ATMOS Global Opens First Mining Forecasting Centre in Australia

The mining sector is going digital to avoid or minimise the incidence and scale of the impact of dust mines on the environment.

On Thursday, ATMOS Global announced the opening of its first Centre for Global and Site Specific Dust Impact Forecasting, Management Control in Australia.

ATMOS explained that because of the complex nature and scale of mining operations, it is hard for mining firms to respond in real-time or on short notice to emergency dust impacts. The centre seeks to address that concern by offering reliable and timely site-specific dust impact forecasts on a daily basis.

The firm, made up of ATMOS Australia and Elite Atmospheric Air Quality Modelling & Forecasting and Climate Change Research Consultants, attempts to persuade the mining industry to re-evaluate the efficiency of traditional dust control methods and to consider more advance solutions.

In the last 20 years, ATMOS has developed and pioneered advanced 3D Numerical Weather Prediction and complex air quality modeling and forecasting tools.

The offer is based on several critical factors identified by ATMOS such as the global financial crisis, water shortages, energy constraints, more rigid regulatory compliance requirements and changes in community expectations within the mining areas.

ATMOS offered to evaluate future air quality risks a few days in advance which would help miners adjust operational plans to avoid or minimise undesirable dust impacts at environmentally sensitive receptors, and cut production costs.

The firm uses the ATMOS-5D, a dust management approach used for a mining project that was recently nominated by the Australian government as a finalist for environmental excellence.

"ATMOS-5D is a new and powerful paradigm in dust impact forecasting, management and control, an integrated risk-based and Web-based platform (part of the operational DNA) for logical operational decisions based on thoroughly investigated and well understood facts rather than subjective opinion," ATMOS President and Chief Executive Officer Dr Orestis Valianatos explained in a statement.

He said that it took the company seven years to develop the technology. ATMOS is offering free consultations on a limited number to mining companies that want to give ATMOS-5D a try. The offer is on a first-come-first-served basis. Interested miners could visit the company's Web site at www.atmosglobal.com.