Unlocking Value in Mining

Gustavo Pilger, Dassault Systèmes, GEOVIA on the critical role of centralized data management for efficiency, security, and innovation in mining operations.

The rapid growth of data, driven by technological advancements, presents both benefits and risks. Consolidating and centralizing data management is important to enhance efficiency, cybersecurity, and business intelligence. We discuss the critical challenges and opportunities in managing data within the mining industry and also explore the role of Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE platform in enabling mines to optimize processes, ensure data security, and improve disaster recovery capabilities.

Q) Please outline the key challenges that the mining industry faces in managing, protecting, and storing data.

Data is part of the IP portfolio of a company (together with a range of assets).  Therefore, it should be managed as any other valuable asset. Over the last 2 decades in particular, with technology advancements and the advent of a range of sensors, we have seen an “explosion of data” across industries including mining.

This brings opportunities and challenges at the same time. The opportunities are mainly associated with the potential to better understand processes enabling one to improve them with productivity and efficiency gains that often lead to cost savings.

To achieve this state, however, one needs to overcome a few challenges: from navigating through a plethora of data for extracting knowledge to cybersecurity risks that could expose corporations to significant financial losses. The ability to count with a range of data to unlock or optimize mining processes is great.

However, one of the first challenges is to consolidate the data that is often captured and stored in different systems. Not only these data are stored in decentralised (local) disparate repositories, but these systems are administered by different people with different levels of responsibility and awareness when it comes to data integrity and related risks.

So, it is important that data is properly stored and managed in a way that allows one to extract the most knowledge out of them while preserving its integrity and exposure.

Q) How should mining companies approach consolidating and centralizing their data management to enhance data security?

The first step towards data consolidation is to compile a data inventory across the mine including information about type, format, purpose, frequency of change, etc. This allows one to map out the data flow intra- and inter-processes across the mine to then assess what matters the most and where potential bottlenecks are in order to prioritise where to begin.

Therefore, understanding the data ecosystem together with the impact they have across KPIs is key to drive change in this space.

All sorts of data are being collected from a range of equipment (including sensors) across the environment of a mine. Together with good, valuable data also comes noisy data – and lots of them. 

Therefore, ideally, the data collected across the mine not only needs to be federated (or consolidated), but also needs to be indexed, sanitized (filtering out the noise), and contextualized so that meaningful insights can start to be extracted for decision-making. 

This could be achieved with the adoption of a centralized system that allows ingesting data collected by equipment across the mine, as well as their management in a safe and secure environment. The Dassault Systèmes 3DEXPERIENCE platform offers this solution.

Q) What critical benefits do mines gain from centralizing their data management?

I think the ultimate benefit is about being in control of the data instead of data taking control! One can only improve what is measured and understood!

A centralized platform that allows data federation, indexation, 3D contextualization, analytics and action management, all in a secure environment, puts you in control of your assets allowing to extract the most value out of them.

Also, typically with decentralised systems, a great amount of time is dedicated to finding the right data or the latest version of data to work with. This translates to enormous inefficiencies, errors, re-work, and frustration leading to employee disengagement creating a vicious cycle of inefficiency. On the other hand, a centralised system, with rigorous access control processes, eliminates these inefficiencies.

Every employee has access to the right data, in terms of permissions and versioning for conducting his/her work. Every decision taken by employees is recorded and justified within the system providing an inherent layer of traceability and auditability. Other benefits include de-risking data integrity and exposure.

Q) Tell ua about the role of centralized data management in improving data analytics and business intelligence, and how this benefits mines and their personnel.

GEOVIA, a Dassault Systèmes brand, provides software tools that allow our mining clients to model and simulate processes and how they interact with adjacent (connected) processes before anything is actually built, in early project development phases, or to correct the train of action on projects already in production in order to keep chasing value while operating.

Since the underlying data is federated, indexed, standardized and contextualized in a safe and secured single repository, and systems are connected with input and output associated through common data models, one can test multiple hypotheses or scenarios in the virtual world (Virtual Twin Experience) to efficiently apply a given design or plan in the real world – eliminating unnecessary waste, reducing risk, minimizing material re-handling while maximizing productivity!

Data is not only safe and secured, but it is indexed (for quick retrieval), standardized through semantic dictionaries and contextualized, enabling meaningful link and associativeness between processes and data.

It is this data associativeness combined with smart methods and algorithms that allows one to constantly chase value while in operation, adjusting to (previous) uncertainty and unplanned events (being of technical, mechanic, or of market nature).

I’d like to emphasize that having this core data, industry knowledge and know-how supported by semantic dictionaries (ontologies) central to our business platform (3DEXPERIENCE) that is built on a multi-physics and multi-scale foundation allows us to go beyond Generative AI and Large Language Models (LLMs).

With this core set of characteristics, what we offer instead is Industry Language Models (ILMs) that indeed leverage LLMs but are combined with ontologies and industry knowledge and know-how within a platform environment (3DEXPERIENCE) that inherently provides governance and traceability.

Q) Please explain the ways in which centralized data management enhances a mine’s disaster recovery capabilities and why this is critically important?

A decentralised data management system, with data fragmented and scattered across the corporation, would need to rely on systematic discipline by personnel in charge to regularly back up local stored data, which could be a challenge by itself. Therefore, it would make it really hard (if not impossible) to fully recover should a disaster were to occur.

Instead, a centralised system can be restored in a matter of hours in case of disaster. Of course, assuming appropriate levels of redundancy, training and protocols would be in place to allow minimum levels of disruption in case of disaster.

The bottom line is that a centralised system deployed either on premises or on cloud would make the execution of the company’s Disaster Recovery Plan way more straightforward compared with decentralised systems.

Q) Ultimately, how does centralizing data management improve both a mine’s cybersecurity and the safety of its employees?

Data centralisation enables to significantly reduce risks associated with data integrity and cybersecurity. Consolidating the data in a single repository reduces the risk of losing or corrupting data that otherwise would reside in local drives of desktop computers located across mine sites, or into laptops of those employees required to work on the data.

Instead, on a centralised system such as the 3DEXPERIENCE, the right version of the right data is available at any time to the right people. Since 3DEXPERIENCE counts with a rigorous access control process, this means that data is made available to employees according to their roles and needs.

For example, a Surveyor does not need access to sensitive data such as gold grades from core logging, while a Resource Geologist needs it as it is required for him/her to conduct their work. So, all this combined mitigates quite significantly risks associated with data integrity, exposure and cybersecurity.

For those who choose to embrace the cloud to store and manage data via a cloud provider, be assured that the risks are well managed. Risks are arguably better managed than in in-house data centres.

This is because most cloud vendors, such as Dassault Systèmes, operate with heightened security practices tailored towards protecting their infrastructure, applications, and customer data. A good cloud provider will adhere to industry standards and best practices that include:

• IOS 2700x standards, and in particular implementation Guide ISO 27002
• NIST 800 series
• OWASP (Open Web Application Security Project) methodologies
• CobIT framework

Also, good cloud providers employ multiple, independent and redundant mechanisms at various levels to block attacks. These measures provide far better security than most organisations can provide for themselves.

Therefore, in terms of risk management, it is a win-win proposition for all, including corporations, employees, contractors, and customers.

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