The mining industry is critical in the global business landscape, providing essential resources driving economic growth and industrial development.
Today's global industry faces unprecedented challenges—from environmental sustainability to safety to regulatory compliance.
As the industry evolves, advanced technologies like myTrack become essential. Designed to tackle these challenges head-on, myTrack provides real-time data and insights that enhance productivity, improve safety, streamline regulatory compliance, and ensure accurate billing.
With myTrack, mining companies can navigate the complexities of the modern mining landscape while driving success in an increasingly competitive and regulated environment.
Top Challenges for the Mining Industry
According to the Engineering & Mining Journal, there are more than 12,000 active capital and maintenance projects in the mining sector, representing $1.2 trillion. Of the total value of projects, 19%, or $231.1 billion, are under construction from 2,118 projects. Further growth is projected by experts.
Let’s dig into some of the challenges that face this growing industry today:
Environmental
One of the primary reasons the mining industry is growing is the need for minerals such as lithium, cobalt, and nickel, which are essential for green energy. Ironically, mining contributes to environmental issues since it accounts for approximately 4% to 7% of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions.
Although the mining industry is striving to reach net zero, it faces a long, difficult road to achieve that ideal.
“Several factors complicate the decarbonization of mining operations,” explains S&P Global. “Digging material from the earth tends to be energy-intensive, and mining companies must locate their operations where the resources are, often in remote corners of the planet, with limited access to renewable energy and no major companies to share in installation costs.”
Incorporating technology into the process can help the industry become more efficient and ultimately help the environment.
myTrack gives mining companies real-time data, which they can use to track labor, equipment, and materials. The valuable information allows management to make timely decisions that minimize idleness and increase productivity.
Safety
Cave-ins, explosions, fires, fall-ins, poor air quality, heavy machinery, etc., are all part of the mining profession. That’s why mining is considered a dangerous profession.
In the U.S., according to OSHA, the underground mining machine operator is the ninth most dangerous profession. It has a fatality rate of 21.6 per 100,000 workers. The nonfatal injury and illness rate of the mining industry in the United States was 1.3 per 100 workers in 2021. The number has been in that range since 2015, down from 3.1 in 2007.
In Australia, the mining industry continues to be one of the most hazardous sectors, despite significant safety improvements. The overall traumatic injury fatality rate for workers has decreased by 30% since 2012, but challenges remain, especially in high-risk roles.
Australia's Work Health and Safety (WHS) laws are designed to protect workers and others affected by work activities.
Despite the positive trend regarding injuries, the industry needs to improve its safety rate to attract and retain workers.
Technology solutions like myTrack can help mines with safety by ensuring they know who is on-site in real-time. They can also leverage the data in myTrack so they know when a worker reaches their fatigue threshold. In a dangerous working environment, employees must be highly alert and focused.
With myTrack, mining operators can see which contractors have appropriate safety certifications before they are allowed on-site. By operating mining equipment only by qualified personnel, incidents involving transportation and heavy machinery are minimized.
Regulatory
The mining industry is heavily regulated. Regulation begins when companies identify a new mine and continues throughout the process.
In the U.S., a mining project could involve 30 or more federal, state, and local regulatory programs, “The purpose of the permitting process for any mining activity is to ensure that activity is done responsibly,” says the National Mining Association.
In Australia, the WHS Act emphasizes rigorous reporting to demonstrate compliance, which is often burdensome for management.
The regulation does not ease once work begins. Although most requirements are related to safety or the environment, they can be burdensome. Another challenge is that regulations are regularly updated.
Regulatory conformity typically requires mounds of paperwork. Each hour teams focus on regulatory conformance is one less hour they focus on profitable work.
myTrack eases the challenge of meeting fast-changing regulations. myTrack keeps comprehensive and accurate records required for compliance and audits. This allows mining companies to focus more on the business and less time on paperwork.
Technology
The mining industry faces seismic changes as it focuses on achieving sustainability goals and adapting to new challenges. Addressing these challenges will require the adoption of advanced technology to ensure that the industry can effectively meet its evolving objectives.
Companies that are slow to adopt technologies like automation, IoT, and AI, will not be able to keep up with the competition in terms of productivity and safety.
myTrack is one of those technologies. It simplifies managing a contractor workforce, which is common in the mining industry. By centralizing contractor data, such as contracts, performance metrics, and schedules, mining companies can optimize their workforce, reduce administrative burden, and ensure projects are staffed appropriately. This leads to improved productivity and a safer working environment.
The technology automates and simplifies contract compliance. Real-time data is a competitive advantage as it empowers companies to make informed operational decisions.
Improve Cost Controls with myTrack
At a large mine with many different contractors on-site simultaneously, ensuring contractors get paid accurately and promptly is challenging. Errors can lead to contractor dissatisfaction and strain the owner-contractor relationship.
myTrack simplifies the management of multiple contractors by centralizing crucial data such as contracts, performance metrics, and schedules. This optimization reduces the administrative burden and ensures that projects are staffed appropriately. It also enhances billing accuracy by tracking contractor hours and work completed, thereby minimizing disputes and discrepancies.
With myTrack's real-time data, companies can track and analyze expenses more effectively. The platform aids in budget management by providing insights into spending patterns and identifying potential cost overruns.
The software’s ability to accomplish these tasks can dramatically reduce labor costs. This is especially critical in the mining industry, where cost control is essential to meet regulatory requirements.
Take the next step—learn how myTrack helps mining companies be more successful. Reach out to learn more about myTrack.
