Ambra Solutions
Driving LTE Innovation for the Mining Industry

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations worldwide are experiencing several undesirable effects on their productivity and monetary resources. This predicament has discernibly affected the mining arena and increased the demand for comprehensive and cost-effective solutions to overcome the century’s most unexpected challenge. “Mining companies are struggling to conduct operations because nobody is currently willing to man their machines or go underground,” expresses Eric L’Heureux, CEO of Ambra Solutions, a leading telecommunication solutions provider, almost exclusive to the mining industry. Moreover, while the pandemic aggravated the difficulties of recruiting an able workforce, social distancing simply fueled the preexisting challenge of lacking a skilled and trained workforce. But Ambra Solutions has found a fix for this problem. Leveraging the capabilities of LTE network connectivity and remote working technologies, the company empowers mining organizations with state-of-the-art, turnkey communication solutions that simplify and streamline activities across their workflow.

The company’s LTE capabilities support miners with vigorous underground network coverage for uninterrupted, real-time communication, regardless of depth. A single LTE base station located underground can cover six km of tunnel replacing between 60 to 80 wi-fi access-points. “LTE technologies have completely changed the way mining companies operate. Because of the seamless connectivity proffered by these innovations, safety and productivity for miners are at an all-time high,” adds L’Heureux. For instance, if a machine were to break down during a shift, the designated machinist was required to either relay the information back to their supervisor through leaky feeders or personally head back above ground.

Such circumstances often cost a lot of time and money. However, with Ambra Solutions’ LTE-powered products, miners and office-based operators are supported with full-time communication to increase efficiency. Furthermore, owing to its extensive telecom expertise, the company enables remote operation of machines from various above-ground locations. This advantage bodes exceptionally well for companies tackling low recruitment rates, where a single operator can manage over three machines, as opposed to the traditional one man per machine model.

LTE technologies have completely changed the way mining companies operate. Because of the seamless connectivity proffered by these new innovations, safety and productivity for miners are at an all-time high

Ambra Solutions also manufactures its own set of devices for tracking employees and machines as well as establishing underground networking infrastructures. “We design and build ruggedized components specifically targeting mining use cases while delivering engineering documentation and staff training for a fully autonomous mine,” expresses L’Heureux. In doing so, supervisors can always monitor both their people and machines’ status as an effective way to manage the entire operation.

To further elaborate on the competencies of Ambra Solutions, L’Heureux explains how his company allow mining companies to reduce their energy consumption by enabling ventilation on demand in the most economical manner. “Using our tracking solutions, we can identify parts of the mine that are unoccupied and avoid ventilating those areas instead of the entire structure each time.” Such an intuitive application of LTE solutions significantly bolsters a client’s ability to save money and time, all the while creating a safer working environment for miners.

Ambra Solutions’ unique use of telecom technology has helped it earn a large customer base across the mining industry. Moving forward, the company intends to deliver 5G capabilities to its clients who need not purchase new products for the same, since L’Heureux and his team ensured to use and manufacture action-ready hardware; a simple software update is all that will be required. With ongoing projects in North America, Chile, Finland, Mexico, Australia, and parts of Africa, Ambra Solutions understands how to best circumvent the regulatory challenges of LTE across borders. The future for the company with such desirable attributes seems a busy one, and L’Heureux targets Industry 4.0 next to test-drive his LTE innovation.