Mining & Metals
Among the harshest environments in industry: dust, vibration, heat, gas, and machines weighing hundreds of tonnes. Automation pursues two goals: extracting and processing ever more efficiently, and moving people away from danger — up to autonomous mines and haul trucks.
The main families
Underground & open-pit
Drilling, blasting, haulage. Increasingly autonomous heavy machines (ISO 17757), ventilation, firedamp monitoring in coal mines.
Crushing, grinding, flotation
Energy-intensive continuous process, advanced mill control, tailings dam management.
Smelting, steel, aluminium
Blast furnaces, electric arc furnaces, electrolysis. Very high temperatures, molten metal, automated casting.
Key challenges
- Worker safety — collapses, gas, heavy machines. Gas detection, ventilation, collision-avoidance systems, and distancing via autonomy.
- Tailings dams — their failure is the catastrophic risk of the sector. Instrumented monitoring and the global GISTM standard since Brumadinho.
- Heavy automation & autonomy — autonomous trucks and drills (ISO 17757), tele-operation, control rooms hundreds of km away.
- Energy & environment — grinding and electrolysis are very energy-intensive; decarbonization pressure, fleet electrification, water and effluent management.
Key technologies
Standards & references
Add ISO 17757 (autonomous mining machines) and the GISTM (Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management), created after Brumadinho.
Major players
Miners
BHP, Rio Tinto, Glencore, Vale, Anglo American.
Metals
ArcelorMittal, Nucor, POSCO, Rio Tinto (aluminium), Alcoa.
Equipment & processing
Caterpillar, Komatsu, Sandvik, Epiroc, Metso, FLSmidth.
Automation
ABB, Siemens, Rockwell, Schneider.
Landmark accidents
The sector's disasters shaped mine safety and, recently, the global governance of tailings dams.
| Event | Year | Location | Lesson |
|---|---|---|---|
| Soma mine | 2014 | Turkey | Fire and carbon monoxide in a coal mine; 301 deaths. A reminder of the criticality of ventilation, gas detection and evacuation plans. |
| Mariana (Samarco) | 2015 | Brazil | Tailings dam collapse; a major environmental disaster. Reignited global tailings regulation. |
| Brumadinho (Vale) | 2019 | Brazil | Tailings dam collapse; around 270 deaths. Led to the global GISTM standard on tailings management. |