Digitalization of the Mining Industry and the State of the Mineral Resource Base

Abstract

The use of digital technologies in mining industry is an extremely urgent task as the mineral resource base is depleted, mining costs increase, and the effectiveness of geological exploration decreases. The opportunities to increase the profitability of mineral deposit development through the use of information technologies are promising. The article presents main approaches to assessing the rate of mineral resources depletion, reflects the specific features of mining and geological exploration, analyzes the impact of the results of scientific and technological progress in the field of mining and processing of minerals on the state of mineral resource base. It is noted that the possibilities of reducing production costs and improving the efficiency of mineral development through the use of new technical and technological solutions have already been exhausted by now. The use of information technologies is an actual and promising direction. The experience of using digital technologies in mineral resource sector is considered. The immediate and long-term prospects for the introduction of information technologies are outlined. Some forecast and actual data on the effectiveness of digitalization in individual mining processes are presented. Using information on the structure of the cost
of mineral extraction and processing, an enlarged assessment of the possibility of reducing production costs was carried out for local nature of the use of information technologies. It is concluded that only the integration of digital technologies into one integrated production management system can reduce mining and processing costs on a scale that makes it possible to compensate for the deteriorating mining conditions and ore quality, to involve new, currently unprofitable mineral deposits into development.