• The trial connects El Teniente to an operations centre about 1,500km away using NTT’s IOWN All-Photonics Network
  • Codelco will test remote machinery control, high-definition monitoring and whether some mine operations can be managed from fewer locations

The fact

Codelco and NTT DOCOMO BUSINESS have launched a proof of concept (PoC) linking Chile’s El Teniente copper mine with an operations centre about 1,500km away. The trial uses NTT’s IOWN, or Innovative Optical and Wireless Network, and its All-Photonics Network (APN) to test remote operation of heavy mining machinery and high-definition video monitoring. El Teniente has more than 4,500km of underground tunnels.

The PoC will also test different network configurations and whether some operational functions now spread across several sites could be managed from fewer locations. NTT DOCOMO BUSINESS was formerly known as NTT Communications. The project is still at the testing stage, and the companies have not published performance results or said which mine functions could eventually be managed remotely.

The assessment

Moving machinery control away from El Teniente would make the network part of the operating chain between people and equipment underground. Operators 1,500km away would depend on the connection to send control commands and receive live video with sufficiently stable performance to operate machinery. The PoC is therefore testing more than long-distance data transmission: it is testing whether the network can support this remote operating arrangement.

The important question is how much of the mine’s control and monitoring work can actually be moved. Codelco has not published trial results or identified which functions could be centralised, so the project does not yet establish lower costs, safer operations or reduced on-site staffing. For BTW readers, a successful PoC would give Codelco evidence to decide which control and monitoring functions can be managed from a distant centre and which still need to remain close to the mine. Until those results are available, remote operation over this distance remains an operating model under evaluation.

What to Watch

The PoC results should show whether Codelco can remotely operate heavy machinery and maintain high-definition monitoring over the 1,500km link, and which network configuration supports those tasks. Any move to use those functions in regular operations would mark the shift from a technology trial to infrastructure supporting day-to-day mine control.