At MWC Barcelona 2023, Botswana’s Debswana and Huawei jointly announced what they believe to be the world’s first 5G-oriented smart diamond mine project.
Debswana’s head of information management Molemisi Nelson Sechaba says the Huawei-enabled smart mine solution has been deployed at Debswana’s Jwaneng open-pit diamond mine, and the project started operation in December 2021.
Huawei’s 4G eLTE private network solution provides stable connectivity for the Jwaneng mine, connecting more than 260 pieces of equipment. This enables interconnection between the mine’s production, safety and security systems.
Sechaba says that it is important to deploy the eLTE solution to connect mining equipment in a more stable fashion.
There are two reasons for this. The first is efficiency. The ability to transfer data in real time makes equipment like mining vehicles more efficient, increasing yield and reducing long-term OPEX. Second, the solution helped improve safety. Real-time data collection, backhaul, and interaction make the system more sensitive and accurate to provide more reliable protection for staff and vehicles.
The Jwaneng mine is thought to be the world’s first 5G-oriented smart diamond mine. This means the hardware equipment such as base stations used in the mine’s digital transformation solution support network upgrades to 5G. 5G features like high bandwidth and low latency can support the application of cutting-edge technologies like autonomous driving, enabling more intelligent digital transformation of the mining industry in the future.
Thulagano Segokgo, minister of communications, knowledge and technology of Botswana, states that the government of Botswana is pleased to see Debswana and Huawei’s joint efforts to drive digital transformation in the mining industry.
Xu Jun, chief technology officer of Huawei Mine BU, says Huawei is committed to using its strengths in ICT technologies like 5G, cloud, AI, and IoT to develop smart mine solutions for customers in the mining industry worldwide.
Liao Yong, vice-president of Huawei sub-Saharan Africa region, says that, over the past five years, Huawei has provided services to mining enterprises in a number of countries in the region, including South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Namibia, and Ghana. Looking to the future, Huawei will work with more local partners to accelerate mining digital transformation and create more value in Africa.
According to Debswana, building on the success of the project in the Jwaneng mine deployed together with Huawei and Botswana local companies, in line with Botswana’s citizen economic empowerment program, the company plans to also deploy the smart mining solution in its Orapa, Damtshaa, and Letlhakane mines in 2023.