Cosapi Mineria, Peru's largest mining company, began using the Russian mining management system Karier developed by VISST Group in 2020.

"The main objective of the "Karier" system is to increase production with the current volume of machinery, improve the safety of open pit mining and reduce equipment repair and maintenance costs. All this is achieved due to optimal allocation of machinery and reduction of human factor. Earlier similar projects have been implemented in India for Thriveni and in Morocco. In Russia, the Karyor system is used by Polyus Gold, Norilsk Nickel, SUEK and Evraz. The project with Cosapi Mineria is the first project in Latin America, not only for us as a company, but also in terms of exporting digital technology to this region," said Pavel Rastopshin, general director of VIST Group.

Cosapi Mineria S.A.C. is part of the large construction and engineering holding Cosapi S.A. and acts as a contractor for surface mining throughout the Republic of Peru. The implementation of the Quarry system is underway at the Shougang Hierro Peru deposit near the town of Marcona, Ica region.

According to Cosapi Mineria, the use of a state-of-the-art mining management system will allow the company to provide customers with a service consistent with the Industry 4.0 concept.

"Our priority is the safety of our employees and respect for the environment, so we use innovations that significantly reduce the risk of dangerous situations as well as CO2 emissions," commented the Peruvian company.

How the Quarry system works

The "Quarry" mining management system helps to manage the loading of dump trucks as well as monitor drivers and operators throughout the shift. The software recognises unsafe operations, such as speeding or unnecessary downtime.

As part of the project, sensors are being installed on dump trucks, diesel and electric excavators, and drilling rigs, and a high-speed Wi-Fi network is being rolled out at the quarry itself. Information on the operation of machinery is available to dispatch and management personnel, excavator operators and dump truck drivers in real time on smart panels installed in the cabs of the machines. The module of dynamic optimization automatically reconfigures the optimal routes of machinery taking into account the real situation at the quarry, for example, equipment failure.

Drilling parameters are controlled with the help of the Drill software and hardware complex, and the borehole charge is simulated using the obtained energy intensity data. Drill provides well grid design and high-precision pointing of drilling rigs using GLONASS/GPS.

In addition, the project includes a road quality module allowing for timely detection of problematic road sections using graphical and tabular information.

Other foreign projects of the VISTA Group with the "Karjer" system

At the end of last year, the "Quarry" system was launched by the VISTA Group for India's largest mine operator Thriveni Earthmovers. "Smart Quarry" was launched at the Pakri Barwadih Coal Mining Project in the eastern state of Jharkhand.

The project introduced automated control systems for the mining and transportation complex, drilling and blasting operations, a loading and fuel control system, and predictive analytics.

A year earlier, successful tests of an unmanned mining truck were conducted in Morocco at a specially prepared polygon located near the city of Casablanca.

According to the company, the introduction of "digital quarry" can achieve an increase in productivity of the excavator and dumping complex by 5-15% and reduce the cost of operating machinery by 8%. High-precision hole guiding and control of drilling parameters increases the productivity of drilling rigs by 5-15% and reduces the amount of secondary drilling.

About the company VISST Group

"Established in 1988, VIST Group (part of Tsifra Group) is a fast-growing international company in the field of development and implementation of information technologies for mining and metallurgy. "VIST Group is a part of the Cifra Group that focuses on improving the efficiency and security of the mining, oil & gas, chemical and machine-building industries in Russia.

In 30 years since its foundation, VIST Group has implemented more than 80 projects worldwide for the mining of gold, coal, phosphates, non-ferrous metals, iron ore and other solid minerals. The company offers digital solutions for surface and underground mining, gold mining, concentrators and metallurgy, industrial safety and industrial rail transportation. The solution package contains innovative technologies in the mining industry, such as robotic dumper trucks and boring machines, predictive analytics for solving problems of optimization of mining processes, and robotics.

The system of dispatching of mining transport equipment ACS GTC "Karier" was developed by specialists of the company in 1999, for which in 2008, "VIST Group" was awarded the Prize of the Russian Government in the field of science and technology.