Kinross representatives recently attended the 2018 Mines and Technology Conference in London, England to share experiences in working to deploy reliable communication infrastructure at Tasiast.
Nestor Aleman, Regional IT Project Lead, West Africa, spoke on Next-Generation Networks with the topic ‘How to ensure your mine sites have reliable, durable and capable communications infrastructure for remote operations,’ sharing his experience and how he and his team overcame challenges to improve communications at the remote site.
Tasiast’s Wide Area Network (WAN) connection included the installation of satellite connections, and moving from microwave to fiber optic technologies stretching 60km around Tasiast – allowing access to real-time communication and corporate business applications, large file transfers, onsite cyber security and data storage backups.
The eight-year project has resulted in six telecommunication towers that connect to over 30,000 devices with 360 WiFi access points and wireless networks across the mine. The upgrades to fiber optic connections provide 155 MB of bandwidth onsite, as opposed to only 10 MB with microwave connections.
“The feedback received from mining peers across the globe was that our IT infrastructure at Tasiast is one of the most sophisticated and complex systems they have seen at a remote mining operation,” said Nestor Aleman, Regional IT Project Leader, West Africa. “These accomplishments would not be possible without the hardwork and dedication of our talented team, who have worked tirelessly to overcome various obstacles that we faced over the last eight years.”
With such a positive reception in London, Nestor has been invited to speak at the Mining and Technology conference in Helsinki, Finland, in May.
Nestor Aleman, Regional IT Project Lead, West Africa, speaks at the conference
A telecommunication tower and main data centre at Tasiast
Part of the infrastructure on the edge of the pit for the Mining Wireless connectivity
Mining Dispatch Control Room at Tasiast
