Cambridge UK & Santiago Chile – 16th November 2015 – Today Cambridge, UK based IntelliSense.io announced that FTSE 100 mining major Antofagasta Minerals, Chile’s largest private mining group has signed a strategic partnership to deploy IntelliSense.io analytics and digital technologies for their “Mine to Mill” operational efficiency program. The technology will be deployed at one of its main operations Minera Centinela based in the Antofagasta mining region, Chile, initially targeting the thickener circuit.
Traditionally industries such as mining have been slow movers in the take up of new technology innovations compared to other industries such as manufacturing that have experienced serious impact on productivity and efficiency by deploying information, communications and computing technologies. Times seem to be changing in what is one of the world’s oldest industries and as recently as last week, McKinsey & Company released their recommendations advocating the use of digital innovations to improve mining productivity as a key requirement for global miners to improve their productivity and efficiency conundrum.
With the backdrop of an uncertain commodities cycle and after a year-long drop in the price of copper, Antofagasta Minerals is seeing this as an opportunity to invest in innovative technologies to beat the commodity cycle.
Pedro Fuenzalida, Innovation Manager for Antofagasta Minerals stated, “after the successes seen in the manufacturing industry by deploying technologies that helped standardise operations, we wanted to bring mining into the 21st century by introducing the same principles to our dynamic operations through digital innovations. We believe this to be future of mining where advances in analytics can enable better decision making and deliver step change in productivity improvement and help in stabilisation”.
IntelliSense.io whose technology is used to optimise processes and systems through a combination of sensors, software and simulation have proven successes from their deployments in uranium mining and high technology manufacturing operations. The business model of delivering “Optimisation applications as a Service” results in little to no upfront Capex cost, faster deployment and continuous solution upgrades that deliver rapid ROI to their customers.
Sam G. Bose, CEO of IntelliSense.io added, ‘to sign a prestigious group like Antofagasta Minerals to our growing mining industry client base acknowledges our expertise in the sector and demonstrates the value digital innovations can bring to global miners’.
A five year strategic partnership agreement has been signed between the two companies enabling IntelliSense.io to work closely with Antofagasta Minerals on delivering their technology across the mine extraction, mineral processing and waste management processes with the primary goal of improving efficiency, reducing environmental impact and delivering bottom line benefits to the mine operations.
Pedro Fuenzalida, Innovation Manager of Antofagasta Minerals added, “by bringing international high technology companies to Chile and demonstrating the impact these technologies can have in the local and regional mining industry, addressing common challenges such as constraints on water and energy and minimising environmental impact, we are showing our commitment to invest in innovations not only across our mining portfolio but also in Chile. We aim to improve the skill base of the Chilean mining industry by exposing and training teams on leading edge technologies to compete in the global market place”.
IntelliSense.io are setting up a ‘Centre of Excellence for Digital Technologies in Chile’ that will serve the Latin American mining industry across Copper, Gold, Iron Ore and Platinum Mining operations.
Antofagasta Minerals
Antofagasta is the leading private mining group based in Chile and one of the top producers of copper in the world. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 index.
IntelliSense.io
IntelliSense.io is the market leader in providing innovative real time data analytics over resilient wireless sensor networks for industrial applications. IntelliSense.io is a privately held company and is based in Cambridge, England.