India is home to abundant natural mineral resource and is one of the top ten producers of several minerals (Fig. 1). With a contribution of 1.53 per cent of gross domestic product in 2017-18, mining is an important sector for the Indian economy.
There is growing realisation that the mining industry can significantly bolster growth in India over the next decade as it will directly impact a wide-array of industries including automobile, cement, etc., impacting crucial infrastructure needs, such as development of road networks among others. As per a 2014 report of McKinsey, the mining industry can contribute USD 47 billion to India’s GDP by 2025.
However, mining is plagued with multiple challenges. For instance, to produce a kg of aluminium, 5 kg of bauxite is needed along with 13 l of water. The extraction process itself will demand 15.7 Kwh of electrical energy. Thus mining aluminium not only requires bauxite but also makes significant demands on other resources. Often such demands take a heavy toll on the environment as well. To achieve the full potential of mining it is thus important that regulatory policies, available technologies and human capital work in tandem. The mining industry is usually characterised by several phases:
Exploration—Identifying precise geographical locations where there are significant ore concentrations;
Development—Building infrastructure to aid in the extraction of minerals;
Extraction—Recovering raw minerals, processing and transporting them; and
Closure and Reclamation—Minimising adverse impacts on environment to ensure that the land returns to its original state once the mine is closed, when the mineral reserves are substantially depleted.
The importance of improving the efficiency involved in the various stages of mining cannot be overstated and companies world over are turning to artificial intelligence (AI) to solve these vexing problems. The transformative potential of AI in delivering technological solutions to complex industrial and societal problems is spurring governments around the globe to formulate national policies on its usage. This article illustratively outlines how AI can help address mining concerns in exploration and extraction phases.
AI for Mineral Exploration
The most critical stage in mining is to identify places which has significant exploitable mineral reserves. It is estimated that India may have large reserves of resources that is yet to be discovered with accounts claiming that the volume of remaining reserves could perhaps be twice that of the current estimates (FICCI, 2013) (Fig. 2). Identifying these reserves would require significant investments in technology and several reports have identified this to be a key for improved efficiency of mineral exploration in India (FICCI, 2013; FICCI, 2018; Mckinsey, 2014). The potential of AI in improving the process of mineral exploration is huge and the point is illustrated through a couple of examples.
Finding gold reserves and Kriging: Data analysis is the cornerstone of AI and has a long history in aiding the identification of mineral reserves. Geostatistics, the application of mathematical statistics to spatiotemporal datasets in various branches of geology has played a stellar role in mineral exploration. The first such application of geostatistics goes back to the 1950’s when Danie Krige invented a technique called Kriging, more commonly known as Gaussian process (Krige, 1951) and used it to accurately predict the value of gold reserves in a nearby mine.
Since its introduction it has been successfully applied to mineral exploration and still remains a tool of choice. In recent years the ability to collect and process data from a single drill-hole easily exceeds hundreds of mega-bytes. Mining in an area will involve several such drill-holes and analysis of associated data will require tools for data analysis developed in the broad field of AI. Gold Spot Discoveries Inc., was in fact able to predict 86 per cent of the existing gold deposits in the Abitibi gold belt region of Canada by fusing heterogeneous data-sources including geological, topography, and mineralogy from just 4 per cent of total surface area. This is a significant development which demonstrates the promise of AI in mineral exploration (Holmes, 2019).
Ore fragment assessment: Usually ore fragment assessment, an important aspect of mining, is conducted manually. A data science company, PETRA developed an AI algorithm for ore fragment assessment which is fully automated. Globally there are ongoing efforts in leveraging such data analysis techniques for mineral exploration.
Autonomous systems to improve mining operations
Apart from mineral exploration, AI can also help in impacting the various processes involved in mining. Robots, drones, unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) are examples of autonomous systems which can play a significant role in mines. An Australian mining company Rio Tinto, announced at the beginning of 2019 the introduction of Auto Haul, a fully autonomous train that will help transport iron between various ports owned by the company. The project uses about 200 locomotives over 1,700 km of track to transport ore from 16 mines to four port terminals in the Pilbara region in Australia. Rio-Tinto is in the process of completely automating their processes which would include autonomous loaders that excavate dirt and autonomous blast-hole drillers.
Also, Volvo announced in 2018 that autonomous trucks will be used for transporting limestone from a mine in Norway to nearby ports. Trucks operating on the surface can access the Global Positioning Systems (GPS) which can be used to guide such autonomous vehicles. However, the underground operation of such trucks remains a technological challenge.
Recently an Indian company, ATI Motors, have made remarkable strides in developing a cargo vehicle which can navigate autonomously without GPS to provide logistic support in challenging environments such as mining. The driverless vehicle has been built from scratch and is simple and sturdy. For instance, unlike traditional vehicles retrofitted with autonomy, it does away with the cabin for a driver and hence saves on both space and the ergonomics that goes with it. It uses novel algorithms which can operate on Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) and images from camera, combined with inertial measurement units (IMU). It also does not need any augmentation of the external world with beacons etc., to navigate. Unlike traditional automated guided vehicle (AGVs) that operate on fixed routes, the routes on this vehicle can be dynamic which is ideal for mining.
Apart from UGVs, drones are also used in the mining industry. Though in its early days but it is already seen that surveying can be easily done by deploying drones.
Asteroid Mining: Going Beyond Earth
Based on current reserves on the earth and the growing consumption, it is estimated that the raw materials needed for sustaining human civilization would be exhausted within next half a century . It is conjectured that in the not so distant future we will have colonies in outer space. Building such colonies would not be viable if items have to be transported from earth. It is believed that extraction of raw materials from asteroids and other minor planets, could be the key to creating such colonies.
It is no longer in the realm of imagination and there are several start-ups trying to design technologies for asteroid mining. Planetary resources, an American Company, plans to create a Fuel Depot in Space in 2020 for refuelling rockets with liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen obtained by splitting water harvested from asteroids. Though the potential of asteroid mining is enormous, crucial to this endeavour would be the ability to execute the mining process efficiently in space. Development of sophisticated robots suited for these tasks will be thus key to the success of this programme.
Way Forward
It is clear from the illustrations above that the potential of AI in transforming mining industry is huge. Acknowledging the transformative role of AI, governments around the world are now formulating policies on how best to take advantage of technologies arising from the field of AI for betterment of society. The Indian government through NITI-Aayog has come out with a broad strategy plan on how to foster AI to develop technological solutions which can address the needs of the nation. It would be very helpful if all stakeholders in mining industry can come together to devise a similar plan which can specifically leverage AI technologies for more efficient mining.
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Petrol in India is cheaper than in countries like Hong Kong, Germany and the UK but costlier than in China, Brazil, Japan, the US, Russia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, a Bank of Baroda Economics Research report showed.
Rising fuel prices in India have led to considerable debate on which government, state or central, should be lowering their taxes to keep prices under control.
The rise in fuel prices is mainly due to the global price of crude oil (raw material for making petrol and diesel) going up. Further, a stronger dollar has added to the cost of crude oil.
Amongst comparable countries (per capita wise), prices in India are higher than those in Vietnam, Kenya, Ukraine, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Venezuela. Countries that are major oil producers have much lower prices.
In the report, the Philippines has a comparable petrol price but has a per capita income higher than India by over 50 per cent.
Countries which have a lower per capita income like Kenya, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and Venezuela have much lower prices of petrol and hence are impacted less than India.
“Therefore there is still a strong case for the government to consider lowering the taxes on fuel to protect the interest of the people,” the report argued.
India is the world’s third-biggest oil consuming and importing nation. It imports 85 per cent of its oil needs and so prices retail fuel at import parity rates.
With the global surge in energy prices, the cost of producing petrol, diesel and other petroleum products also went up for oil companies in India.
They raised petrol and diesel prices by Rs 10 a litre in just over a fortnight beginning March 22 but hit a pause button soon after as the move faced criticism and the opposition parties asked the government to cut taxes instead.
India imports most of its oil from a group of countries called the ‘OPEC +’ (i.e, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Russia, etc), which produces 40% of the world’s crude oil.
As they have the power to dictate fuel supply and prices, their decision of limiting the global supply reduces supply in India, thus raising prices
The government charges about 167% tax (excise) on petrol and 129% on diesel as compared to US (20%), UK (62%), Italy and Germany (65%).
The abominable excise duty is 2/3rd of the cost, and the base price, dealer commission and freight form the rest.
Here is an approximate break-up (in Rs):
a)Base Price | 39 |
b)Freight | 0.34 |
c) Price Charged to Dealers = (a+b) | 39.34 |
d) Excise Duty | 40.17 |
e) Dealer Commission | 4.68 |
f) VAT | 25.35 |
g) Retail Selling Price | 109.54 |
Looked closely, much of the cost of petrol and diesel is due to higher tax rate by govt, specifically excise duty.
So the question is why government is not reducing the prices ?
India, being a developing country, it does require gigantic amount of funding for its infrastructure projects as well as welfare schemes.
However, we as a society is yet to be tax-compliant. Many people evade the direct tax and that’s the reason why govt’s hands are tied. Govt. needs the money to fund various programs and at the same time it is not generating enough revenue from direct taxes.
That’s the reason why, govt is bumping up its revenue through higher indirect taxes such as GST or excise duty as in the case of petrol and diesel.
Direct taxes are progressive as it taxes according to an individuals’ income however indirect tax such as excise duty or GST are regressive in the sense that the poorest of the poor and richest of the rich have to pay the same amount.
Does not matter, if you are an auto-driver or owner of a Mercedes, end of the day both pay the same price for petrol/diesel-that’s why it is regressive in nature.
But unlike direct tax where tax evasion is rampant, indirect tax can not be evaded due to their very nature and as long as huge no of Indians keep evading direct taxes, indirect tax such as excise duty will be difficult for the govt to reduce, because it may reduce the revenue and hamper may programs of the govt.
Globally, around 80% of wastewater flows back into the ecosystem without being treated or reused, according to the United Nations.
This can pose a significant environmental and health threat.
In the absence of cost-effective, sustainable, disruptive water management solutions, about 70% of sewage is discharged untreated into India’s water bodies.
A staggering 21% of diseases are caused by contaminated water in India, according to the World Bank, and one in five children die before their fifth birthday because of poor sanitation and hygiene conditions, according to Startup India.
As we confront these public health challenges emerging out of environmental concerns, expanding the scope of public health/environmental engineering science becomes pivotal.
For India to achieve its sustainable development goals of clean water and sanitation and to address the growing demands for water consumption and preservation of both surface water bodies and groundwater resources, it is essential to find and implement innovative ways of treating wastewater.
It is in this context why the specialised cadre of public health engineers, also known as sanitation engineers or environmental engineers, is best suited to provide the growing urban and rural water supply and to manage solid waste and wastewater.
Traditionally, engineering and public health have been understood as different fields.
Currently in India, civil engineering incorporates a course or two on environmental engineering for students to learn about wastewater management as a part of their pre-service and in-service training.
Most often, civil engineers do not have adequate skills to address public health problems. And public health professionals do not have adequate engineering skills.
India aims to supply 55 litres of water per person per day by 2024 under its Jal Jeevan Mission to install functional household tap connections.
The goal of reaching every rural household with functional tap water can be achieved in a sustainable and resilient manner only if the cadre of public health engineers is expanded and strengthened.
In India, public health engineering is executed by the Public Works Department or by health officials.
This differs from international trends. To manage a wastewater treatment plant in Europe, for example, a candidate must specialise in wastewater engineering.
Furthermore, public health engineering should be developed as an interdisciplinary field. Engineers can significantly contribute to public health in defining what is possible, identifying limitations, and shaping workable solutions with a problem-solving approach.
Similarly, public health professionals can contribute to engineering through well-researched understanding of health issues, measured risks and how course correction can be initiated.
Once both meet, a public health engineer can identify a health risk, work on developing concrete solutions such as new health and safety practices or specialised equipment, in order to correct the safety concern..
There is no doubt that the majority of diseases are water-related, transmitted through consumption of contaminated water, vectors breeding in stagnated water, or lack of adequate quantity of good quality water for proper personal hygiene.
Diseases cannot be contained unless we provide good quality and adequate quantity of water. Most of the world’s diseases can be prevented by considering this.
Training our young minds towards creating sustainable water management systems would be the first step.
Currently, institutions like the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) are considering initiating public health engineering as a separate discipline.
To leverage this opportunity even further, India needs to scale up in the same direction.