El Teniente holds the title of being the largest underground copper deposit in the world. With work beginning at the site in 1905, today, the mine consists of more than 4,500 km of underground galleries.
In March 2011, El Teniente embarked on an ambitious New Mine Level expansion project. This expansion included the construction of two new access and transport tunnels, spanning 8.3 km and 9.1 km respectively, both with a cross-section of 8 x 5 meters. El Teniente commissioned the engineering and construction of the tunnels to Constructora de Túneles Mineros, a consortium of the French companies Vinci Grand Projects and Soletanche Bachy.
With an estimated 1,500 workers to be required at the peak of the three-year construction period, El Teniente faced a significant challenge in ensuring safety compliance, mitigating risk, and managing emergency procedures. The mine needed a robust Presence Detection System to gain real-time visibility of personnel in this vast and dynamic underground environment.
In April 2012, Mining TAG, powered by Epiroc, was assigned the Presence Detection System project for the tunnel construction phase. The comprehensive Mining TAG solution centered around MT Guardian, a personnel tracking and access control system designed to verify the position of people in tunnels and support emergency management.
Mining TAG supplied RFID microtags for each person working in the mine, which fed data to the MT Guardian user interface. The Mining TAG Trailblazer middleware served as the bridge between the tracking technology and the user interface, collecting and configuring real-time data for mission-critical situations.
The implementation began with the installation of a server in the project's data room, followed by the setup of access portals at four entrances to create control zones. A communications cabinet was installed at each of the four tunnel access points and connected to the system’s backend via the mine’s existing fiber optic network.
User-operated check-in stations were installed at each entrance to help ensure security and compliance. When moving between zones, workers were required to scan their tag and check in on a control screen, providing two-factor verification, which is particularly crucial for controlling access to restricted areas. To help ensure their proper function, the station's totem also checked the signal strength and battery level of each worker's tag device.
Throughout the three-year tunnel construction project, concluding in 2015, the MT Guardian solution was used to effectively manage access and track movements within the control zones. The client even expanded the use of the tag solution beyond the mine, implementing it as a security and control tool for human resources and industrial safety.
When introducing any new technology, especially tracking solutions, mining organizations can often face resistance from staff. But according to safety audits conducted by the construction company and the client, the Mining Tag solution
achieved a usage level of 100%.
On the client side, two measures were highly effective in incentivizing the use of the tags. First, was a convincing presentation to the staff from one of the miners famously trapped for over two months in Chile’s Atacama mine. Secondly, the client was exhaustive in supervising and verifying the use of the tags.
Early in the project, workers were exchanging their personalized tag devices. This made it impossible to know exactly who was working in each sector. To solve this problem, a review and awareness campaign emphasized that the device was a non-transferable Personal Protection Element. To be paid, it was mandatory for each worker to check in with their own tag.
During two major collapse events, the solution’s emergency mode was employed as the main tool for mass evacuation control. With communication between the emergency management team’s web application and the workers’ mobile apps, people in the mine had access to up-to-date information and maps for navigating evacuation routes.
In both emergency situations and routine operations, the Mining Tag solution provided insights that helped the client make better, data-driven decisions. Jorge Villegas, Management Manager at the client, praised the system as "an excellent management and control tool, which responded in critical moments."
Mining TAG's solution for El Teniente primarily utilized several key products:
The Mining TAG solution leverages several key technologies to address El Teniente's challenges. At its foundation, the solution used RFID technology in microtags for localization of personnel. The advantage of RFID technology is that it provides robust tag reading, allowing for 100% detection, for example, of a bus moving at 40 km/h with 40 people inside.
The MT Guardian interface provides control tower staff with up-to-date information through real-time data visualization. Greater visibility and integration of process in mine supports better planning, reduced risk and empowered decision making.
Between the tracking technology and the user interface was the Mining TAG Trailblazer middleware. Built with system interoperability in focus, Trailblazer collects and configures massive amounts of real-time data to applied in mission-critical situations.
An essential component of the technology was the emergency management system, which facilitated communication between the management team's web application and workers' mobile apps, providing current information and evacuation route maps during critical events.
By implementing this comprehensive solution, Mining TAG successfully addressed El Teniente's challenges, enhancing safety, improving emergency response, and providing valuable data-driven insights for more effective mine management.
