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NWPC Using GLONASS to Monitor Mine Equipment

At NWPC, effective production cycle management now includes monitoring of the current location of equipment used at the open pit and in secondary operations.

North-Western Phosphorous Company installed a Russian-made SCOUT satellite monitoring system to control the location of vehicles. The system obtains information from sensors installed on the equipment and sends it through the monitoring module via GSM communication to a remote data processing server. Equipment location coordinates are determined using the GLONASS global satellite positioning system.

The system provides real-time information about equipment location, fuel consumption, speed and other performance indicators. Dispatch automated workstations feature alarm systems for critical events. The system also notifies the operator about equipment down time, unauthorized fuel discharges and excessive speed.

The event database maintains an extensive list of analytical reports containing the number of vehicle movements per shift, route deviations and other information that is used for logistics and auxiliary services optimization. At the moment, the system covers the entire Oleniy Ruchey open pit equipment park and more than forty auxiliary transportation units.

According to NWPC CEO Vadim Ryazantsev, “NWPC aims to maximise the efficiency of the monitoring system and expand centralized management of production processes. This year, the number of equipment units controlled by the SCOUT remote monitoring system will double from 86 to all 168 vehicles and self-propelled equipment units.”

In 2018, NWPC will use the monitoring system to transfer and consolidate data on the weight carried by open pit dump trucks in each haul to assess and adjust performance indicators, control dump truck underloads and increase the efficiency of rock transportation.