basin within a 400 km2 mining concession.
Mining industry, 3D drone images and complex data volumes
GCO and Capgemini started in 2020 to develop a roadmap including optimization plans for mine route, water management, mining mechanism and energy consumption. From there was born “Connected Concession”, a platform improving the census of the vegetation and the monitoring of the operated lands, intended to support the efforts of re-vegetation and rehabilitation of the land once the mining operation is completed.
Via a drone imaging system, the “Connected Concession” application provides a complete map of the mining area designated by GCO[2]. In particular, it made it possible to increase the inventory capacity from 80 to 930 hectares per member of the team. As a result, an area previously mapped in half a day is now mapped in minutes. From a technical standpoint, the images collected are transmitted in near real time to Eramet, then processed and displayed in GCO’s geographic information system (GIS), using algorithms combining “computer vision” and advanced artificial intelligence (“deep learning”)[3]. The solution thus enables Eramet to rehabilitate the areas concerned, either by revegetating the soils identically, or by identifying the areas conducive to the introduction of food crops, while respecting biodiversity, which will then be exploited by the communities. local.
“The “Connected Concession” application is revolutionizing the way of working on an open pit mining site. It is a human, operational and technological transformation. Our objective is to minimize our impact or for it to become positive”, specifies Ludovic Donati, Director of Transformation and Digital Performance at Eramet.
Twenty experts brought together in a multicultural and multidisciplinary team, including data scientists, developers, cloud architects, GIS experts, and designers specializing in user experience participated in this project. Led entirely remotely, using agile methodology and over a period of just one year, it involved end users on a daily basis to stay as close as possible to their needs.
Charlotte Pierron-Perlès, head of Capgemini Invent’s Intelligent Industry activities, said: “We are particularly proud of this program which demonstrates how our Intelligent Industry approach[4] offers, thanks to technologies and in particular data and artificial intelligence, powerful levers of transformation in the service of the environment”.
New functionalities of the application are being studied to extend the tool to the monitoring of water resources, or the identification of alternative paths for the mine. Making this technology available to local communities, government authorities or non-governmental organizations is also envisaged in an open data logic.[5]
With this program, Eramet won one of the four Netexplo Change 2022 Trophies, which rewards initiatives highlighting sustainable and technological transformations, and Capgemini Invent was awarded a Silver trophy at the 2022 Syntec Conseil Grand Prix in the category “social, societal and environmental impact”.
[1] In mineralogy, a mill is a plant where the ore is finely crushed and undergoes physical or chemical treatment to enable the extraction of useful metals.
[2] Once a week, the company’s surveying division flies its drones over the planned path of the mine as well as areas already being rehabilitated, gradually covering the entire region over several flights.
[3] The algorithms, derived from agroforestry, have been adapted upstream to better respond to the specific challenges posed by the Senegalese desert, and scan points of interest: trees, bushes, fields and certain types of buildings.
[4] The Intelligent Industry is the new era of digital transformation: it is characterized by an increasing convergence of the physical and virtual worlds – products, software, data and services – in all industries; it is fueled by the rapid development of technologies, including cloud, artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), edge computing and 5G.
[5] It is data that anyone can access and that anyone can use and share. Governments, businesses and individuals can use open data to create social, economic and environmental benefits.
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