Energy savings possible for underground operations

It takes three kinds of expertise to create an optimized ventilation-on-demand (VOD) solution for underground mines. Jannatec Radio Technologies of Sudbury, Ont., has teamed up with Newtrax Technologies and Simsmart Technologies of Montreal, Que., to do exactly that.

Ventilation currently accounts for 35-50% of an underground mine’s energy consumption. For large mines, this can represent up to $20-$30 million per year, according to the VOD developers. Their system enables optimal energy management of mine ventilation based on automated real-time tracking of diesel equipment and personnel combined with dynamic modeling, simulation and optimization of air mass flows. Underground mines with this type of a real-time optimized VOD system may benefit from a 20-50% reduction in ventilation energy costs, improved mine productivity, a decrease in skilled labour workload, improved miner safety and reduced carbon emissions.

The VOD system is composed of a battery-powered wireless communication infrastructure from Newtrax that connects hundreds of sensors, diesel equipment and mining personnel equipped with Johnny Light cap lamps from Jannatec to the Simsmart OM-VOD system.

To investigate the potential energy savings at your mine, contact Michel Mass at 514-923-9391 or mmasse@simsmart.com, or visit these web sites: www.Newtraxtech.com/en/underground/vod,www.Simsmart.com/index_files/Page3164.htm.