The Intelligent Mining Solution is a geospatial information management system built to manage various mine related requirements. The project was started in October 2005 after Assmang Iron Ore Limited identified the need for a geospatial information management system. The project was divided into three modules: (1) Land and Asset Management; (2) Rehabilitation Management; (3) Environmental Process Management.
The Land and Asset Management module was developed to allow the client to manage mine assets such as farms and portions through a geospatial information system, linking identified assets to data attributes and linked documents such as Surveyor General Diagrams and title deeds.
The Rehabilitation Management module allows for the management of the rehabilitation process of the mine through a linked geospatial information system. This module required the ability to capture data in the field by making use of software developed on a Microsoft Windows Mobile Pocket PC as well as through the use of the main web interface of the system. The data being captured is specific to the data attributes of the individual elements defined in the design of the geospatial information system such as quarries, pits, and run of mine dumps.
The Environmental Process Management module allows for the reporting and data capturing of data geospatially linked to certain environmental elements such as fall-out dust monitoring points and water quality analysis points. This data includes weather data captured on advanced weather monitoring utilities. The data captured on all these modules allows for the creation of precise reports required by both management and legislature required by the South African government and the requirements for rehabilitation in the mining industry.
The implementation of this project was done on internal network servers running on the local network of the two mines, Beeshoek Iron Ore Mine and Khumani Iron Ore Mine, based in the Northern Cape province of South Africa.