Miners in China use 5G for everything including, remote operations of excavators.
China-based mining company China Molybdenum has applied 5G technology in the Sandaozhuang mine to help its miners use excavators remotely, reports several media publications.
With its high speed and low latency, the technology enables workers to remotely control vehicles and machineries at the mine with precision, reports China Central Television.
According to Mothership the technology allows “blue collar workers to work in silos as the world continues to be ravaged by the Covid-19 pandemic”.
CCTV said “5G technology enables workers to remotely control equipment at the mine with precision, owing to the high speed and low latency connectivity”.
This allows workers to see what they are doing in real-time as they carry out rough but delicate work on site.
China Molybdenum isn’t the only company in the country to use 5G enabled technology. According to Xinhuanet one of China’s largest hard coal producer Yangquan Coal Industry (Group) in Shanxi Province finished building a 5G network in one of its mines, in May this year.
The publication wrote, “heralding the coming of 5G era of the country’s cold industry and paving way for intelligent mining based on 5G technologies”.
“The 5G network in Yangquan’s subsidiary, Xinyuan, is one of the country’s first commercial 5G service under a coal mine shaft. It is built in partnership with China Mobile and Huawei,” wrote Xinhuanet. “Wang Haigang, deputy manager of Xinyuan, said the 5G network had been in stable operation for a week after its inauguration and optimisation.”
According to the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC), this was jointly built by China Mobile, Yangquan Coal Industry (Group) and Huawei Technologies.
The smart coal mine relies on China’s lowest underground 5G network dedicated for coal mines. It has an upload speed of more than 1,000 Mps and is buried as deep as 534 meters underground.
is an institution directly under the management of the State Council.
The network’s dedicated underground communication devices, jointly developed by China Mobile and Huawei, have obtained a flameproof certificate.
Based on the 5G network, the two enterprises also developed three 5G-based unmanned applications to inspect electromechanical chambers as well as operations on the coalface and comprehensive mechanized coal mining operations, which promotes automation and visual operation of the pit.
The unmanned inspection effectively examines faults of electromechanical equipment and lowers labour intensity while improving workers’ security in a real time manner.
The unmanned operations also reduce workers’ workloads and the possibility of accidents.
China Mobile also built an internet data centre (IDC) room in the underground lanes to offer low-cost, safe and reliable data centre service.
At the online launch ceremony, the founding of a 5G smart mining alliance, which was jointly initiated by more than 70 enterprises and institutes including China Mobile, Tsinghua University, China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), Yangquan Coal Industry (Group) Co., Ltd, China Coal Technology & Engineering Group and Huawei, was also announced.
The alliance will cooperate to build a smart mining cooperation platform, accelerate breakthroughs in core technologies, seek commercial modes which can be used in wider fields and encourage a co-building and sharing mode of resources to take advantage of various parties and promote sustainable and stable development of the mining industry.
China Mobile also signed a 5G strategic cooperative agreement with 24 enterprises including four coal mining corporations to promote construction of 5G demonstration coal mines and the value of the 5G industry.
In recent years, China Mobile has made accelerating 5G infrastructure a major mission and promoted 5G applications in various industries.
China Mobile is now promoting construction of 5G capability in several strip mines including the Bayan Obo mining district in North China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region, a molybdenum mine in Central China’s Henan province and a copper mine in eastern province of Jiangxi.
In the meantime, the company, together with its partners, has obtained a certificate of mining security for its first 5G NSA network and is pushing forward 5G applications including smart underground coal extraction, inspection, and adjustment.
The alliance will collect industrial powers and promote a higher degree of integration and innovation of 5G technology and the mining industry.
China Mobile will seize the opportunity of 5G and continue to advance development of 5G-based smart mining applications.
