SOMI: Towards a Standard Representation of Mining Objects

This paper proposes a solution for the standard representation of Mining Objects, objects that facilitate the interoperability between the mining software applications. Today, the mining industry is extremely competitive, making each member of the sector to look for a constant increase in the efficiency of its operations. In the area of information and communication technologies, mining companies must incur in major costs, both in the purchase of software licenses and in the integration of disparate computing applications, which must interact supporting the mining processes. Each element of the mining industry may be modeled as a Mining Object, which is a computer representation independent from the application and the platform used. Having a standard for the representation of Mining Objects is a great step towards confronting the problem of integration, given that it establishes a common interface, not only between the same computing applications but also between them and the elements of the mining industry (e.g. machinery, databases). Along with presenting the concept of Mining Objects and the SOMI proposal for its standardization, the benefits that the mining sector will receive are made known, such as the reduction of integration costs and the freedom to choose information technology and its suppliers.