14 14 Page 14 Contd from pg 12 2017 But all eyes are to the future and sup plying the increased demand for nick el in both the stainlesssteel sector and the ever hopeful electric vehicle bat tery market Copper Clif Mine Last year to meet these challenges the V ale Board of Directors approved Phase 1 of an expansion project at Copper Clif Mine to provide ore to replace feed from older mines such as Stobie Mine The project represents a 760 mil lion investmen t over four years and is scheduled to be completed by 2020 The frst phase involves expanding the Copper Clif Mine South formerly South Mine by rebuilding the South shaft hoists and headframe and cre ating new under ground access to new mining fronts between Copper Clif and the South shaft down to approxi mately 1585 metres 5200 feet be low surface The project is expected to employ ap proximately 400 to 450 people The second phase of the project is still in the fnal stages of a prefeasibility study Incr eased Exploration Budget V ale s exploration budget increased by 50 in 2018 over last year and its project to expand operations at Cop per Clif Mine is well underway In ad dition V ale is piloting the use of new and innovative technologies such as autonomous vehicles and equipment technologies that will be the build ing blocks upon which new mines are built as we look toward the future Mining T echnology V ale is currently exploring new tech nologies in all fve of their Sudbury area mines This will upgrade and modernize the mines to be safer more produc tive and more costefec tive The technological upgrades will provide V ale with a basis for planning new mining projects Over the long term V ale is piloting the use of electric and bat tery powered vehicles at Coleman Creighton and Copper Clif Mines They are also commis sioning a teleremote drill and scoop at T ot ten Mine T o increase their productivity V ale is examining the use of Contd on pg 16 advanced analytics to improve opera tional decision making V ale is also considering replacing tra ditional drilling and blasting methods with equipment such as mechanical cutters that use boom beari ng discs or picks on the end to crumble rock faces into small pieces Progress towards being a fully digital mining operation is also being real ized and V ale will upgrade all its un der ground mines with wireless com munications V ale s feld mechanics at T otten mine are now equipped with tablets that al low them to access referenc e manu als and service records take photos make notes and troubleshoot mainte nance solutions right next to mobile equipment under ground W ireless taggi ng and trackin g of all personnel and equipment is also used to control and manage ventilation throughout the mine in a way that protects worker safety while realizing substantial ener gy savings AER pr ogram V ale s Clean AER Project is the lar g est single environmental investment in the history of Sudbury The 1 bil lion investment will reduce sulphur dioxide by 85 from current levels and metals and particulate emissions by 35 to 40 AER stands for Atmospheric Emis sions Reductio n and will result in cleaner air When fully implemented V ale s total sulphur dioxide emissions will be reduced from 150 kilotonnes to approximately 20 kilotonnes per year This reduction is in addition to the 90 reduction in sulphur dioxide emissions V ale has incorporated since 1970 The Clean AER Project will also re duce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 from 270 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide to 150 kilotonnes by 2020 This will be accomplished by reduc ing natural gas consumption and pro cesses modifcations The Clean AER Project will ensure a V ale explor es new technologies in all Sudbury ar ea mines Page 14 Contd from pg 12 2017 But all eyes are to the future and sup plying the increased demand for nick el in both the stainlesssteel sector and the ever hopeful electric vehicle bat tery market Copper Clif Mine Last year to meet these challenges the V ale Board of Directors approved Phase 1 of an expansion project at Copper Clif Mine to provide ore to replace feed from older mines such as Stobie Mine The project represents a 760 mil lion investmen t over four years and is scheduled to be completed by 2020 The frst phase involves expanding the Copper Clif Mine South formerly South Mine by rebuilding the South shaft hoists and headframe and cre ating new under ground access to new mining fronts between Copper Clif and the South shaft down to approxi mately 1585 metres 5200 feet be low surface The project is expected to employ ap proximately 400 to 450 people The second phase of the project is still in the fnal stages of a prefeasibility study Incr eased Exploration Budget V ale s exploration budget increased by 50 in 2018 over last year and its project to expand operations at Cop per Clif Mine is well underway In ad dition V ale is piloting the use of new and innovative technologies such as autonomous vehicles and equipment technologies that will be the build ing blocks upon which new mines are built as we look toward the future Mining T echnology V ale is currently exploring new tech nologies in all fve of their Sudbury area mines This will upgrade and modernize the mines to be safer more produc tive and more costefec tive The technological upgrades will provide V ale with a basis for planning new mining projects Over the long term V ale is piloting the use of electric and bat tery powered vehicles at Coleman Creighton and Copper Clif Mines They are also commis sioning a teleremote drill and scoop at T ot ten Mine T o increase their productivity V ale is examining the use of Contd on pg 16 advanced analytics to improve opera tional decision making V ale is also considering replacing tra ditional drilling and blasting methods with equipment such as mechanical cutters that use boom beari ng discs or picks on the end to crumble rock faces into small pieces Progress towards being a fully digital mining operation is also being real ized and V ale will upgrade all its un der ground mines with wireless com munications V ale s feld mechanics at T otten mine are now equipped with tablets that al low them to access referenc e manu als and service records take photos make notes and troubleshoot mainte nance solutions right next to mobile equipment under ground W ireless taggi ng and trackin g of all personnel and equipment is also used to control and manage ventilation throughout the mine in a way that protects worker safety while realizing substantial ener gy savings AER pr ogram V ale s Clean AER Project is the lar g est single environmental investment in the history of Sudbury The 1 bil lion investment will reduce sulphur dioxide by 85 from current levels and metals and particulate emissions by 35 to 40 AER stands for Atmospheric Emis sions Reductio n and will result in cleaner air When fully implemented V ale s total sulphur dioxide emissions will be reduced from 150 kilotonnes to approximately 20 kilotonnes per year This reduction is in addition to the 90 reduction in sulphur dioxide emissions V ale has incorporated since 1970 The Clean AER Project will also re duce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 from 270 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide to 150 kilotonnes by 2020 This will be accomplished by reduc ing natural gas consumption and pro cesses modifcations The Clean AER Project will ensure a V ale explor es new technologies in all Sudbury ar ea mines Page 15 Until now communication systems in under ground mines have had a slow evolution Communications systems have al ways been created to solve surface environment challenges and then later adapted for the under ground environ ment and use cases Consequently most installed under ground commu nications solutions are based on de cadesold LMR or newer DMR sys tems relying on leaky feeder cables to deliv er basic 2way mobile wireless communications for people LMR DMR and leaky feeder solutions when frst adapted for under ground were a game changer for worker safe ty communica tions and efciency Although these solutions delivered mobile voice they could not deliver broadband wireless data A solu tion for broadband wireless data was needed so many mining companies deployed W iFi under ground When W iFi was frst adapted for under ground it was an exciting way to deliver broadband wireless data for people and machines W iFi is still commonly used in under ground mines and will be used for many years to come just like it will be in our houses workplaces public plac es and anywhere people or machines gather Although W iFi has evolved signifcantly and the user density and capacity have signifcantly increased it is still a fxed technology and does not deliver mobility like the old LMR DMR systems Like many industrial markets under ground mining is going through a mas sive digital transformation This en sures better ways to guarantee worker safety efciency productivity and connectivity New dispatch systems new Health Safety and Environment HSE sys tems the use of drones and other new technologies that rely on alwayson mobile communications will be in troduced and installed in under ground mines globally Considering that LMR DMR systems do not ofer broadband and that W iFi systems do not ofer mobility it was an eventuality that L TE would make its way from the surface to under ground Mobility operators have never seen a business case in ofering either 2G 3G or 4G for private under ground net works The under ground mining business is not practical for mobile operators and the technology used by these operators is designed for lar ge user density with decent reliabil ity The industrial mo bility network needs for under ground mining are about small user density and guaranteed connectivity as lives and autonomous vehicles will depend on it Because of this new L TE manu facturers are making a strong en trance into under ground mines with full turnkey Private Industrial L TE solutions designed specifcally for this environment From the operational perspective Private Industrial L TE is designed to be much simpler to manage and operate so mining companies do not need to hire mobility operator spe cialists and can rely on thei r ISIT talent to manage the simplifed Pri vate Industrial L TE networks and as sociated user devices and SIM cards Private Industrial L TE is the biggest gamechanger in under ground min ing communications since the very frst LMR implementation Private under ground L TE delivers full un der ground mobility for voice data video dispatch systems HSE sys tems drones and any other system or application the new digital mine re quires The transition to a Private In dustrial L TE network under ground is the single lar gest enablement foun dation deliveri ng a full suite of new employee safety and digital trans formation applications In fact the Private Industrial L TE infrastructure can save lives and pays for itself in the frst year when you consider the signifcant savings these new digital transformation applications are sup plementing on the new under ground L TE infrastructure By Louis Lambert Redline Communications Digital Undergr ound Mine 20 The Digital T ransformation enabled with a Private Industrial L TE foundation Page 15