Local security specialist, i to i technologies, has forged a partnership with Lonmin Platinum, the world’s third largest platinum producer, in implementing and maintaining a comprehensive electronic security solution at the company’s mines.
By replacing obsolete security processes and technology with the latest networked, digital solutions, Lonmin has been able to improve all its security processes while reducing its reliance on guard patrols.
Lonmin runs four mines in South Africa, three in the North West Province near Marikana and one in the Limpopo Province near Polokwane. The company had a market capitalisation of over $3 billion, with an annual turnover for the 2005 financial year of over $1 billion.
As a platinum mine, Lonmin is subject to the burdens of theft on a regular basis. From pocketing of valuable minerals and equipment to cable and vehicle theft, to the most ingeniously planned crimes, the mine's security team has seen it all.
Albert Davis, Lonmin Platinum's security manager says the company's three mines and the base metal refinery located in the North West Province are located over an area measuring some 35-square kilometres. Within this area, the mine has over 20 shafts that need to be protected.
"We can not securely enclose an area of this size," explains Davis, "nor can we realistically ask for the funds to have enough people patrolling the area to ensure it remains secure at all times."
What Davis and his team have done is to implement access control systems, with intercoms, videos and alarms in specific locations. Starting in 1999, the company embarked on a process of securing its locations by the implementation of modern security and communications technologies.
Due to the size of the project, the implementation has been undertaken over a number of years, working in partnership with i to i technologies since 2002. Davis notes that the association between Lonmin and i to i technologies is a transparent, win-win relationship that has matured over the years into an innovative joint venture between highly skilled teams.
The security solution, as it now stands, allows the mine to control all gates from central control rooms as well as ensure its electric fencing and perimeter alarms are intact and working at all times. It also provides improved asset and personnel tracking when required.
1000 cameras
Niekie Kruger, executive account manager, mining, at i to i technologies, says the partnership between the companies started in 1999 with the installation of about 420 CCTV cameras in strategic locations on the mines. As mentioned above, all intercoms, electric fences and gates are controlled from the control rooms, making the whole environment more secure.
Davis says that at the start of the relationship, Lonmin had 365 security guards working at various access points around the mine and patrolling the area to check the status of different installations.
"Today our electronic solutions allow us to cover much more, proactively, with only 65 guards, none of which are stationed at access points. All data from access points is fed back to the central control rooms via our fibre-optic network where details such as delivery notes or waybills are verified before admission is granted."
And it is not only the 124 access points that have been modernised. With 124 km of fibre-optic cable, 50 km of electric fencing and over 1000 cameras installed, the whole area is under surveillance.
More importantly, security teams are not paid to monitor the screens associated with the 1000 cameras (the number of which is still growing), but react on a per-incident basis. When an alarm is sounded, when an electric fence is cut or a door is opened that should be locked, for example, the relevant video images are displayed on a screen in the nearest control room.
Security personnel can then assess the situation and react in realtime. I to i has eight vehicles permanently on site to provide instant service should a technical glitch occur. I to i also has a team on standby to repair any fences that are breached. All video is stored digitally, making it much easier to pinpoint and access images in realtime, instead of having to sort through videos to find a specific time and incident.
The security specialist maintains a team of 14 fulltime technicians on the Lonmin site to ensure all systems are in working order. The contract with Lonmin specifies a minimum uptime of 96%; however, the team reporting to project manager Hans Moolman maintains an uptime of over 98%.
"And we do not simply tell Lonmin what uptime we deliver," adds Kruger, "that would be too easy. We have quarterly meetings with the mine's management during which time we audit the statistics and fine-tune any problems there might be.
"This is an integral part of the partnership we have with Lonmin. We even disclose our pricing and profit margins to the mine as a matter of total transparency."
Davis adds that i to i technologies has delivered on its promises and even developed new solutions for Lonmin as part of the relationship, meaning there has been a substantial financial commitment from both parties. The result is a system that works as specified and skilled teams from both companies dedicated to making the mine's security as unbreakable as possible.
Multitiered approach
The security solution implemented is structured in a multitiered approach. Each mine has its own control room with dedicated functionality. These are all linked to the central control room where they can also be managed and monitored. This ensures that surveillance is continuous, even if one of the control centres fails or the network connecting a centre goes down due to cable theft or another technical problem. The fibre-optic network is also maintained by i to i technologies.
To facilitate this continual surveillance, i to i technologies has implemented a PON (passive optical network), which is a fibre-optic network designed in such a way that it can never go down, even if sections of cable are stolen.
The benefit of the fibre-optic network is that, in the long term, should the mining house so desire, all surveillance personnel could be located offsite. In fact, fibre networks offer such versatility that monitoring could be done anywhere in the world. Naturally, there has to be some form of security and technical expertise available on site for specific circumstances, but the PON opens the door to tremendous flexibility.
Competing with clever criminals
Of course, the better the security the smarter criminals become. Both Lonmin and i to i technologies therefore are not only focused on maintaining the mines security coverage, but are always exploring new ways to thwart would-be thieves - no matter how ingenious their plans may be.
Due to the extent of services i to i technologies provides, it is able to offer a broad range of services to Lonmin, including providing more control over its mines and the movement of people and assets. The result is that Lonmin has spent millions of rand on security over the past few years. The fact that the mine's management is continually expanding its surveillance to include new areas and functionality is proof that it sees the money spent as a worthwhile investment that delivers measurable returns to both companies.
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