The mining industry has experienced rather slow technological changes compared to other industries from its origins dating back to 450.000 B.C when the ore would be manually extracted at surface, to nowadays in which unmanned vehicles are taking over surface and underground mines. Whereas traditional mining is deemed as arduous and demanding, this stance has generally changed for modern mining, characterized by digitization, automation and Internet of Things (IoT) in which a skilled workforce is required.

Historically, underground mining has been an extremely hazardous industry because of the nature of its operations, which involve unique geological features such as jointing and faulting, different challenging workplace environments depending on the extracted mineral (coal, metal or non-metal ores), the use of heavy equipment, and occasionally, explosives. In the very firsts steps of mining, manual work with shovels and picks allowed winning and drilling the rock to extract the ore. Furthermore, transportation was performed with wheelbarrows and beneficiation with see-saw crushers, hand jigs and settling basins, which needless to say was extremely inefficient.

With the first industrial revolution in 1784, mechanization using water and steam power came around. This breakthrough definitely improved the working conditions and safety as less personnel was required for operating the machines. However, mechanization was not implemented in the mining industry at this time, instead, picks and shovels and black powder stuck around until 1844 when motorized compressed air systems for tools and ventilation were developed, and 1867 when dynamite was invented, which enabled increased breakage and efficiency in blasting operations.

In 1870, the second industrial revolution brought about mass production systems that radically transformed many industries such as the automotive. It was not until 1903 when the era of mechanization and mass production started in the United States (U.S) mining industry, standing out in 1940 the first continuous miner in a coal mining operation. From this point, mechanization could be finally implemented in surface and underground mines. In the next decades, new production methods were developed such as Lean Manufacturing (LM) in 1930 in the automotive sector, which were progressively adopted in the mining sector so that processes could be optimized and thus production could increase.

The third industrial revolution, which took place in 1969, is often referred to as “Digital revolution” since it includes automated production using electronics, programmable logic controllers, IT systems and robotics. This milestone is based on digitization, remote control and automation, that is, the transition from analog to digital information; and digitalization, which consists of making use of digitized data adapted to the business to culminate the digital transformation. In the mining industry, remote controls made their first appearance in the 60’s in some U.S longwall coal mines, yet with limited success. It was not until the 70’s and 80’s when remote control was introduced to diesel-powered LHD and from there, spread worldwide.

From 2011, we are experiencing the fourth industrial revolution or “Industry 4.0”, which is characterized by digital manufacturing with cyber-physical systems using Machine Learning (ML) and Big Data analysis, interoperability through IoT and cloud computing and robotics. Since the mining industry has had a late adoption of technology, there is a long road ahead before robotics are implemented in underground mines. Nowadays, the mining industry is featured by remote control systems, being slowly globally implemented; mines and mineral processing plants operated more efficiently with ML and IoT; and autonomous equipment in both surface and underground mines worldwide where these cutting-edge technologies are affordable such as in mines in Sweden, Canada, Australia and South Africa.