EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The short course will cover key aspects of process automation for the mining industry. The focus is on advantages of the process automation, challenges and opportunities, and pathway toward advanced automation. This course is based on the course coordinator practical experience and research in process autonomy. The short course is designed in four modules that can be tailored to the need and the level of knowledge of the participants. Module one focuses on erminology and introduction of the concept. This module includes a group activity to discuss the requirements of automation. The second module presents the gaps and challenges in the development and implementation of automation. It introduces the concept of soft sensors for reliable measurements and a practical approach to utilising the power of data analytics and AI. Module three presents the present state of process automation in the minerals industry by providing some practical examples. This module also contains group activity to work on barriers to process automation in participants’ operations. The last module focus on the pathway toward process autonomy, including the organisation maturity assessment, the workforce of the future and human-centric autonomous systems and their features.

TARGET AUDIENCE

This short course is aimed at junior and senior metallurgists, managers, and students at various levels. The short course will give metallurgists and plant managers a basic understanding of process automation and give them the knowledge on steps required to implement process automation and pitfalls and challenges on the way toward fully autonomous plants. stems actively . A practical approach is taken when covering all the topics in the short course, with real-life case studies and examples from the course coordinator’s experience. The prerequisites for attendees are engineering degrees and experience in metallurgical processes (comminution, flotation, dewatering, etc.).