This project, Dig_IT, entitled: A Human-centred Internet of Things Platform for the Sustainable Digital Mine of the Future, was created in response to the fifth of the seven societal challenges defined in the Horizon 2020 program [1]: Societal Challenge 5: Climate Action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials.
The objective of the project is to digitize the mining industry’s processes and operations in order to make it safer (people), more efficient (resources) and more sustainable (environment). To this end, an industrial Internet of Things (IIoTp) platform will be implemented to collect data and transform it into knowledge and actions aimed at improving the safety of workers in this industry, as well as minimizing the impact of mining on the environment.
The European Union has launched a series of activities around this challenge that will help increase European competitiveness, raw material security and improve welfare. At the same time, they will ensure environmental integrity, resilience and sustainability with the goal of keeping average global warming below 2°C and enabling ecosystems and society to adapt to climate change and other environmental changes. In particular, the Dig_IT project is part of the Research and Innovation Action “New solutions for the sustainable production of raw materials”.
The final product of the Dig_IT (IIoTp) project will be applied and validated in five mines: (1) La Parrilla (Spain), open pit mine for tungsten extraction; (2) Marini Marmi (Italy), subway marble mine; (3) Titania (Norway), ilmenite open pit mine; (4) Sotkamo (Finland) subway silver mine; and (5) Hannukainen (Finland) open pit mine in the process of reopening for iron, copper and gold extraction.
Each of these use cases differs from the others in terms of location (climate), nature of the terrain, raw material, type of mine (subway – open pit), etc., so each use case offers unique challenges for the IIoT platform.
