Providing Automation for the Mining Industry

Company Description:

This multinational corporation is one of the largest mining operators in Brazil. It specialized in minoring iron ore and nickel. It averages $34B in revenue a year and employees more than 195,000 people worldwide.

Challenge:

A slurry leak is a critical problem in the mining industry with many environmental consequences. Monitoring pipelines with costly sensors take a significant and expensive investment. The company was looking for a different solution that would predict leaks at a much lower cost.

Strategy:

Stefanini started with a full failure analysis of the existing sensors along the pipeline, capitalizing on statistical models. We then developed a dashboard of the automation for operational teams to view data and support their decisions. With the implementation of an open-source analytics platform and powerful machine learning techniques, we were able to model and predict possible leaks, better understand plant behavior, and notify parties of any abnormalities.

Transformation:

We implemented the prediction system in 3 pipelines with a total of 25 prediction models monitoring 24/7. It successfully detected a pipeline leak, preventing environment fines around millions of dollars. The open-source platform helped reduce the overall project cost. Along with cost savings, we improved user experience by providing easy access and control of the data for the client.

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