Prof. S.K.Bose Memorial Lecture December 8, 2008 Indian School of Mines University Dhanbad-826004
Prof. Ajoy K. Ghose, FNAE Former Director Indian School of Mines University

Introduction

Mining is, was and shall continue to be the cornerstone of human civilization. Significantly older than agriculture as a vocation, the origins of mining can be traced to the early years of humanity when homo pithecanthropus erectus tried to search for, find, and pry out a flint or chert to be used as a weapon to protect himself against marauding animals. From such basic compulsions arose the art and science of mining, Undoubtedly, it was in the far distant past that the first of human family (the hominidae) picked up a stone, held it firmly between his opposable thumb and four fingers, and flung it at another man-like creature or at an animal he wished to kill. Jean Kerisel (1) has beautifully narrated the evolution of the toolbox of the upper Paleolithic man(Figure 1) when homo habilis sought stones of the finest quality to fashion his first tools when he found that the application of pressure by one piece of flint to another would cause chips to flake off and thereby convert his blunt instruments into an axe.. A tool for weaponry apart, the prehistoric man also expressed himself using the cutting edge of one stone to engrave another, and we have examples of pictograms at Bhim Bhetka (near Bhopal) in India to the silhouette of a horse in the Chauvet cave in France(Figure 2) or the message of the horses of La Pieta in Spain.

Nezlet Khater mining site in upper Egypt between Asyut and Sohag dates between 35,100 to 30,360 years BP where a flint-rich layer had been mined by the ancients. The oldest known mining centre in the world is possibly the Lion Cave in Swaziland in Ngwenya mountain range where specularite(red ochre) was mined for cosmetics for ceremonial occasions. The site has been carbon dated to 43,000 BC. In the Indian context, circumstantial evidences suggest that Rajasthan provided the earliest copper ores to chalcolithic India.

Rajpura-Dariba mine near Udaipur provides the earliest C-14 dated mine (1260_+160 BC), the ore body having Cu-Zn as well as Pb-Ag ore lenses. Figure 3 shows the ancient deep workings at Rajpura –Dariba. Hutti Gold Mines in Karnataka, South India has been dated to 760 BC. The world’s earliest mining tome, Kautilya’s Arthasashtra (circa 330 BC) narrated in great detail the duties and responsibilities of the Chief Mine Superintendent and described the mining of a whole host of minerals (2).

The importance of mining and minerals for the sustainability of human civilization is self-evident. Without minerals, the human race literally regresses to cave-man existence and the evolution of human society from the Stone Age, through the Neolithic Age, the Bronze Age, the Iron Age, the Atomic Age and the current Information Age has been possible and directly related to the expanding use, development and utilization of mineral resources. Despite the derisive epithet by Mark Twain that a “--mine is a hole in the ground owned by a liar”, mines have provided for the sustenance and survival of human society and shaped the course of history. This is forcefully articulated by the litany of American Mining Congress that “Everything begins with Mining”. In this presentation, we shall highlight the characteristics of mining industry, and the way it should seek to reinvent itself through a paradigm shift in order that quantum leaps in performance were possible.

Fig.1: Evolution of the Toolbox of the Upper Paleolithic Man

Fig.2: Silhouette of Horse in the Chauvet Cave in France

Fig.3: Ancient Deep Workings at Rajpura-Dariba

Mineral Industry – Its Unique Characteristics
Mineral industry is necessarily a generic term used to designate a vital economic segment of the global economy which leads to the production of a wide range of useful minerals. Due to the very different nature and uses of individual minerals, the industry is highly diversified and segmented, with segment –specific issues. In contradistinction to many other economic activities, these specific characteristics include:

• Mining can only take place where economically and technically recoverable mineral concentrations occur, determined by geology. A mineral deposit is a quirk of nature. Access to land, therefore, is a critical issue for mineral development.
• Mining projects have exceptionally long lead times. From grass root exploration to production, it can take 10 or more years calling for long term strategies and policies.
• Mining operations not only require a legal license to operate, but also a social license from the community with which a mine co-exists.
• Mining is a highly risky business and a cyclical industry with periods of oversupply and low prices leading to periods of high demand and high prices, the so-called “busts and booms” in mining business. It is also exposed to political risks and speculation.
• Mining requires a wide skill set for its operators and the spectrum of engineering and other operations call for the convergence of many disciplines.
• The diversified nature of mining industry, from low-skill informal mining to giant state-of-the-art mines , call for strategies and policies that are flexible enough to address a wide range of techniques and processes that are performed by mining industries.
• Land use requirements for mining are a miniscule compared to agriculture and transport sectors and land use is, in many cases, temporary. Some mining sites can gain even a higher ecological and/or recreational value than the land on which they were originally developed. The environmental footprint of mining operations is relatively small and a very high level of rehabilitation can be achieved using leading edge practices.
• Environmental and social impacts however are diverse and occasionally last long after the cessation of mining. The impacts of a mining development need to be carefully assessed at an early stage of the mining project as well as the actions and resources required to mitigate possible impacts after the end of the mining operation.
• Mining and minerals are integral part of the sustainable development process contributing as they do today to over $20 trillion to the global economy and generating direct employment for over 1.6 million people.
• Mining industry is largely a laggard in terms of technology adoption and exhibits a wide spectrum of technology levels- from the primitive artisanal mining to relatively high-tech systems.
• It is necessary therefore to identify the performance barriers which beleaguer the mining industry and examine the need for possible interventions that could help the mining industry climb the ladder towards becoming a smart organization, truly innovative and proactive. A smart organization is quintessentially a high performance organization that enables knowledge and capabilities, enabled by technology, to grow and flow freely across hierarchical boundaries, where it could be shared and made actionable for use.

Evolution of Mining Technology- Quo Vadis ?
Technology will be the key enabler of a smart mining industry, backed certainly by smart people who can perform in a coordinated and systematic way. If one examines the chronological evolution of mining technology, one is struck by the apparent lack of innovations and long gestation periods in translating a discovery to an innovation.

Table 1 enumerates the major technological breakthroughs , both of incremental and radical innovations, that have taken place across the global mining industry since its hoary beginnings.

Table1: Mining Technology – an Overview of Chronological Developments

The above table, even if it is skimpy, encapsulates the mining technology kaleidoscope, highlighting the major milestones. It is evident that compared to many other engineering disciplines, mining has largely been conservative and failed to espouse new directions of technology largely because of mindset and constraints of safety in the mining industry. In the past three decades, the global mining industry has become predominantly surface mine centric, with surface mines contributing to over 85% of the global mineral production. The overall trend has been on increasing scale of operations, using giant bucket wheel excavators, shovels and super-trucks primarily focusing on economics of scale and evolution of systems, reinforced by ICT developments. It is necessary to underscore a basic fact that despite significant technical advances, especially the massive increase in equipment size, conceptual changes in the way we mine mineral deposits have virtually remained unchanged. In longwall coal mining, the massive step up in coal production which makes a longwall almost a coal production factory, the advances have largely been due to technological changes and changes in mining dimensions(3).

Inevitably and perhaps inexorably, the mineral deposits amenable for exploitation by surface mining will decline and recourse to underground mining will become inescapable. This reversal in basic technology trend, from surface mining to underground, is exemplified by Codelco’s corporate mining plan which is homing on increasing underground exploitation in its long term vision (4). Codelco is a giant amongst global copper producers and is planning to exploit the copper ore bodies by large underground operations at El Tiente, Andina, Chuquicamata and Alejandro Hales Mines with production capacities up to 180,000 tonnes/day using identified leverages of value which would include inter alia

• Increasing speed of ore extraction
• Improved ramp up of the projects
• Increasing productive capacities
• Improving the quality of extraction and recovery of resources
• Increasing speed and quality of mining development.

The evolution of technology is characterized today by attributes such as “smart”, “clean”, “flexible” and “least disruptive” and has been aided by massive invasion of computer softwares and technology components which are environmentally compatible. Rock excavation techniques, for instance, are witnessing a sea change - mechanical excavation’s capability of cutting hard rocks is being uprated, and new techniques such as electro-hydraulic breakage, plasma blasting and abrasive jet cutting are waiting on the wings to make a foray into the mining arena(5). It is only ideas that move the world and conceptually the use of cryogenic cutting fluids in mechanical rock excavation systems can bring about the pick’s ability to cutting harder rocks, because the tips could be more effectively cooled. New technological innovations, the tsunami wave of ICT permeating through the mining systems leveraging productivity and performance, the focus on systems approach to mining per se, the inexorable trend towards automation and remote control are changing the face of mining technology. Contributions from simple innovative and environment-friendly mining machinery, such as the surface miner (Figure 4) which occupies a niche application space have brought about a veritable revolution in surface mining industry in India. New mineral engineering techniques will help improve recovery from leaner ores/wastes and also contend with environmental problems more holistically. The future of global mining industry will largely rest on innovations emanating from mineral engineering arena. Figure 5 shows how productivity has uprated in the mineral industry in step with different levels of mechanization and automation.

Fig.4: Surface Miner

Fig.5: Uprated Productivity in Mineral Industry

Reconfiguring the Mining Industry in the New Century

In outlining a strategic roadmap for the future of mining, one must be prepared to negotiate “change” and adapt it. Organizations will perforce become leaner, agile and innovative so that mining companies can scale new heights in productivity and performance to be able to stay in business. Essential tools to be deployed for building a new performance and competitive culture in mining industry will be change management, communications and effective leadership, learning and implementing the principles encapsulated in Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War”(6).
Mining industry will operate on many scales- from the small to giant mines- and each one will have to devise what its optimal level of performance should be. All these changed configurations will have to work in tandem with sustainable development principles which will be the mantra to be chanted by the mining industry(7).

References
1. Kerisel, Jean., 2005, Of Stones and Man- From the Pharaohs to the Present Day, Taylor & Francis, London.
2. Ghose,A.K., 2002, Kautilya, Art and science of mining, and the future of the Global mining industry, Journal of Mines, Metals & Fuels, 50(12).pp.448-451.
3. Wagner, Horst, 2003, Mining Technology for Surface and Underground Mining- Evolving Trends, Proc. 19th World Mining Congress(Editors: Ghose & Bose), Oxford & IBH Publishing Co., New Delhi, pp.35-50.
4. Baez, F., 2006, Trends and Developments in Underground Mining: Codelco’s Experiences, Proc. 2nd International Symposium on Rapid Mine Development,Aachen,pp.481-494.
5. Res,J., Wladzielczyk, K and Ghose, Ajoy K.,2003, Environment-Friendly Techniques of Rock Breaking, A.A.Balkema, Lisse.
6. Sun, Tzu,1997, The Art of War, Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.
7. Ghose, A.K., 2005, Sustainable Development of Global Mining – Needed New Synergy, Proc.20th World Mining Congress, Tehran, pp13-16.