The mining industry is increasingly adopting advanced technologies to ensure operational efficiency, safety, and regulatory compliance. One such innovation is the Mine Transport Surveillance System (MTSS)—a digital solution designed to monitor and manage the transportation of minerals within and beyond mining operations.
What is Mine Transport Surveillance System – MTSS?
MTSS stands for Mine Transport Surveillance System, a digital tracking system that leverages advanced technology like in IoT in Mining, to monitor the transportation of minerals. It ensures that all vehicles transporting minerals are authorized, compliant, and monitored for safety and operational efficiency.
The primary objective of MTSS is to enhance control over mineral transportation while mitigating risks such as theft, overloading, and unauthorized movement. By providing real-time tracking and surveillance, MTSS plays a crucial role in improving transparency and efficiency in the mining logistics ecosystem.
How Does Mine Transport Surveillance System – MTSS work?
Mine Transport Surveillance System – MTSS operates by deploying a combination of digital tools, sensors, and tracking systems to ensure effective surveillance of mining transportation activities. Below are some key functionalities of the system:
Monitoring Vehicle Entry and Exit
MTSS tracks all vehicles entering and exiting mining sites, ensuring that only authorized vehicles are allowed access.
Checking for Mineral Overloading
The system monitors vehicle load capacities to prevent overloading, ensuring compliance with safety regulations and reducing vehicle wear and tear.
Preventing Unauthorized Transportation
By tracking vehicle permits and movement, MTSS helps prevent the unauthorized transportation of minerals, safeguarding against illegal activities.
Controlling Mineral Theft
The system provides real-time surveillance and alerts, significantly reducing the risk of mineral theft during transportation.
Comprehensive Mine Transport Surveillance System: Key Solution Components
A robust mine transport surveillance system integrates cutting-edge technology to streamline logistics and ensure smooth material movement from production to end-users ensuring digital mining. Here’s an overview of the solution components and their functionalities:
1. Dispatch Planning
- Strategic planning for mine-to-end-user dispatch, including monthly dispatch plans.
- Coordination of material requisitions, production schedules, and dispatch plans by mine, grade, and ore type.
- Optimization of logistics through mode, route, capacity, and cost planning for each requisition.
- Management of railway sidings for material handling and dispatch monitoring.
- Real-time tracking of inventory, permits, production, prepared stacks, and order fulfillment.
2. Transporter Management
- Comprehensive transporter onboarding with vehicle and driver profiling.
- Data integration from Vaahan app for vehicle fitness, fleet verification, and compliance checks.
- Issuance of transporter loading slips tagged to permits and dispatch orders.
- Integration with Government Portal eg. JIMMS (Jharkhand Integrated Mines & Minerals Management Systems) for generating required passes and challans.
- Full visibility into permit-wise vehicle assignments and trip details, enhancing operational transparency.
3. Unmanned Weighbridge Management
- Fully automated, weighbridge operations, reducing errors and faster loading of vehicles
- IoT-enabled systems for end-to-end tracking of mineral production, inventory, and dispatch activities.
4. Loading Point Operations
- Geofence-enabled operations for supervisors via mobile apps to ensure compliance.
- RFID technology ensures accurate loading from the correct stack to the designated vehicle.
- Supervisor confirmation of material type, grade, and stack against running permits.
- Automated document generation, including loading slips, invoices, and e-way bills synced with ERP systems.
- Scanning provisions for e-Transit passes at the destination to capture electronic proof of delivery.
5. Railway Dispatch Management
- Monitoring of railway siding operations, load scheduling, and dispatch planning.
- Notification to transporters about rake allotments and indent schedules.
- Real-time tracking of permit-wise material receipt at private or public railway sidings.
- Comprehensive railway rake lifecycle management covering placement, loading, and dispatch.
- Integrated auditing of the rake loading process from start to finish.
6. Operational Cockpit
- Real-time visibility through an analytics dashboard across all modules.
- Live tracking of fleet movement, traffic, and congestion across routes.
- Alerts and notifications for process deviations to ensure quick resolutions.
By integrating these features, a mine transport surveillance system enables seamless operations, minimizes delays, and improves visibility across the logistics chain. The result? Enhanced efficiency, lower costs, and data-driven decision-making for mining operations.
Read More: Applications & Benefits of Mine Transport Surveillance System (MTSS)
The Mine Transport Surveillance System (MTSS) is a game-changer for the mining industry, bringing unparalleled transparency, efficiency, and safety to mineral transportation. Its ability to monitor vehicle movement, prevent unauthorized activities, and reduce theft makes it an essential tool for mining companies and industries reliant on mineral resources.
As mining operations become more complex, MTSS will continue to play a pivotal role in shaping the future of mining logistics, ensuring that businesses remain competitive, compliant, and sustainable.
