- Mining is the process of extracting valuable objects from the earth’s surface or seas. Like, Gold, Coal, Iron Ore, etc. The extracted minerals can be useful for construction and manufacturing.
- Humans have witnessed the evolution of mining from surface mining to digital mining.
- Digital mining involves technology and the computing power to extract resources. Blockchain technology is the biggest example of digital mining.
History of Mining.
As already stated, mining is extracting objects and minerals from the earth. That includes coal, gold, copper, etc. There are three stages of the stone age. Paleolithic age (old stone age), Mesolithic age(middle stone age), and Neolithic age(new stone age).
Since the stone age, humans have been using tools to extract minerals and resources. Mining has always been an important part of human civilization and growth. Flint was mined to make tools and weapons. During the first stone age, humans mainly hunted and gathered either individually or in groups.
In the middle age, there was a development in mining as humans started using animals as a tool for mining. Mining is an important source of revenue. The king and the church used to charge the miners tax on the profit they had from mining.
In the modern age advanced mining techniques replaced the mining process that used to be done by humans and animals with motorized mining tools. In today’s time, there is improvement in the pieces of equipment that will result in less hands-on work.
Mining in the digital era
Mining has been reinvented, traditionally mining was never on digital platforms.
Some of the digital platforms include:
- Blockchain Technology is being used for the transparency and findability of the supply chain of the data that is being transacted.
- Automation and operation hardware use drones and 3D lasers to mine underground assets. More examples are AI, Robots, etc.
- Digital mining uses a lot of energy for its process. Now renewable resources are being used to save the consumption of energy and to reduce the carbon footprint.
Benefits of Digital mining
Mining companies spend a lot of financial and mechanical resources and the digital era will reduce labor and increase the automated process that will save time and save humans from injuries.
Automation extractions comprise improve transparency & traceability in the supply chain of resources. This allows us to reduce the risk, cut costs & improve safety. Companies are looking forward to reducing their carbon footprints with the help of using sophisticated algorithms. It is just a matter of seconds before the processed vast amount of complex algorithmic data in the Digital era of mining
For decades humans have only had to think of mining as a hands-on job for minerals and resources. Back in the Stone Age, if someone had ever explained a way of mining in the digital platform it would have been humorous. The limitations were real but from the stone age to the digital era humans have evolved in mining. The industry has worked on creating innovative solutions and is still working on it.