• Last week Huawei held an event at Phalanndwa Colliery in Mpumalanga to announce the launch of 5G connectivity for the area’s coal mine.
• The 5G enablement was made possible through a partnership with MTN, Minetec and Canyon Coal.
• The project is said to be the first trial use of 5G applications for mining solutions in South Africa.

In recent months Huawei has been pushing its 5G capabilities towards use in the local mining industry. While it is still in the early stages of such plans, one project is successfully up and running, as last week the company held an event at Phalanndwa Colliery in Mpumalanga to announce 5G enablement at the coal mine in the region.

This project has been made possible thanks to a partnership with MTN, Minetec and Coal Canyon, Huawei explained, with it also said to mark a significant step forward when it comes to smart industries in the country.

“This collaboration, at Canyon Coal’s Phalanndwa Colliery sees Huawei and MTN provide an advanced 5G solution to ensure guaranteed connectivity within the mine and plant area, in the initial stage. The mine is taking the lead in combining digital applications with 5G, achieving the first trial use of 5G applications of mining solutions in South Africa, leading the digital transformation of South Africa’s mining industry,” it explained in a press release sent to Hypertext.

“Phalanndwa Colliery offers the perfect combination of the right technology with the right scenario, where ultra-high bandwidth and ultra-low latency of 5G allows real-time communication among the mine workers. The deployment of more application scenarios, promises incredible changes will be happening in the Phalanndwa Colliery. These include PDS (proximity detection system), vehicle detection, tracking system and wireless video surveillance,” added Fortune Wang, CEO of Huawei’s SA Carrier Business (seen on the far left in the image above).

The rollout of this 5G enablement at the coal mine is said to make myriad solutions possible, with Huawei noting that the systems now in place will reduce the occurrence of accidents and protect workers from being harmed by trucks.

Furthermore, it says the coal mine will be able to monitor the movement trajectory and status of trucks in real-time to shorten downtime.

It looks like this is one of several solutions that Huawei aims to deliver locally moving forward, with 5G being the backbone.

“With the further introduction of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and Internet of Things (IoT), these cutting-edge technologies are key enablers for different vertical industries, including mining. We have seen successes in China, where these technology ecosystems are already maturing,” Wang concluded.