Miners crunch data to avoid dusty reception

Dusty predictions

In addition to real-time monitoring, companies such as weather forecaster Weatherzone provide a number of predictive monitoring services for the mining industry, allowing industry to work around and counter potentially adverse weather conditions.

Weatherzone manager Martin Palmer told iTnews that locations are typically set up around mines or terminals, from which dispersion models can then be formulated. Dispersion models have thresholds, and if thresholds are broken a forecast alert is distributed.

“We have a proactive alerting system which fires out information via SMS and emails," he said.

Dispersion systems, however, are designed to mitigate, rather than completely eliminate, risk.

Monitoring forecasts as well as current emissions, they provide users the ability to view dispersion maps overlaid upon mining sites and other local areas of interest.

Palmer noted the IT requirements of dispersion models are demanding.

“With this sort of thing compared to our other core services around weather forecasting, for example, the dust is pretty complicated because we're factoring in [things like] the actual particulate size ... as well,” Palmer said.

“The biggest problem to do with IT is, as always, to do with grunt. It's trying to get enough information to try to be able to do something that's meaningful.”

Rio Tinto is also pioneering predictive dust monitoring techniques at its iron ore port operations in Dampier, Western Australia, with a view to deployment at its other port facility, Cape Lambert.

The so-called Predictive Dust Monitoring System was expected to be "fully functional" in Dampier by the end of 2012.

"The predictive dust model would enhance existing dust management strategies at the sites by providing Rio Tinto Port Operations personnel with capability to predict potential impacts in advance and respond to control dust emissions at an earlier stage than currently possible to avoid causing an impact," the miner said in a recent report.

A Rio Tinto spokesman declined to comment on the project's status when approached by iTnews.