Endeavour Mining is a major gold mine company operating in Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, and Senegal in West Africa.
While expanding their mining area, Endeavour Mining identified a problem with the communication equipment which was worsening over time to the extent that some facilities had no equipment for communication at all. Radio coverage access is required across the whole mining site for their 940 employees. The lack of reliable communications infrastructure challenged the operational efficiency of the mine as the on-site command and dispatch centre could not function properly.
Endeavour Mining opted to invest in a devoted Digital Mobile Radio system and noted that Hytera’s ruggedised equipment and radio terminals are designed to work well even in the severe environment of a mine and the high temperatures experienced in Côte d’Ivoire.
The mining company chose to apply a Hytera DMR XPT system founded on Hytera RD98XS DMR repeaters. The XPT is a multi-site digital trunking solution, which combines the advantages of DMR Tier II conventional systems and the properties of improved DMR Tier III trunked radio systems to expand network capacity at a compact cost.
Hytera HM78X mobile DMR radios and HP68X hand-held DMR radios were assigned to vehicles and staff correspondingly. The DMR XPT system was positioned across the whole mine to provide simple network coverage. As it was difficult to direct coverage into the mine pits, the vehicles were equipped with Hytera RD98XS DMR repeaters to provide mobile coverage and develop main network coverage wherever and whenever required. The repeaters are powered using solar energy.
A network bridge is used to connect the mobile repeaters to the fixed site main network repeaters to ensure unified connectivity and handovers. To make the process of communication easier, all radio channels are obtainable for communication, meaning, the radio user no longer needs to select a channel by hand. Free channels are automatically allocated for call requests and assigned dynamically.
XPT provides a profitable way to enhance capacity and gain additional features without having to invest in a developed DMR Tier III system. The vehicle-mounted, mobile RD98XS repeaters enable teams to stay connected wherever they go across the mining site, providing variable signal coverage where it is needed.
The HP68X handheld radios are protective against dust and moisture ingress and can endure a two-meter drop. The new and improved radios also use modernised technology such as cutting-edge AI-based noise-cancellation to decrease unwanted background noise and reduce howling, by this means ensuring high audio clarity, which is extremely important when users are operating in a noisy mining environment.
Finally, a Hytera SmartOne allocated communication platform was installed to provide powerful dispatching functions, including voice calls, GPS positioning services, messaging functions, and voice recording for report and command of the mine operations.
Thus, with the H DMR XPT two-way radio system, ruggedised mobile and handheld radio terminals, vehicle-mounted repeaters for additional mobile coverage, and a DMR SmartOne central dispatching system, Endeavour Mining was able to safely secure communications for all mine employees.
