Glimpses of the GEOVIA User Conference 2018, Kolkata, India

Author- GEOVIA team, Dassault Systèmes India

Over 100 attendees and over 20 sessions from distinguished speakers from PSUs, private companies and Dassault Systèmes executives worldwide gathered at the GEOVIA User Conference on the 5th of Oct, 2018 in the city of joy- Kolkata, India. Resonating the theme of Mining Industry Renaissance, the event showcased to the audience Dassault Systèmes portfolio for the mining, natural resources, cities and territories industries and addressing digitalization challenges of the mining industry. The event was inaugurated by Dr. Dinesh Gupta, Director General, Geological Survey of India; Sanjay Kumar Bhattacharya, Director Mining, Hindustan Copper Ltd; Ashish Ranjan, Chief Digital Officer, Vedanta; Roger Staley, Vice President, GEOVIA, Dassault Systèmes, and Samson Khaou, Managing Director, Dassault Systèmes India.

Stressing on the need to have a digital central repository of the country’s mining resources, Dr. Dinesh Gupta, DG, GSI explained at length on how this will go a long way on in bringing transparency and accountability to mining and allied industry. He also explained how this will help in maximizing the revenue for the government and in promoting efficient exploitation and use of natural resources.

Picking the threads from what Dr. Gupta explained, Mr. Bhattacharya, Director Mining, HCL explained why it is so crucial for the mining companies to start mine design and production process with a well-defined 3D model of the mine block. An accurate 3D model of the mine bock helps the mine designers to precisely create a virtual design of the real mine which is proven on safety and productivity front. The production planners then use this data to preplan the production schedules in the most optimum way of saving valuable resources and minimizing the input costs.

With the onset of digital technologies like virtual mine design, fleet management, production planning, and control etc. a huge amount of data is generated every day which provides an opportunity to exploit this data for business analytics and arrive at inferences where we preempt possible future failures. This is possible if we connect the individual silos of data through a common platform. Mr. Ashish Ranjan, CDO of Vedanta explained the need for digitally connected mine and how it is crucial for the mining companies to remain competitive in the contemporary environment by leveraging such technologies.

TATA Steel being a vast user of technology on their daily mining operation, explained the usages of GEOVIA solutions in their different mines -metal and coal. They have extended their use of GEOVIA solutions in a customized way in a wide range from resource classification of complex deposit honoring the Indian mining rules to the proper estimation of the resource through various steps of validation and following these, schedule the deposit to achieve the actual target.

Sainik mining presented the way they are using the technology solutions in their mines. Being an MDO, they are always on a very challenging target and they have been successful with the extensive use of technology.

IMFA, an underground chromite miner expressed their high level of satisfaction of use of technology and explained the way they are using GEOVIA solutions from planning level to optimization and scheduling work.

Roger Staley from GEOVIA, Dassault Systèmes reiterated our commitment to developing technologies that address the challenges of the mining industry emphasizing on the Mining Industry Renaissance worldwide. Andy Mulholland provided the audience with the product roadmap of GEOVIA, Dassault Systèmes.