NewSat: Mining industry woos workers with satellite communications, broadband amenities

Mining companies are wooing potential and current remote site employees with a host of amenities that include satellite broadband and communications services.

The mining industry employs thousands of workers at remote sites. It is one of the biggest clients of NewSat, a satellite services company that provides high-speed broadband and communications to remote Goldfields mine sites through its resellers.

Perth-based NewSat sales manager Ashley Neale elaborated on the similarities between the closely-linked satellite and mining industries. “The satellite business is a lot like the mining industry," he said. "You need to get your ducks in a row and find enough people to invest in the infrastructure to sell the product." According to Mr. Neale, satellite services are "a high-demand product and the demand is only going up in these regions.”

In the past, mining companies used high salaries as the main driver to attract and retain staff. But accommodation, facilities, food, rosters, and especially entertainment and communications have now become major factors in ensuring the loyalty and productivity of employees.

The growing importance of staying in touch with the wider world and maintaining access to the Internet has prompted many resource companies to invest millions of dollars on modern comforts -including virtual five-star hotel entertainment and other satellite-based communications and Internet services- for its remote site employees. "There always has been a strong demand from the Goldfields,” Mr. Neale explained. “That’s why we’ve been going to Diggers and Dealers for probably eight or nine years."

According to Mr. Neale, the demand for satellite communications remained significant. "You might have thought the demand for satellite communications would go down," he noted before going on to admit that "That’s certainly what I thought four years ago when I joined the company." Mr. Neale related that the advent of wireless services and improved 3G on phones led to a prevalent opinion that demand for satellite services would decrease.

"But in fact it’s gone the other way around," he revealed. “I can tell you it’s because when people are without their phone they start going stir-crazy."

Mr. Neale described the current generation of workers -including mining site staff- to be "a different breed... Being in touch with the world and friends and families is much more important to them," he said.

Workers now evaluate mine sites based on the facilities available to them, with a premium placed on continued communications to the real world. "It’s a sellers market for the employees at the moment,” Mr. Neale said, as mining companies work to retain valuable workers by providing them with numerous amenities such as satellite broadband and communications.

Datasat: Communications infrastructure key to long-term value in mining industry

An optimized remote communications infrastructure can help mining companies control costs and increase business efficiency, according to a recently-released positioning paper by Datasat Communications

The mining industry is currently enjoying an eight-year commodities supercycle of growth. However, the slowdown of the Chinese market has prompted some speculators to predict that the supercyle is coming to an end. There are also fears that another twenty-year slump akin to the 1973-2003 "dark age" is looming in the horizon.

In order to make the most out of the possible downturn, mining companies must maximize the efficiency of their operations. One of the ways to do so is to optimize existing and planned remote communications infrastructure.

Datasat's positioning paper detailed the pivotal role played by remote communications in maximizing the value of a mining organization's technology investment. According to Bernie Branfield, General Manager of Datasat Communications, the communications infrastructure of a mine site is worth several times the initial investment.

Mining companies have unique business needs and budgets. Their communications solutions must be specifically tailored to those requirements. Effective cost management will maximize operations efficiency, which is important in these times of diminishing returns where mines require 50% more effort and expenses to extract the same amount of resources that they used to do ten or twenty years back.

To create a communications infrastructure that ensures high levels of performance and availability, mining companies may avail of a great range of network technologies. Satellite communications services can now provide high data rates and secure connections over inter-site and inter-country distances at affordable prices. Similar advances for wireless and mobile communications bring a wide range of applications that are used for intra-site and site-to-site communications.

An optimized remote communications infrastructure can provide innovative solutions. The idea is to increase the efficiency of mining operation during and after the mining supercycle. Remote communications can lower operational costs by allowing more remote operations to be performed on sites. It also adds long-term value to the project by allowing the infrastructure to perform tasks that it hitherto could not be used.

For example, communications infrastructure can be used to maintain a social licence with local communities through close communication. By expanding their existing communications infrastructure to encompass to nearby communities, mining operators can use it to educate and entertain said communities, which will improve their relations.

To this end, a mining company should be careful in selecting a network service provider. The mining company and the network service provider must work together to delineate the mine's specific requirements and create a communications infrastructure perfect for its needs and budgets.

Mining Sites in Australia rely on Satellite Communications

Many of today's mining companies face tremendous challenges accompanying their growth. In Western Australia, the sector has seen a boom but along with it, the rise of unique geographic and operational challenges. Rich mining sites are often found in remote regions, and the cost of bringing in equipment and human resources is quite expensive. The booming mining economy in Western Australia has also seen fierce competition among mining companies who hope to keep the best staff within their turf. To do this, companies invest greatly on employee welfare, trying their to best to ensure the safety of miners, and of course, their entertainment. However, the remoteness of mining locations often force the companies to spend on a costly FIFO or Fly-in Fly-out scheme, to help deter homesickness among employees. 

Mining boom in Western Australia presents unique challenges

An alternative to the FIFO scheme is an investment on satellite communications for mining. Due to geographic limitations, mining sites cannot fully rely on terrestrial communications infrastructure. Some of these sites are simply too-far flung for the reach of fibre optic networks and cables. What satellite communications offer is unbridled infrastructure that can be the groundwork of improved infotainment systems in mining sites for the miners. 

High-speed data carried by satellites allows entertainment systems to be built in this distant work locations even in the harshest environments. These robust communications systems give miners the opportunity to connect with their loved ones through voice and video conferencing, lessening the stress from an exhausting fly-in and fly-out scheme, as well as the emotional test of homesickness. Digital entertainment platforms can also be built to provide miners off-duty activities. They can stream movies, enjoy Skype, free-to-air TV, as well as make the most of room-to-room communications. 

Satellite broadband in place in mining sites

In Australia, the Mining Camp Entertainment Systems and R-Group has relied on satellite communications from NewSat to deliver real-time, streamlined, satellite communications to over 1,000 rooms across various mining sites. By providing miners connectivity, as well as entertainment, mining companies are focusing on improving employee retention and productivity, as well as reducing operational cost from employees constantly leaving and returning. Unique solutions such as these are crucial for a mining industry facing equally unique hurdles as result of the booming mining economy in WA. Innovative solutions are now the determining point in helping mining companies succeed in remote regions.