Fachartikel 2017

China, the world’s largest coal market, is also showing signs of increasing sensitivity in the face of environmental and social issues. The Chinese Government has reacted to this and the coal industry – which admittedly is also suffering from over-capacity and a high level of debt – has as a result been obliged to adopt with a wide range of ...

World coal consumption and production declined through 2016, though there were significant regional differences. The global downturn in consumption was mainly a result of significant reductions in China and the USA. While in Europe coal has been in retreat for many years, it has been making further gains in parts of Asia, and especially in India and in the south-east. ...

This paper builds the bridge in mining developments from the 1980s to the presence and to what will happen in the future. It not only includes technical developments but especially social ones. The article is the conclusion of the author´s presentation, given at the “Forum Bergbau 4.0” conference of the RWTH Aachen University on 1st December 2015. Where do we ...

Today, it seems like everyone is talking about Industry 4.0 concept. However, only a few know what really is behind it: The Federal Government has set a goal to advance Germany with its high-tech strategy towards becoming a global innovation leader. The concept of Industry 4.0 is one of ten future projects that makes a featuring part of this “new ...

Digital technology, digital transformation or digital economy are currently big buzzwords as we have seen many industries disrupted by new sales channels, digitized products, new business models or market players. What started with digital music at the turn of the century is now finding its way into more and more industries. Even the mining industry is increasingly looking at how ...

The term Industrie 4.0 originates from the German government initiative to integrate manufacturing with state-of-the-art information and communication technology. It is synonymous with the digitalization of industrial processes. While some industries are far along in the digitalization of their processes others, like the mining sector, still have a lot of ground to cover. However technologies are already available today to ...

Like all industries, the mining industry must face the challenges of digitalization. Today, automation and software already play an important role in controlling the variability of deposits and commodity price fluctuations. This trend will rapidly further accelerate with the digital transformation since the mining industry still has a lower level of automation compared to other industries and thus has correspondingly ...

Mine operators have been facing enormous cost pressure caused by low prices for raw materials and challenging political para-meters for some time now. A growing demand for cost reduction, increased efficiency, and minimization of maintenance efforts are some of the logical consequences. In order to meet these requirements, extensive optimization in the world’s mining operations is essential. However, it should ...

The general fall in prices and high degree of volatility in the commodities market are now having a major impact on the viability and strategic focus of raw materials companies and machine manufacturers. Irrespective of whether the situation is set to continue long term or undergo a complete change of direction, it has already had a transformative effect on the ...

For the automation of underground mobile equipment in the scope of the Mining 4.0 initiative, it is necessary to have precise and continuous position information of that very mobile equipment. Different indoor positioning systems are available these days. However, not every system is suitable for use in underground mining operations. At the Institute for Mineral Resources Machine Technology (IMR) of ...