EIT RawMaterials supported start-up is increasing workers' safety and mining assets integrity

EIT RawMaterials supported SpacEarth Technology start-up delivers Mines-In-Time.

Real-time monitoring of ground displacements

EIT RawMaterials supported start-up, SpacEarth Technology, has developed Mines-In-Time (MIT), an automatic solution for real-time monitoring of ground displacements, applied to mining operation and allowing to increase workers’ safety as well as mining assets integrity. The system is designed to monitor rock mass during mining operations, and is integrated in a traffic-light Decision Support System (DSS) to avoid risks and cost related to mines collapse. The solution was validated in relevant environment on the micro-seismicity data recorded at Garpenberg mine (Boliden Group, Sweden), the world’s most productive and automated underground zinc mine (1 250 m depth).

Mines-In-Time solution addresses the following:

• Control ground deformations and stress alteration of the rock mass during mining operations;
• Improve safety in mining operations;
• Enable Real-Time autonomous decision-making systems.

Mines-In-Time is based on four dimensions Local Earthquake Tomography (4D LET) methodology and is able to analyse both natural and induced micro-seismicity due to mining operations. This technique is a unparalleled upgrade of the traditional ambient noise analysis and time-lapse 3D LET, since the addition of the fourth dimension (time) allows a real-time monitoring of ground deformation related to the stress variation and provides an instant alert in case of risky conditions, using data provided by the existing networks of seismographs already installed in most of the mining sites (no extra hardware to be installed). For this reason, MIT is the only Decision Support System and early warning systems for mining able to dynamically forecast rock deformations and provide an alert in case of critical conditions.

Mining companies and service providers will benefit from the MIT outstanding advantages:

• Reduction of health and safety risks of personnel involved in underground works and reduction of economic losses due to collapses and failures
• Improvement of planning and scheduling of mining and maintenance operations, saving costs of inspections, analysis and monitoring, estimated in the order of 30% with respect to the current practices
• Better solutions through research

SpacEarth Technology, a spin-off of the Italian Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), founded in 2014 and supported by the EIT RawMaterials Booster to develop applications for the mining industry. Moreover, SpacEarth has direct connections with Bolden Group and LKAB mining companies, DMT and IMS service providers and the Luleå University of Technology working on seismic hazards in mines.

EIT Community support

SpacEarth start-up was initially supported by the EIT RawMaterials Start-up and SME Booster 2016 and 2017. The EIT RawMaterials Booster supported the delivery of a market study for the mining sector including direct contacts with client prospects. As a result, the company achieved a higher technology level, and this boosted the technology attractiveness from the industry. Mines-In-Time will be further validated through 2019 and 2020 thanks to a recently established one-year contract between SpacEarth and Boliden.

The constant, competent and thorough support of EIT RawMaterials Innovation Hub South was crucial to bring our business idea into the market.

The seismic hazard in the mines is strongly related to the stress changes and the condition of the rock mass (fracturing process with time). That is why monitoring of these two factors is important to foresee the changes in the seismic hazard. MIT is a valuable tool that could give important information about the changing stress and rock conditions – it can be used for large volumes.

Savka Dineva, Professor, Luleå University of Technology