[INFOGRAPHIC] The Industrial Internet and its impact on the mining industry?

With over 50 billion devices expected to be connected to the web by 2020, the Industrial Internet is anticipated to bring great things to the mining industry.

The Industrial Internet is the merging of the global industrial sector with big data and the Internet of Things, encompassing a wide array of physical machinery and processes.

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According to General Electric, it costs trillions of dollars each year to run these complex and intensive systems and by improving efficiency by just one percent, the result can create millions in cost savings. In 2014, the combined operating expenditures for the Top 40 miners was $531 billion. If you subtract one percent of that it equates to $5.3  billion.

Examples of the Industrial Internet in motion:

• Predictive analytics warn airline operators of potential engine failures before they occur, saving millions by avoiding downtime and flight delays

• Driverless haul trucks will soon be the new norm for miners around the world. These robots are more efficient, and are controlled remotely from hundreds of miles away.

• Drivers and engineers can get real-time reporting on a train as it is in transit. Analytics calculate engine temperature, fuel efficiency, speed, weight, and vibration patterns. The location is tracked to optimize the efficiency of the entire system.

• By consolidating all the mill asset and process information in a common platform, a mining production manager can see the whole picture. As a result, she knows where the team needs to focus to maximize throughput, recoveries, and quality.

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