The two companies signed a three-year strategic partnership in Sydney today, which will see GE assist in the development of South32’s technology roadmap and the activation of its digital transformation.
South32 has long spoken of the opportunities to drive safety and productivity improvements and said GE was the ideal partner.
The company will use GE’s Predix platform, which is designed specifically for industry and connects industrial equipment, data analysis and instant insights.
South32 said the system would enable the company to make fast, informed decisions, and provided the opportunity to optimise entire operations, rather than individualised assets and equipment.
“Bringing the world of operational technology and information technology together to monitor equipment and systems remotely and predict future behaviour is a game changer,” South32 CEO Graham Kerr said.
“It has the potential to identify and solve a problem before it affects operations.”
As part of South32’s commitment to innovation, the company last week promoted Australia chief operating officer Ricus Grimbeek to the new role of chief technology officer.
“By partnering with GE, we have an opportunity to transform the way we work,” Grimbeek said.
“If we get this right, the result won’t just be an incremental improvement but a new level of efficiency and performance.”
GE CEO and chairman Jeff Immelt said the future of mining was digital.
“With data and analytics, we can achieve greater levels of productivity, operational efficiencies, and improve safety,” he said.
Last year, South32 became the first Australian miner to deploy Airobotics’ fully automated, industrial grade multi-purpose drone platform at its Worsley Alumina site.
South32 chief financial officer Brendan Harris said late last year that the miner was dedicating an increasing amount of time to innovation.
The South32-GE agreement follows a similar deal last year between Barrick Gold and Cisco last year to develop a “flagship digital operation” at Cortez to ensure “better, faster, safer” mining.
