Remote Mining poses challenges for Australian Airlines

There’s a shift underway in the mining industry that will likely catch Australian airlines out if they aren’t paying attention – the shift toward ‘remote’ mining. Remote mining is being pushed by the automation ability across all aspects of current mining technology, which at the basic level, means that fewer humans are needed on site in mines. And that suggests a major challenge for airline companies of all sizes, who’ve come to rely on the FIFO (fly in and fly out) model of human capability delivery to mines across Australia. The technology advancements are across almost all aspects of mining operations with perhaps just one area (maintenance) still likely to need onsite human capabilities.

The non human automatic technology advances are quite stunning in their scope. Right now technolgy for remote explosives placement and detonation; extraction (digging or shovelling); loading and transportation are all on the cards or well down the patrh to development. What that means is that there’s far less requirement for truck drivers, load operators or explosive expertise in the human form.

Instead, and in much the same way as an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) is controlled from some far distant shore using satellite and where needed canera technology, we can expect the mine of the future to be remote and unmanned. And if you don’t need people, you don’t need airlines which means the highly profitable regional routes that have developed over the past seven years suddenly become redundant. Planning by airlines must consider the impact of a profit stream evaporating as quickly as a pool of water in the Pilbara sunshine.

The challenge also begins to impact on the property speculators who’ve been snapping up shacks and homes in mining towns in the idea of obtaining a quick turnaround – without the onsite employees, the remote and regional housing bubble also pops, only with a bit more of a loud BANG.

The remote off site mining control starts to lower the impact of FIFO on local towns and economies where locals can’t afford to live in their own houses and food prices and other commodities spike in response to profit opportuniuties being captured by local businesses. The automated mining approach does suggest some other benefits to the Australian economy however – all those plumbing, bricklaying, electrical and other trade apprentices who left low paying entry roles will have to give up driving their mining trucks and go back to their earlier career paths. And that might see the delays in construction activity in both the commercial and domestic sectors begin to shrink as more capacity comes online.

Preparing for the Upswing & a Change in Direction

Jul 20, 2013

From an organisational perspective it is pretty common for senior managers to spend significant energy considering when to upgrade plant and equipment, be it machinery, vehicles or IT infrastructure. The upgrades can occur on the run (in response to a surge in demand for instance), as a result of necessity (say as a result of…

Read More >

Why your Race for Talent should be a ‘Slow’ one

Jul 7, 2013

If you’ve seen me speak before you already know I take a provocative stance when it comes to areas like personnel development, training and recruitment. Clients also know that once we’ve opened the door to thinking differently, they’re guided through some significant ‘of course’ moments in terms of how they approach developing their people and…

Read More >

Has The Age Editor called for the wrong resignation

Jun 23, 2013

I flag from the outset that I haven’t been a regular readers of newspapers for almost a decade, only slightly less than my giving up on mainstream TV News shows. As such you should take this with a grain of salt, coming as it does from someone who reads maybe a paper a week and…

Read More >

Renewable Energy Technology faces same challenges as new carbon tech – fact or fallacy claims

Jun 16, 2013

In the search for fuels and energy sources that act as a replacement to Oil, there’s much hype and claims that need to be tested. In much the same as claims about carbon capture technology being built onto existing coal fired power stations seem to lack both viability and credibility (in my view), the same…

Read More >

A Counter to Doomsayers of Manufacturing in Australia

Jun 3, 2013

Every day people in positions of ‘opinion authority’ make choices about what ‘opinions’ they will offer on a whole array of subjects. And it would be fair to say that over the past five years or so, many of those ‘opinion authorities’ have been significantly negative on Australia’s manufacturing sector. There’s no doubt that the…

Read More >

Emerging Consumers: Fact or Fiction?

May 29, 2013

As a futurist spending much of my time assessing emerging developments and their implications across an array of industry sectors, I am frequently asked for a view on ‘consumer trends’. Common questions are ‘what will consumers want in the future?’ ‘Does our product (service) have a place?’ ‘What is driving consumer behaviour?’ ‘How can we…

Read More >

The Trucking Industry is facing a crisis. It needs to Act. NOW

May 27, 2013

The Trucking Industry, as a key part of the wider Supply Chain and Logistics Industry is coming to the end of an era, right at the time when it should be being refreshed. Put simply, there just aren’t enough drivers for trucks, and to date, attempts to recruit more drivers have been less that what…

Read More >

Why does Facebook think it’s okay to treat Violence against women as acceptable?

May 21, 2013

In case you haven’t had time to keep up with these events, here’s a quick overview of the Everyday Sexism project’s attempts to hold FaceBook to account for its explicit support of sexual violence against women as portrayed in the many permitted Facebook pages that promote rape, rape culture, and violence against women. Facebook appears…

Read More >

How the ‘Perfect Plan’ can lead you to Disaster

May 13, 2013

Today I have a bee in my bonnet, so please look away if my frankness might bother you. In the last couple of days I’ve had yet another conversation with a Local Council planning team manager about Strategic Planning for their Council that bothered me a great deal. What really has me bothered is that…

Read More >

Micro Drones & Your Privacy

Apr 28, 2013

Whilst many people have heard about Drones in terms of their military applications, the concept of micro drones and their use in civilian settings is not quite so well known. It appears that the surveillance capability that technologies like Drones provide, are edging their way into more social environments. That may or may not be…

Read More >