3D printing has gained in popularity in recent years, and has filtered in the jewelry business. For example, UK jewelry making supplier Cooksongold has unveiled its latest Advanced Metal Powder at the Baselworld Jewellery Fair, enabling 3D Printing technology to become a viable commercial opportunity for the platinum jewelry industry for the first time. Now, according to a new piece on Mining Weekly, 3D printing could actually benefit the mining industry as well.
According to the piece, 3D printing of equipment used in mines “could make operations more cost effective and reduce the frustrations of equipment downtime”. According to Wipro, a South African information technology consultancy and systems integration firm, 3D printing could make “the spare parts and replaceable components that complex mine machinery requires”, thereby giving operators “greater control over the supply chain and ensure the smooth running of equipment”.
Wipro‘s Energy and Natural Resources Director Louise Steenekamp, who is quoted in the article, claims that current production methods of tools and components “are often time-consuming, expensive, wasteful and rely too much on third-party equipment manufacturers. Further, mines have to bear the brunt of excess inventory, warehousing and storage costs, as well as the logistical costs of urgently transporting parts”.
“By using robotics and other machines fitted with sensors, we can create a digital representation – such as a hologram or on-screen display – of the equipment to [monitor and] understand its performance, and interaction with the environment kilometres below the surface”, Steenkamp explains. Additionally, companies could start to predict when equipment may fail, need servicing or require new parts as “the data can be fed into the 3D printing systems to ensure that the required components are produced on the surface and sent down, ready for when they’re needed”.
