A recap — Artificial Intelligence: Reshaping the Future of Resources

In case you missed it, the Artificial Intelligence Collaborative Network (AICN) recently hosted its first event of the year in Adelaide, Hobart, Launceston and Whyalla.

Over 150 people who are interested in artificial intelligence, machine learning and data, gathered at the University of South Australia’s Innovation and Collaboration Centre, to discuss all things AI and its impact on the resources sector.

After some early-evening networking, the event was opened by honourable David Pisoni, Minister for Innovation and Skills, who welcomed guests and talked about the importance of AI and the need to encourage more people into the industry. He was impressed by the great turnout which was a good way to kick off the evening.

Presenter #1 — Professor David Giles

The first presentation for the evening was from Professor David Giles. David Giles is the Strand Leader and John Ralston Chair of Minerals and Resources Engineering at the Future Industries Institute, University of South Australia.

He has 20 years’ experience in the mining industry, specifically, minerals exploration. David’s presentation zeroed in on ‘Mining 4.0’, that is, cyber physical systems, the internet of things and networks.

The biggest takeaway from David’s presentation

How can the mining industry use earth’s resources to support social and economic progress?

• By ensuring the supply of materials critical to the low carbon economy.
• By using more productive resources extraction methods that reduce mining’s environmental footprint
• By transitioning to a low carbon energy market that is, generation, storage, distribution and consumption, and
• By implementing more responsible and informed life-of-asset environmental management.

Presenter #2 — Amélie Froger and Latha Madhuri Pratti

Next up, we had a double presentation from Amélie Froger and Latha Madhuri Pratti from Predict Australia.

Amélie, who is Predict’s national business manager, and Latha, who works as a data scientist, presented on ‘Predictive Maintenance: Why and How’ and focussed on how AI can be used to fix assets before they break.

They made a compelling case that because the mining industry deals with limited resources, we need to make the most of the already available data and associate it with the system modelling to perform accurate Predictive Maintenance. It is also imperative to be able to predict failure to have a safer environment, particularly in the resources sectors.

The biggest takeaway from Amélie and Latha’s presentation

The benefits for the resources sector investing in predictive maintenance technology include:

• Being able to Predict what is going to break and estimating the remaining useful life of the asset being monitored
• Anticipating failures months in advance without the need for large amounts of data by associating engineering studies with data analytics
• Identifying the root causes that could result in the failure to improve planned maintenance activities

Presenter #3 — Andrew Harris

After a short break, the event continued with a great presentation from Andrew Harris. Andrew works as a mining analytics consultant and leads the mining analytics team at Consilium Technology. He presented on the ‘Exploration of AI Possibilities’, where he talked about developing AI tools that improve decision-making and make fast and accurate predictions.

The biggest takeaway from Andrew’s presentation

Although artificial intelligence is based on very technical skills, development of successful AI tools first requires a solid understanding of the customer’s world.

“Before you delve into machine learning, it’s important you understand the data, the process that the data comes from, the customer’s needs and what they’re trying to achieve.”

Presenter #4 — Dr Larissa Statsenko

Last, but definitely not least, Dr Larissa Statsenko shared her knowledge on ‘Digital Solutions to Mining Challenges’.

Larissa has a mining and engineering background and currently works as the PRIF Consortium and Mining Strategic Research Manager at the Institute for Mineral and Energy Resources.

Her presentation focused on the mining industry’s digital transformation and the importance of a fully integrated mining value chain that enables near real time and well-informed decision making.

The biggest takeaway from Larissa’s presentation

“The value AI brings to the mining industry is advanced sensors that improve productivity and the operational efficiency of mines and also designing operational solutions for future mines to handle resources more efficiently so they can add more value.”

The panel discussion

To wrap things up, all the presenters sat on a panel to answer questions from the audience and were joined by Ben Moretti, who is part of AICN’s steering committee.

Ben has a background in data analysis, management and governance and has worked in the oil and gas plus the renewable energy sector for several years.

To watch all the presenters in action and the full panel discussion, check out our live stream. You’ll also find presentation slides and professional video footage on our website.

Got FOMO?

If you missed this event, don’t stress, we’ve just launched a technical event series for AI practitioners, data scientists and data professionals.

Upcoming AICN Data & AI Tech Meetups in Adelaide:

• Supervised Machine Learning in Python, GovHack and Data Collaboration on June 13th
• Unearthed and OZ Minerals: Machine Learning Approaches and Outcomes from the Explorer Challenge on June 20th

Make sure you come along!

We also have a very lively Slack group which anyone can join, no matter where you’re based or your industry background. Flick us an email at hello@collaborativenetwork.ai to join :)

Also, don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter.

That’s it for now. See you around!

Big thanks to our sponsors: Innovation & Collaboration Centre, Ignite SA, Australian Institute for Machine Learning (AIML), IBM, Resilient AP and Tyto.AI.

Photo Credits: Isabella Stocco and Filtrd