Goldmine deploys private 5G for teleremote dozers

Newmont’s Cadia gold and copper mine, west of Orange in NSW, has implemented a private 5G network for its teleremote (remote control) dozing operations, in what is believed to be a world first.

The Cadia mine — understood to be Australia’s largest underground mine — leveraged the increased coverage, capacity and performance capabilities of Ericsson Private 5G to overcome the limitations previously encountered with Wi-Fi. This enabled the mine to meet the productivity potential of multiple dozers, achieve new levels of machine productivity and keep workers safe.

Previously, Newmont was unable to connect more than two machines, at distances of no more than 100 m on Wi-Fi, before the network and machines became unusable. Wi-Fi was unstable and unpredictable, and could lead to downtime for half a 12-hour shift at a time or more for troubleshooting and efforts to restabilise connectivity.

With Ericsson Private 5G, Newmont can now connect its full dozer fleet across the width of its tailings works construction area — up to 2.5 km — from a single 5G radio, while achieving up to 175 Mbps uplink throughput (enough for up to 12 dozers if required). With zero interruptions from communications instability or outages, 5G has boosted safe production, and enabled workers to push more earth per shift than previous experience with Wi-Fi.

“Ericsson’s Private 5G network gives us a scalable and high-performing solution that provides the coverage needed and keeps our people safe,” said Chris Twaddle, Newmont’s Director of Process Control, Networks and Operational Cellular. “It’s also enabling our long-term digital transformation vision to use 5G for smart mining at our Tier One surface and underground mines globally.”

Newmont is using Ericsson’s 5G Antenna Integrated Radio with Ericsson Massive MIMO to achieve the high levels of uplink connectivity needed for teleremote dozing and deliver this new class of performance capability. Ericsson Massive MIMO allows mining companies to use mid-band spectrum to achieve higher uplink throughput at extended distances compared to traditional radio technologies, allowing a multiplying effect on network capacity from a given radio. Ericsson Uplink Booster is a feature of the Ericsson Silicon microprocessors used in the radios, where uplink signal strength can be increased tenfold, further improving uplink/upload performance.

“The deployment with Newmont at Cadia demonstrates the power of 5G for industry, where Ericsson’s industry-leading radio portfolio can reduce the amount of infrastructure that needs to be deployed and operated to cover an industrial site or area,” said Manish Tiwari, Head of Enterprise 5G, Enterprise Wireless Solutions, Ericsson.

“This also allows enterprises to use private 5G networks they own to achieve high levels of performance for advanced video-based control and computer vision initiatives without large amounts of spectrum. This is especially valuable to organisations that are operating in spectrum-constrained markets.”