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Mining giant Anglo American uses an RFID system to track miners at the underground copper mine El Soldado in Chile to prevent collisions with mine trucks. This system integrated by RFID Chile uses Vuance’s active 433 MHz RFID tags and RFID readers.
Anglo American has four mining farms in Chile, and El Soldado is the smallest of them. The focus of mine safety is to know the location of the miners at any time, especially in the event of an explosion or tunnel accident. Many of the miners in the two underground tunnels are private contractors, and the others are employees of Anglo American. In order to track different people, El Soldado uses Proximity RFID cards.
When the workers reached the mine entrance, they walked out of the mine cart, scanned their card in front of the reader, and then returned to the mine cart and entered the mine. In this way, Anglo American and contractors can learn about the miners in the mine at a specific time. When the miners left the mine, they scanned the card again, indicating that they had left the mine.
However, according to Max von Dessauer, technical director of RFID Chile, this system has shortcomings. Miners and mine carts often have to line up at the entrance of the mine; moreover, the process of leaving the mine cart to scan the card is time-consuming.
Anglo American also hopes to use RFID technology to reduce collisions between underground mine trucks. Eight 40-foot-long front loaders transport the copper material out of the mine and send it to the workshop for processing. This kind of vehicle has poor visibility to the front, and the driver often slips into the sideways when moving forward or backward. In addition, the tunnel has poor visibility, loud noise, and full of dust. If two vehicles are in the same area or someone happens to be heading in the same direction, an accident may occur.
RFID Chile decided to use RFID active long-distance cards. On the one hand, it is to identify people entering and leaving the mine (through the mine cart tags and badges worn by workers); on the other hand, it is to notify the vehicle operator that there are obstacles within 300 feet in front of the mine ( The reader on the front end of the loader can detect nearby workers and vehicles).
Chilean copper mine uses RFID system to track miners and carts
“From the perspective of mining safety, to prevent collisions in the mine, it is extremely important to understand the miners in the mine at any time,” said Daniel Castro, project manager of Anglo American.
A 433 MHz reader is installed on the loader, and the reader is connected to the anti-collision alarm system on the car. If the vehicle reader detects the active 433 MHz RFID tag of another vehicle or person ahead, it triggers a flashing light and audible alarm on the vehicle to attract the operator’s attention.
In addition, the coal mine has installed 4 RFID readers at the entrances of its two tunnels to determine the direction of the miner’s movement. The Vuance 433 MHz tag complies with the ISO 18000-7 standard and can send data within 900 feet.
When the reader obtains the ID number, the data will be sent to the SQL database of the mine back-end system via Ethernet. The software associates RFID data with miners and vehicles. Managers use these data to learn who is in the mine, when they entered, and the company they represent.
A 42-inch LCD screen shows the personnel in the mine. If the tunnel needs to be emptied, the screen shows the location of contractors and employees in the mine. At any time, there may be hundreds of miners in the tunnel. Managers can also learn the names of employees in the mine and the time of entry and exit.
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