Famous for its remote monitoring systems which help mines improve production and prevent costly breakdowns before they occur, specialised systems integrator Ramjack Technology Solutions has upped the ante and is now moving into the world of artificial intelligence (AI) to bring improved service delivery to mine technology.

Known as rAIL, the “data-centric” evolution takes the technology of Ramjack’s Remote Operations Centre Services (rROC) and combines it with AI and machine-learning capabilities, transforming data-turned-actionable-insights into fuel for more advanced automation strategies.

“rAIL has come about specifically to provide efficiencies and economies of scale to remote operations centres by supporting both control room operators and equipment operators to make better decisions to improve productivity, safety and sustainability,” explains Ramjack CEO MikeJackson.

He says that with a plethora of new technologies available to improve the effectiveness of mine operations, the data being collected is immense and the control rooms collecting the data are becoming increasingly complex.

“rAIL simplifies value creation from these large data sets and these complicated systems by providing data-based decision-making support to the people who are held accountable for results.”

Explaining Ramjack’s rAIL and rROC offerings, Jackson says they are similar – and complementary – in that both are designed to improve productivity, safety and sustainability of a mine by increasing value generated by their real-time systems, but they are also different in that rROC is people-centric, emphasising the implementation of best practice usage of existing solutions, while rAIL is data-centric, emphasising computer-aided data analysis to support decision making in real-time.

“We exist to help mining companies realise the full value of their real-life, operational technologies,” he says, noting that mines invest millions of dollars every year into operational technology, but that much of the value of these technologies is left unrealised.

Johannesburg-headquartered Ramjack launched rROC in 2018. In that almost five-year period, the company has run production and fleet management systems, reliability-centred maintenance management systems and safety management systems on behalf of mines across Africa.

“We are very excited about the results we have been able to achieve and especially the positive feedback we have been receiving from industry experts who are making use of the service,” Jackson says in an interview with Engineering News & Mining Weekly.

According to the company, rROC has achieved results ranging from improving mine output by $50-million, increasing availability by more 5%, improving overall equipment effectiveness by as much as 7% and eliminating fatigue-related incidents completely.

Ramjack’s portfolio of systems, sensors and data telemetry devices is designed to support the three pillars of mining – productivity, safety and sustainability. Systems such as collision avoidance, rock movement monitoring and fatigue monitoring are increasingly becoming the norm, while sensors and systems such as gas monitoring, water monitoring, tailings dam monitoring, fuel monitoring and emissions monitoring are essential to reducing mines’ carbon footprint.

“Real-time data analytics of equipment performance combined with environmental sensing can deliver key performance indicators in real-time to support every mine’s objective to improve ESG performance,” says Jackson.

The South African company has reached all corners of the globe with its solutions. To ensure it is close to the mines it serves, Ramjack has also set up operations in West Africa, Europe, the Middle East, North and South America and Asia Pacific.

“Our products and services have been deployed in more than 15 countries, ranging from South Africa to Scandinavia; Chile to Canada,” Jackson says. In Africa, Ramjack’s products and services have served customers across the continent, including mining operations in South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana and Mali."