Modern mining operations face growing communication challenges across every scenario—exploration fields, open pits, underground tunnels, long haul roads, and emergency incidents. Remote terrain, extreme weather, and complex underground geometry can block signals and make fixed infrastructure costly or impractical. Crews and vehicles spread across large areas need reliable voice, low-latency location updates, and short-data exchanges so supervisors can make fast, safe decisions. At the same time, higher safety standards and pressure to control CapEx and OpEx demand systems that simply won't fail when minutes matter.
A mining communication backbone must deliver high reliability and full site coverage, guaranteed emergency communication, cost effectiveness, easy maintenance, and robust environmental adaptability. It must also be ready to evolve—supporting automation, telemetry, and remote control—without sacrificing always-on voice and location services.
As a leading provider of professional communications technologies and solutions, Hytera brings advanced technologies and a full portfolio of convergence communication products to mining. From exploration through open-pit and underground operations to transportation and emergency response, Hytera offers tailored narrowband and broadband options that boost safety, improve efficiency, and help mines transition toward intelligent, connected operations.
Hytera Mining Communications Solution
The Hytera Intelligent Communications Solution is a complete end-to-end LTE wireless broadband network solution fully based on interoperable 3GPP LTE standards, providing fast, secure and real-time audio, data and M2M/IoT communications, and meeting LTE QoS for carrier-grade service with full redundancy and availability to ensure a reliable network.
Sophisticated Automation
The list of features and processes that can benefit from communications technology and automation in mining is now impressively long.
Applications include in-pit autonomous haulage systems; autonomous drill systems; push-to-talk voice and push-to-talk video and dispatch systems; driverless freight train control; anti-collision systems; in-pit proximity detection; CCTV; high-precision GPS applications such as geofencing; slope monitoring and rockface/ground-penetrating radar.
Other applications in use are vehicle, machinery, and drill/excavator fleet management and telemetry (e.g. scheduling/task assignments, guidance/positioning, equipment problem identification/avoidance, remote diagnostics, speed, tire pressure, temperature, fuel/oil/brake fluid levels, load measurement, GPS-based precision excavating); SCADA systems and sensors; dust suppression using automated sprinklers, control valves, and a wireless control system; and applications for field force automation.
Data Analytics
Mining companies also need to harness Big Data analytics to provide “real, applicable insights from data and sharing them clearly and effectively with the right levels of the organization”, as this will help “provide real-time decision support and future projections”, argues the WEF report.
Big data and predictive analytics not only provide a competitive advantage by enabling faster and more accurate decision making, but they also help to minimize unplanned downtime by ensuring timely maintenance of vehicles, excavators, drills and other assets before a major machine failure that could hold up production.
Workforce Safety
Conditions in mining are harsh, the work is often located in remote, inaccessible regions and there are usually a large number of people working in a small space – often with large machines or handling hazardous substances.
Poor safety compliance can lead to stoppages that directly impact operational production and profitability, while worker compensation packages and regulatory fines can end up being more expensive than the cost of prevention.
A wide range of safety tools is now available for use in mining. Modern technology can support active, real-time surveillance of people, machinery, and mine conditions, including air quality and tunnel, slope stability. Constant two-way communications systems are a must to enable miners, support teams, and control rooms to be in continuous contact.
Hytera mission-critical, professional communication radio and systems specially adapted to these extreme requirements ensure secure voice and data communication, and therefore make a significant contribution to minimizing risks.
Safe communication solutions for your extreme conditions
Professional communication systems for the oil & gas industry have to withstand extreme conditions – our radio solutions have been intensively tested in these environments. They offer high levels of performance even under heavy load, through excellent radio coverage with consistently high sound quality.
With our innovative communication solutions, we are already making an important contribution to safety and occupational health at numerous locations for our customers in the oil & gas & mining sectors, helping to increase productivity.
Radio systems from Hytera Mobilfunk can be found, for example, in oil production facilities and refineries in the Middle East, refineries in Africa and Europe, iron ore mining, and open-cast coal mining in South Africa and Latin America, as well as a petrochemical company sites in Germany.
High level of availability and stability. Efficient. Reliable.
Scalable communication solutions can significantly increase productivity through better workflow coordination capabilities, direct and fast communication with employees, and the ability to network different locations.
Whether it’s for using state-of-the-art dispatching solutions with safety features such as voice recording, for GPS tracking for vehicles and emergency alerting, or for smart, additional applications – we tailor our communication solution to your application situation for maximum safety of your operations.
