Can you introduce TORSA and explain the company’s involvement in the mining industry?

TORSA is an R&D company based in Spain with more than 20 years of experience developing solutions for different sectors, such as renewable energy, logistics and mining. When it comes to mining, we develop solutions to improve safety, reduce occupational risks and optimize productivity rates in operations.

As one of our main solutions for the mining industry is a Collision Avoidance System (CAS), TORSA takes part of the ICSV program carried by the ICMM and also belongs to the vehicle interaction working group of EMESRT to assure our solution meets successfully every milestone the industry sets.

Which of TORSA’s mining solutions have been in high demand in the last two years?

The most demanded solutions in TORSA’s portfolio are related to reduce occupational risks (vibrations exposure) and improve safety (collision avoidance) in mining operations. The first is a Human Vibration Exposure Monitoring System, which allows real-time analysis of the exposure to vibrations of the operators of haul trucks and other equipment, being able to immediately alert when the safety levels based on ISO 8041 are exceeded. This system also provides heat maps of the status of the lanes and areas of the mine operation for the different departments of the mine to study the need to send the graders and have optimal lanes maintenance to reduce the vibration exposure of the operators and increase the lifetime of the tyres.

Mining companies are also demanding our High Precision Collision Avoidance System (HPCAS) to improve the vehicle interaction to protect shovels, haul trucks, auxiliary, light vehicles and personnel. Our solution is the only one on the market with centimetre-level precision using LIDAR 3D, in addition to TOF, GPS and RFID technologies. Our HPCAS ensures the highest level of accuracy to detect not only any type of vehicle but any type of object (mine front, berms, etc) with centimeter precision. This system is able to act on the equipment manoeuvre based on its predictive algorithm in order to avoid a collision (Level 9).

What benefits can mining clients expect if they use TORSA’s equipment, and can you provide examples of Peruvian mine sites that have benefitted from your technologies?

Our HPCAS for shovels has allowed clients such as Antamina to increase the loading rates of the shovels of the operation. When the mining company analyzed how our system increased the safety during the loading operations, they identified a significant reduction of collisions with the shovels and an increase in the number of haul trucks loaded per hour in comparison to before the system was implemented. Also, our Human Exposure Monitoring System has reduced an 80% of the cervical injuries reports at Antamina. This means that the occupational health and ergonomics during operation of the equipment has been improved and there is a more availability of personnel due to a lower rate of sick leaves.

To what extent do you think the demand of digital solutions has increased during the pandemic?

The pandemic has highlighted the need of the industry to remotely monitor and control the mine operations in real time. We have also identified a higher demand for technology solutions with a robustness level enough to guarantee its reliability, like remote monitoring in order to avoid unnecessary downtime of the equipment. Furthermore, some of the top mine operations are creating safety dispatch rooms, where they are looking for technology providers like TORSA to provide solutions like our CAS to remotely monitor and control the vehicle interactions of the mine operation in real-time.

Considering the myriad of technological equipment available these days, why should a mining company choose to work with TORSA?

TORSA’s solutions for the mining industry have been awarded nationally and internationally by governments and private companies. We are at the forefront of technology development with a very clear motto: we develop tailored to the client. We design and develop our own hardware, software, firmware, etc, so everything is under our own control. This allows us to be very flexible and fast to meet the specific needs of our clients and what the industry demands