Weather Safety in the Mining Industry

Jun 10, 2021

The Economic Importance of Mining

The importance of mining, whether for coal, precious metals and gems, minerals, or metal ores is something the average person probably underestimates. Beyond the ring of gold and the sparkle of diamond on their finger, they might even believe mining barely touches their lives.

But mining, and the products it eventually leads to, are integral parts of the lives of anyone who uses roadways, cars, houses, satellites, hospitals, houses, computers, satellites, electricity – the list goes on and on.

Miners have been extracting useful materials from the earth for over 40,000 years. While mining has become vastly more sophisticated and automated, the act of removing those precious materials from the clutches of the earth has always been one that requires great care, skill, and because of the inherent risk, courage.

Mining can be credited as a source of economic development in many first-world countries such as the United States, Canada, and Australia, and continues to of great economic importance today. The United State is both one of the largest consumers and producers of mineral goods such as coal, iron ore, copper, phosphate rock, and zinc. More than 400,000 Americans are employed directly in mining minerals – and mining jobs are among the highest paying in the private sector.

Many developing countries have been able to increase their economic levels by leverages their mineral resources as well. Mining operations all over the world provide jobs, materials, and economic benefits including higher standards of living and taxes that pay for hospitals and schools.

All over the world, modern mining practices are focused on maintaining the benefits of mining while minimizing human and environmental costs.

Addressing Weather Safety in the Mining Industry

The safety of mine crews, capital assets, and the environment are always the first priorities of any mining operation. High on the list of causes of risk to people and assets is weather.

AEM companies like Earth Networks and Davis Instruments provide weather safety solutions for the mining industry by addressing the risks posed by convective weather to mining crew, machinery, and vehicles at mining operations. Every day, mining managers and workers acknowledge and act on severe weather risks in the mining pits, and understand that lightning, heavy rains, wind, thunderstorms, extreme temperatures, and flooding can all impact safe mining operations. The steps they take begin with planning based on accurate data and forecasting.

Weather safety in the mining industry focuses on:

Reducing crew injuries
Ensuring operational continuity
Avoiding machinery and vehicle damage from lightning strikes, landslides, and wind bursts
Minimizing false alarms
Protecting civilians and the environment

Take a deeper look into an industry overview of mining by reviewing Earth Networks’ Mining Data Sheet.

Earth Networks is an authority on weather safety solutions. Keep reading to learn how our weather data and lightning detection systems add invaluable protection to mining operations.

Weather Safety in the Mining Industry: Protect Workers and Optimize Mine Operations with Environmental Monitoring and Alerting

Automatic weather and hydrological monitoring and alerting solutions help mine managers improve safety, reduce downtime, and operate more efficiently. Mines around the world trust Earth Networks and the Advanced Environmental Monitoring Family to manage weather and water-related safety concerns.

Earth Networks, together with AEM offer total weather and water safety solutions for connected mines.

Real-time weather, lightning, and rainfall monitoring
Air quality, dust and surface mine monitoring
Custom forecasts and threat assessments
Portable and fixed environmental monitoring systems
Multi-platform alerting
Dam and erosion monitoring

Meeting the Safety Needs of those in the Mining Industry

Mining can be a very lucrative industry; a fact balanced by its danger. A great deal of mine management must be focused on protecting mine workers and optimizing mining operations with environmental monitoring and alerting.

Earth Networks and our sister companies in the Advanced Environmental Monitoring family have decades of experiences helping mining companies manage their weather and hydrology concerns.

Key features and safety solutions we offer
• Complete weather and hydrology multi-hazard warning system
• On-site lightning detection and warning
• Real-time hydrological monitoring and alerting

Comprehensive Weather Intelligence for Mining Operations

Mining operations can provide safe, environmentally-friendly workplaces that provide tremendous benefits to the local community, the country and the world.

With a family of seven companies, global lightning detection, and weather observation networks, we can provide the level of accuracy required by modern mining operations. Our AEM family of companies offer a vast array of comprehensive weather intelligence capabilities for your mining operations.

Essential Earth Networks Products and Services for Improved Mining Operations

Earth Networks and our family of AEM companies have expert experience in helping mining companies manage weather and hydrology concerns.

Air Quality Monitoring
◘ Airflow and dust sensors
◘ Surface mine stage and morbidity
(auto sampler for pm 2.5, pm 10,
ozone, CO2, Sulfur Dioxide, etc)

Using an anemometer is an effective and easy way to test air movement in mines. Our sister company, Lambrecht, offers an array of air flow sensor tools that are useful for the mining industry, including a Meteodigit hand-held measuring instrument, vane anemometers, and pitot tubes.

Weather Monitoring and Alerting
◘ Weather stations to measure
wind, temperature, precipitation,
pressure, and more
◘ Fixed or portable early
warning systems
◘ Automated multi-channel alerts
(Text, Email, Sirens, Strobes)

Sferic Maps is an effective real-time weather alerting tool that provides situational awareness for miners. With Sferic Maps, your mining company will be able to:

Hydrology
◘ Water quantity/water quality
◘ Rainfall and flood monitoring
◘ Water usage and monitoring

Our AEM sister company OneRain specializes in flood warning applications to protect miners from the dangers of flooding while operating in the mining pits. It should be noted that a complete, integrated flood early warning monitoring system solution includes all the remote site hydro-meteorological sensing instrumentation, communications equipment, central base station equipment. Additionally, flood early warning systems also include data collection, archiving, processing, and management software designed for flood warning.