ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING SYSTEMS FOR UNDERGROUND MINES

Anglo American and its subsidiaries and associated companies own and operate many underground mines in South Africa and neighbouring countries. This paper describes the main features of “AerView”, a system developed by the company to meet the needs of those mines for robust, reliable, online and real-time measurement, display and interpretation of appropriate environmental parameters in all critical working areas. First installed over 30 years ago, the system has been progressively updated to keep pace with changing technologies and more onerous user requirements, while the user base has been broadened to operations of other mining companies as well as new applications such as warehouses and aircraft hangars. The system remains an essential component in the emergency response plans for operating sites.