Nokia is working Telia and its partner Digita to deliver a 5G SA private wireless network for Agnico Eagle Finland Oy, which operates the Kittilä mine in northern Finland.
The Kittilä mine is the largest primary gold producer in Europe and is located 900 km north of Helsinki, and 150 km north of the Arctic circle in the Lapland region of northern Finland.
Nokia said its 5G SA network will support both above and below-ground operations, reaching depths of up to one kilometer. It will cover an extensive tunnel system to connect people, equipment, sensors, devices and vehicles leveraging the low latency capabilities of 5G. The Nokia Modular Private Wireless (MPW) solution will incorporate Nokia 5G RAN AirScale base station technology and critical edge computing capabilities, together with the Nokia Compact Mobility Unit-based 5G core. The network will be deployed in phases and is expected to be completed in October 2022.
Tommi Kankkunen, General Manager of the Kittilä mine, said: “Having already piloted autonomous and remotely controlled machinery in recent years, we chose to work with Nokia, Telia and Digita to deliver capabilities for the next phase of our digital transformation journey. We want to innovate by using the latest technologies and will leverage the Nokia 5G SA private network to enhance operational efficiency and support the highest level of safety for teams working at the mine.”
Stephan Litjens, Head of Enterprise Solutions at Nokia, said: “This is another great example of how collaboration across the ecosystem is essential for developing winning technology solutions to meet productivity, safety and sustainability targets. We are pleased to work with Telia and Digita to deliver our leading 5G standalone private wireless technology and enable new Industry 4.0 use cases for the Kittilä Mine. Nokia industrial private wireless networks provide secure, reliable connectivity to meet the stringent operational demands of today’s mining industry, and 5G enables even greater levels of performance.”
