Glencore-owned copper mine Lomas Bayas says it has becomes the first mining company in Chile to work with Hexagon’s Smart Center, a comprehensive intelligent monitoring platform designed to optimise safety and operational efficiency at the mine site. This initiative, which complements the Hexagon Collision Avoidance System (CAS), strengthens preventive management by transforming data into concrete actions to improve road safety and procedural compliance.
The Smart Center team develops comprehensive analysis ranging from safety diagnostics with quick wins to vibration-based road quality monitoring, providing a 360° view of mining operations. The analysis of this information generates alerts that allow for proactive prevention of risks or inappropriate behaviours, reducing the likelihood of incidents.
Marcelo Navarrete Fernandez, Integrated Mine Management Superintendent at Lomas Bayas, emphasised: “The Smart Center approach allows us to identify and mitigate risks before they become incidents, providing key information for decision-making and optimising mine processes. We will have real evidence of all potential hazards and driving deviations, addressing them as opportunities for improvement and strengthening our safety culture.”
Gabriel Cerezo Orellana, Integrated Management and Analytics Engineer at the mining company and responsible for project implementation, explained: “The platform allows us to monitor adherence to procedures, ensuring that each operation is carried out with discipline, from respecting stop signs to proper traffic flow on routes and in loading areas. This not only improves compliance but also increases efficiency and productivity.”
Maximiliano Montenegro, Contract Manager at Hexagon, added: “With the Smart Center, the process will be able to obtain more precise analysis in high-risk areas, with the goal of alerting those areas and increasing reliability, efficiency, and operational discipline.”
The first phase of the Smart Center implementation will last three months and will prioritise six key features, directly focused on the safety of all those entering the mine area. These are safety diagnostics with quick wins; reduction of tailgating alerts; stop sign violations; operators engaging in risky behaviour; reduction of collision alerts; and reduction of speeding alerts.
Since April, 100% of Lomas Bayas’ mobile equipment has been equipped with CAS (226 kits installed on mining equipment, maintenance equipment, vans, and buses), making it a mandatory critical control for entering the mine.
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