Metals, Mining & Minerals
AI Video Analytics for Mining & Metals
Flag entry into restricted zones at crusher approaches and equipment interfaces, and see when a remote camera or recording source goes offline. Ask Vision Copilot what the mine supervisor should inspect before the next operating period.
Built for: Mine managers · Processing-plant heads · HSE · Fleet and control-room teams
Prioritise the places where people and heavy equipment meet.
Mines and mineral-processing operations span large areas with uneven coverage and demanding conditions. A control room needs to tell routine movement apart from an event that requires field verification.
A reference deployment concentrates on stable, high-value locations such as a crusher approach, equipment interface or transfer zone, usually connected by wireless links given the distances involved. Retention matches the window a safety investigation typically needs, with vehicle-interaction and access alerts routed to the control room and HSE. Where a fleet-management system is in use, align review timestamps with its vehicle-proximity records so a pedestrian-vehicle event is reviewed with both sources.
Metals & Mining · Use cases
Use cases for mines and processing plants
Put the crusher approach on the map
Crusher approaches, equipment interfaces and transfer zones sit in the site hierarchy with their cameras, so the control room asks about a named place rather than a camera number.
Review the last shift at the crusher
Ask Vision Copilot, “Find observations from the crusher approach during the last shift,” and review that approach for the chosen period.
Catch repeated access at equipment interfaces
Ask, “Which covered equipment interfaces had repeated access observations?” Observations over time show whether person-entry near a controlled approach is a pattern or a single event.
Hand the supervisor a boundary to check
Ask, “What should the mine supervisor inspect before the next operating period?” A suggested step, such as reviewing boundary marking, the approved route and the camera view, goes to the mine supervisor alongside existing safety controls.
Score covered areas period by period
Scores out of 100 compare covered processing areas across review periods, giving the control room a starting order for field checks.
Metals & Mining · Vision Copilot
Ask about your mine or processing plant in plain language
Type a question in everyday language and Vision Copilot searches the observations from your mapped cameras for that place and time.
Questions to try
- What should the mine supervisor inspect before the next operating period?Example answer shown
- Find observations from the crusher approach during the last shift.
- Which covered equipment interfaces had repeated access observations?
Question
What should the mine supervisor inspect before the next operating period?
Location
Mine Site → Processing Facility → Operating Level → Transfer Zone → Station
Answer
Repeated person-entry observations occur near a controlled equipment approach. Suggested next step: review the boundary marking, approved route and camera view with the mine supervisor; retain the mine's existing safety controls.
Decision owner
Mine supervisor / HSE
Metals & Mining · Location map
Your mine or processing plant, mapped
Cameras are mapped to the selected crusher approach or equipment interface so questions about the crusher approach start from recognisable operational context.
Site
Mine Site
Building
Processing Facility
Floor
Operating Level
Zone
Transfer Zone
Room
Station
Metals & Mining · How it works
How OrionAlerts works for mines and processing plants
OrionAlerts maps each camera to a place, analyses its scenes over time, and sends alerts to the dashboard, mobile app and email for the team that owns that area.
- 01Map
- 02Observe
- 03Ask
- 04Prioritise
- 05Act
- 06Review
Metals & Mining · Deployment
Preparing a mine or processing plant for a pilot
Separate surface mines, underground workings and metals-processing plants in the assessment. Define network and power constraints, camera stand-off distances and environmental limits. Verify the exact hardware approval needed for the proposed mine installation.
- Mapped hierarchy for pilot processing stations and equipment interfaces
- Agreed response owners for restricted-zone and field-verification events
- Network, power and environmental limits for selected remote camera views
- Hardware-approval check for the proposed mine installation environment
- Wireless-link capacity planning for cameras at distance from the core network, verified before committing to full-site coverage
Metals & Mining · Standards
Standards context for mines and processing plants
DGMS sets approval requirements for specified equipment used in mining environments. The assessment confirms which approvals apply to each proposed camera position and installation.
DGMS equipment approvals
DGMS maintains approval requirements for specified equipment used in relevant mining environments.
Official source
Metals & Mining · Pilot evaluation
What to measure in a mine or processing plant pilot
Compare reviewed alerts with what actually happened, including missed events and nuisance alerts, before you set a rollout target.
Verified restricted-zone alerts
Confirmed relevant restricted-zone entries divided by reviewed alerts for the defined equipment or processing zones, using an agreed review rubric.
Source of truth: Access/work records and supervisor review log
Remote-view unavailable hours
Hours when an expected remote camera or recording source was unavailable or not usable for the agreed assessment task during the pilot window.
Source of truth: Device logs and surveillance health records
Time from reviewed event to field-team acknowledgement
Time from a reviewed observation being presented to acknowledgement by the assigned field or control-room owner, using an agreed review log.
Source of truth: Control-room records and field acknowledgement log
Metals & Mining · Solutions
OrionAlerts solutions for mines and processing plants
Metals & Mining · Questions
AI video analytics for mines and processing plants: common questions
How is AI video analytics used in a mine or processing plant?
It focuses on stable, high-value views such as a crusher approach, an equipment interface or a transfer zone. The system flags entry into configured restricted zones for control-room review and shows when a remote camera or recording source is unavailable, so field teams verify events with known coverage.
How do remote mine cameras connect?
Usually over wireless links, because of the distances involved. Link capacity is planned before committing to full-site coverage, and remote-view unavailable hours are tracked during the pilot so the control room knows which views were usable for each review window.
Can the same camera be used underground?
Not necessarily. Suitability depends on the environment and the approvals it requires, so surface mines, underground workings and processing plants are assessed separately. The exact camera model, installation and operating conditions are checked against the applicable DGMS requirements before deployment, and an ordinary surveillance camera is never described as mine-approved without evidence.
Can video confirm a blast zone is safe?
No. Blast clearance and re-entry stay with your controlled safety procedures and the people responsible for them. Camera views can add context for the control room, such as activity near a blast-zone boundary, but coverage of a large site may be incomplete, so video never stands in for a physical clearance check.
Can analytics work during network outages?
That is confirmed in a pilot outage test. Video and AI inference run on the on-site node rather than in the cloud, but how storage, alert delivery and recovery behave during a network outage depends on the proposed architecture, so the test confirms that behaviour before the control room relies on it.
Can we use our existing CCTV cameras?
Yes, in most cases: OrionAlerts connects to compatible IP cameras and recorders through ONVIF, RTSP and vendor SDKs, so working hardware can usually stay in place. A short assessment checks camera position, image quality and network access for each use case, and confirms compatibility model by model before the pilot starts.
Where is the video stored, and who can see it?
On site: video and AI inference stay on the on-site node, while Orion Cloud syncs alerts, health status and configuration metadata for central management. Role-based access means each user sees only the sites, cameras and functions in their scope, and retention is set per camera, zone or site to follow your own policy.
Metals & Mining · Further reading
Further reading for mine or processing plant teams
Metals & Mining · Related
Industries related to mines and processing plants
Ask Vision Copilot about your mine or processing plant.
Start with one crusher approach and one equipment interface where people and vehicles meet.
