08 Jan INVITATION: Develop the UG Communications Infrastructure Guideline

GMSG will host sub-committee meetings in January 2018 to draft the third part of the Underground Communications Infrastructure Guideline. The sub-committees will gather diverse industry experts who can contribute their experience and insight to the Guideline.

The Guideline is intended to provide mine owners and operators with an overview of best practices for electronic communications across a mine’s lifespan. GMSG published Section 1 and Section 2 of the Guideline in early 2017. We plan to develop and publish the remaining three sections in 2018.

Part 3 of the Guideline is a high-level overview of factors for mine operators to consider for their unique communications needs and circumstances. Based on the current outline of the Guideline, the sub-committees will be organized as:

• Administration – includes regulatory considerations, risks, mine service group needs, and infrastructure planning
First Meeting – January 15, 2018 – 15:00 PST
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• General Best Practices – includes design attributes for underground environments, capital, operating and maintenance considerations during design phase
First Meeting – January 16, 2018 – 15:00 PST
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• General Topology – includes shaft design, infrastructure configurations, and redundancy
First Meeting – January 15, 2018 – 16:00 PST
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• Control Room Best Practices – includes regional vs. local control centers, monitoring and input requirements
First Meeting – January 16, 2018 – 22:00 PST
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• Underground Best Practices – includes comparison of surface vs. underground communications, separation of voice and data networks
First Meeting – January 17, 2018 – 15:00 PST
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• OT Security – includes segregation, identity and access management, monitoring and breach notifications
First Meeting – January 18, 2018 – 15:00 PST
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• Remote Management – includes limits of remote vs. local, integration with control rooms, latency, and automation
First Meeting – January 18, 2018 – 16:00 PST
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We are seeking participants with expertise in communications, underground mining practices, network security and remote operations to join one or more of these sub-committees. Participants will be asked to contribute by:
• Attending sub-committee meetings (to be announced via GMSG Basecamp) and joining the discussion
• Contribute to the writing of the sections of the guideline most aligned with their interests and expertise
• Reviewing and editing other participant’s written work, either in part or as a collected document

By sharing your depth of experience in these sub-committees, you will be demonstrating leadership in underground communications in the mining community.

We look forward to your participation in ensuring that the guideline remains an accessible and valuable resource for the mining community.