1. Environmental Monitoring at Mt.Chalmers Mining Site

Introduction

The Mt. Chalmers mining site is in Queensland, Australia. It is a copper-gold mine that has been operating since 2016. The mining activities have potential impacts on the environment, such as dust, noise, and water quality. Therefore, it is important to monitor the environmental parameters at the site and nearby areas.

Problem Statement

The challenge of environmental monitoring at the mining site is to collect and transmit data from different locations and conditions. The site is remote and has limited access to power and internet. The devices used for monitoring need to be reliable, durable, and adaptable to various situations.

Solution

To address this challenge, we deployed five devices that we designed and developed ourselves. These devices

• can monitor weather, dust, noise, and water tank level using different connectivity options.
• Are powered by a solar controller and can send data to the cloud at regular intervals.
• Have cooling fans attached to control the enclosure temperature using one of the five onboard relays.
• Can report their power and network status,
• Can report device parameters such as memory usage, free memory, largest memory block, enclosure temperature, connection status, and errors.

Results

The devices have been successfully deployed at the mining site and have been collecting and transmitting data for six months. The data can be accessed and analyzed through a web dashboard that we created. The data shows the variations of environmental parameters over time and space. The data also helps us to identify and troubleshoot any issues with the devices or the network.

Conclusion

We have demonstrated that our devices can provide a cost-effective and reliable solution for environmental monitoring at the mining site. Our devices can collect and transmit data from different locations and conditions using different connectivity options. They can also report their own status and performance. Our devices can help the mining company to optimize their operations and ensure the safety and comfort of the workers.

Photo Gallery: A Glimpse of the Mt.Chalmers Mining Site and the Devices