On September 10, the thematic exchange event "Digital Empowerment of Nonferrous Metal Enterprises – Visiting Dexing Copper Mine" kicked off in Dexing, Jiangxi. Jointly organized by the Nonferrous Metals Industry Digital Transformation Promotion Center of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, Jiangxi Copper Co., Ltd. Dexing Copper Mine, and Dandong Dongfang Measurement & Control Technology Co., Ltd. (Hereinafter referred as DFMC), the event attracted over 200 representatives from related fields. It aimed to deeply share the achievements of Dexing Copper Mine’s digital transformation practices and DFMC’s full-chain technical solutions, promote the exchange of digital transformation experiences among nonferrous metal enterprises, and explore new paths for the intelligent development of the nonferrous metals industry.
At the opening ceremony, Chen Xuesen, Standing Committee Member of the Party Committee and Vice President of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association; Zhou Bing, Deputy General Manager of Jiangxi Copper Co., Ltd.; Gao Lie, Executive Vice President of Metallurgical Mines' Association of China; and Bao Liangqing, Chairman of DFMC, delivered speeches. Zhang Qiang, Member of the Party Committee of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association and Executive Director of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Technology Development and Exchange Center, presided over the opening ceremony.
During his speech, Chen Xuesen outlined the operational trends of the nonferrous metals industry from January to July this year, highly affirming the groundbreaking progress made by Jiangxi Copper Group’s Dexing Copper Mine in digital construction and DFMC’s professional practices. He expressed hopes that the event would provide replicable transformation experiences for the industry and help enhance the intelligent level of the entire sector.
Zhou Bing stated that since the launch of the "Digital Jiangxi Copper" initiative, the company’s multiple business segments have demonstrated digital achievements, forming a referential full-chain digital intelligence system. In the future, Jiangxi Copper will continue to cultivate new quality productivity through industrial digitalization and digital industrialization, promoting high-quality development in the nonferrous metals industry.
Gao Lie pointed out that the global mining industry is rapidly entering a new track of "digital-driven and intelligent-led" development. Promoting industrial digitalization and digital industrialization is not only a necessary response to national strategies but also an essential path for mining enterprises to break through resource constraints, enhance core competitiveness, and achieve high-quality development.
Bao Liangqing detailed the cooperative achievements between DFMC and Dexing Copper Mine in intelligent perception, safety production, and efficiency improvement. He expressed DFMC’s willingness to collaborate with research institutions and industry enterprises to further promote innovative applications of digital technology. DFMC will continue to increase R&D investment, enhance product performance and stability, and provide more advanced and reliable technical solutions for smart mine construction.
The expert keynote report session was hosted by Qiao Yongfeng, Deputy General Manager of DFMC. Wei Wei, Deputy Secretary-General of the Nonferrous Metals Industry Digital Transformation Promotion Center; Wang Xuefeng, Digitalization Department Head of Jiangxi Copper’s Dexing Copper Mine; Li Youbang, Director of the Equipment and Energy Department of Yulong Copper Mine; Dong Wensheng, Information Director of Zijin Mining Group; and Liu Rongle, Manager of the Mining Business Department of China Nerin, shared insights on major issues in the digital transformation of the nonferrous metals industry, Dexing Copper Mine’s construction experience, digital transformation practices at Yulong Copper Mine and Zijin Mining, and full-process solutions for smart mines.
Lv Tao, Dean of DFMC’s Intelligent Mine&Processing Engineering Research Institute, elaborated on new ideas for constructing smart mines through digital-intelligent integration. Liu Yongchao, R&D Director of Intelligent Instruments, introduced the practical application of neutron activation analysis technology in online element detection of ore flow. Cui Ye, Unmanned System R&D Director of the Smart Mining Business Department, shared practical experiences in unmanned drilling systems for open-pit mines. These presentations fully demonstrated DFMC’s profound and innovative achievements in digital technology.
During the event, participants visited Dexing Copper Mine’s neutron activation detection station, neutron activation online multi-element analyzer, unmanned drilling system, grinding and selection expert system, and intelligent management platform, engaging in in-depth exchanges with DFMC’s expert team.
In recent years, DFMC and Dexing Copper Mine have closely collaborated, achieving a series of technological breakthroughs. The nation’s first neutron activation detection station for mine geological exploration sample testing has reduced single-sample detection time to 5 minutes, enabling daily detection of up to 200 samples. The detection results are highly consistent with manual testing, effectively reducing energy consumption, hazardous chemical usage, and labor intensity. The neutron activation online multi-element analyzer detects and analyzes the grade of ore entering the grinding process, with detection errors consistently controlled within 0.03%. It can also detect and analyze the content of multiple elements in real time, including copper, iron, lead, zinc, calcium, silicon, aluminum, potassium, sodium, sulfur, and titanium, and has been widely applied in various mines, nonferrous smelting, sintering, and pelletizing. The open-pit mine fleet management system has achieved domestic substitution and cluster management of over 140 large mining equipment and full operational processes in a 15 km² mining area. Since its implementation, the flatness of the electric shovel working surface reaches 89.08%, exceeding the target value by 0.58%. The unmanned drilling system achieves an operational efficiency of 32.5 meters per hour, over 90% of manual efficiency, with an intervention rate of only 3%. The grinding expert system has stabilized production indicators, with a self-adaptive operation rate of 98%, a reduction of over 10% in fluctuations of key indicators such as grinding concentration and particle size, a more than 3% increase in ball mill efficiency, and a 0.5% improvement in roughing section recovery rate. In production operation management, DFMC, in collaboration with Jiangxi Tongrui co., ltd., has integrated multiple business systems based on a unified data foundation, empowering Dexing Copper Mine’s full business areas with big data and AI model technology, achieving intelligent comprehensive management and effectively enhancing production operational efficiency.
The successful hosting of this event has provided practical and actionable references for the digital transformation of mining enterprises. As a leading enterprise in the intelligent mining industry, DFMC will seize this opportunity to continuously break through key technologies in smart mine construction, deepen collaborative cooperation with industry partners, and contribute more wisdom and strength to the intelligent transformation and high-quality development of China’s mining industry.
