Broadband at Scale: Building a Safe, Automated Network for Large Mines

Mining is racing toward broadbandization and automation. Today's large mines—often many square kilometers in footprint and employing hundreds to thousands of workers—are adopting driverless haul trucks, remote drills, and intelligent blasting to lower risk and boost productivity. Those advances require a purpose-built LTE/5G network that delivers low latency, predictable capacity, and full-site reach, plus a mission-oriented communication platform that enforces priority, emergency handling, and group control.

Why Large Mines Are Driving Automation

Large companies move first because scale justifies investment: replacing dangerous human tasks with automated equipment protects frontline staff and raises throughput. Some mining companies are already ahead of the curve, like BHP Billiton Australia, one of the world's largest mining companies, whose CEO has stated that the effective implementation of automation technology could save the mining industry billions in cost savings and decreased time lost to work injuries. (Source: Digital Mining)

Typical automation targets include remote drilling and blasting, autonomous haulage, and centralized process control. These systems reduce staff exposure to hazardous work, improve repeatability, and let operations run more efficiently around the clock. But to realize those benefits, the site must supply consistent, low-latency connectivity to every critical location—from the pit rim to the workshop and down haul roads.

Core Challenges to Achieve Automation

Moving from pilots to production-grade automation exposes several core gaps:

Coverage and continuity. Open pits, long haul roads, processing plants, and underground sections must all be reachable with predictable latency.

Capacity & concurrency. Thousands of devices (mobiles, sensors, vehicles) generate bursts of traffic during shift changes or incidents.

Environmental stress. Dust, vibration, extreme temperatures, and EMI demand hardened hardware and robust RF planning.

Mobility & handover. Haul trucks and service fleets require seamless handover as they move across cells.

Safety & priority. Emergency and control traffic must preempt non-critical flows.

Cost & operations. Solutions must balance CapEx/OpEx with maintainability and growth potential.

Addressing these means planning for a broadband fabric that's engineered for mining realities—not a one-size public cellular rollout.

Broadband Network Coverage — Recommended Design

A production-ready broadband network for large mines rests on a private LTE/5G foundation and careful topology planning:

Private LTE/5G backbone. A private network isolates traffic, guarantees QoS, and gives companies control over capacity and security—ideal for mission-critical control and telemetry.

Surface coverage for pits and haul roads. High-gain outdoor base stations and remote radio units cover the control &dispatch center, processing areas, and long haul corridors. Cells are planned for peak capacity and handover across moving fleets.

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Ground-to-underground continuity. Use BBUs on the surface with RRUs extending into main roadways; cover branch drifts with leaky feeder, Broadband Data Node segments, or localized small cells so underground vehicles and workers stay connected.

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Indoor fill for control rooms and plants. RRUs and indoor small cells ensure control centers, workshops, and processing halls have reliable links for telemetry and operator consoles.

Mobile units for fleets. Rugged in-cab radios keep trucks online for telemetry, remote intervention, and continuous voice.

Scalable planning. Design for advancing benches and future capacity—cells and backhaul should be relocatable or upgradable as work fronts shift.

This hybrid approach—surface private LTE/5G, underground bridging, and targeted indoor fill—creates the fabric automation needs.

Mission-Critical Communication Platform (MCX)

Coverage is the highway; the platform is the traffic control. A mining site requires a mission-grade communication platform that transforms generic LTE/5G into predictable, safe services.

Mission Critical Services (MCX) built on 3GPP standards offer the low latency and high reliability these sectors require, prioritizing critical voice, video, and data over commercial traffic.

MCPTT (Mission-Critical PTT). Instant group push-to-talk with group management, dynamic re-grouping, and one-touch emergency calls.

MCVideo & MCData. Secure, low-latency video streams and data channels for remote monitoring and operator decision support.

DGNA & group patching. Dynamic group formation and patching so teams and contractors can be reorganized on the fly.

Priority & QoS control. Platform-level resource reservation ensures emergency and control traffic preempts routine flows.

Positioning & dispatch. Integrated location services and a dispatch platform deliver situational awareness and incident playback.

APIs & integration. Application layer links to fleet management, SCADA, and analytics so broadband feeds directly into operational workflows.

An MCX platform ensures the right traffic is always served first and that safety and control functions operate predictably under load.

End-to-End MCX Solution: Hytera HyTalk MC & Network Stack

Hytera HyTalk MC is a comprehensive solution encompasses rugged radios, evolved NodeB (eNB), Evolved Packet Core (EPC), MCS service platform, Network Management System (NMS), and a unified visualized dispatching system.

RAN & hardware: BBU, RRU, high-gain antennas planned to cover pits, haul roads, plants, and underground linkages.

Core functions: A private 4G/5G core with slicing, authentication, and edge compute for low latency.

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MCX service platform: Hytera HyTalk MC provides MCPTT, MCVideo, and MCData plus dispatch, recording, and network management features—turning raw LTE/5G into mission services.

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Rugged terminals: Secure MCX radios, vehicle mobiles, and explosion-proof devices ensure operation in hazardous zones.

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Integration & upgrade path: Gateways to SCADA, fleet systems, and analytics let the mine evolve from voice to full automation without replacing the whole stack.

Interworking with existing systems: Hytera HyTalk MC can interwork with 3rd-party TETRA or DMR systems. Your existing narrowband voice system can remain in place as a backup. This protects your current investment and ensures continuous voice service if the broadband layer is unavailable.

This end-to-end design supports current automation needs and scales as the site adds autonomy, analytics, and IoT.

Closing Thoughts

Broadband and automation will shape the future of large mines. But success depends on a mission-grade communications core. A private LTE/5G network plus a platform like Hytera HyTalk MC and rugged devices give the safe, reliable links automation requires. When coverage, platform, and hardware come together, mines can automate risky tasks and keep people safe while keeping production steady.