PhD Position IoT for Smart Connected Mining

Resourcing the low-carbon future is a major societal challenge that needs to be taken into account with a high priority. Based on a report published by World Bank, a low-carbon future will be very mineral intensive. Clean energy technologies need more materials than fossil-fuel-based electricity generation technologies. For instance, the production of minerals, such as graphite, lithium and cobalt, could increase by nearly 500% by 2050, to meet the growing demand for clean energy technologies. This would mean that more resources need to be found and mining operations must operate in a most optimal way to extract more metals with minimum waste and lower costs. Diffusion of digital technologies in mining, i.e. adoption of innovation, plays a big role in this transformation. IoT, as part of this big picture, has the potential to be applied across the whole mining value chain to maximise the resource efficiency, minimise environmental impacts and improve the safety of mines.

The main goal of this PhD project to research and develop an open IoT based platform specifically tailored for the extraction of primary raw materials and the resulting mine waste and also to promote the adoption of IoT by the mining industry.

As part of this research project, the workflow and processes cross the entire mining operation will be analysed. Social aspects of IoT applications will be studied. Smart data management and analysis strategies will be developed.

The selected PhD candidate will become part of Resource Engineering section and will therefore benefit from facilities already available in the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences of TU Delft. This project will also provide the unique opportunity to work with private companies. On top of that, the PhD candidate will also have the opportunity to present her/his work in international venues and interact with the people that are shaping the smart future mining.