Taken together, the architecture is moving toward integrated surface-control of underground operations, with tele-remote drilling as one component rather than a standalone tool

Decision Lens

Hindustan Zinc has deployed tele-remote drilling at Rajpura Dariba — its third underground mine after Sindesar Khurd and Rampura Agucha — projecting a 17% productivity gain from a system operating at 60 metres per hour across a 600-metre control range. That combination of multi-site rollout history and a specific output target shifts this from vendor claim to operational pattern. The core tension for any underground operations director watching this: the productivity case is now multi-site and internally supported, but the evidence base remains a single company in a single jurisdiction, without third-party performance verification.

90-Second Brief

In recent days, hindustan Zinc has extended tele-remote drilling to its Rajpura Dariba underground mine in Rajasthan, India, following earlier rollouts at Sindesar Khurd and Rampura Agucha. The system enables surface-based control of underground drills, targeting continuous cross-shift drilling and reduced personnel exposure in active headings. The company projects a 17% productivity improvement from the deployment. This rollout is one component of a broader automation program spanning AI surveillance, IIoT, robotics, and a planned LiDAR drone rollout for underground mapping.

What’s Actually Happening

The Rajpura Dariba deployment is not an isolated technology trial — it is the third consecutive rollout of the same system within Hindustan Zinc’s underground fleet. The platform currently operates within a 600-metre surface-to-rig range, with a stated upgrade path to 800 metres, and drilling speed is reported at approximately 60 metres per hour. Wireless connectivity enables continuous operation across shift changes, which is the mechanism behind the productivity claim: eliminating the dead time associated with crew transitions at the drill face.

This multi-site pattern carries operational weight. Sequential deployment across multiple mines within one portfolio means that internal learnings — rig configuration, network reliability, operator training, cycle time management — are transferable. It also signals that the earlier deployments at Sindesar Khurd and Rampura Agucha produced results sufficient to justify a third rollout, though Hindustan Zinc has not published site-level performance data from those installations.

The broader automation stack being built in parallel includes an AI-based camera surveillance system — which has reportedly reduced manual intervention by approximately 50% — alongside robotics, blockchain, and industrial IoT applications. LiDAR drone systems for underground mapping and mine planning are in the pipeline. Taken together, the architecture is moving toward integrated surface-control of underground operations, with tele-remote drilling as one component rather than a standalone tool.

Why It Matters for Mining Operations Directors?

The operational case for tele-remote drilling centres on two levers: personnel risk reduction in active drilling zones and shift-change continuity. Underground drilling headings are among the highest-exposure environments in hard-rock mining — ground fall, equipment proximity, and dust exposure are persistent hazards. Moving the operator to surface removes them from that exposure window entirely, with direct implications for fatality prevention programs and critical risk control frameworks.

The utilization argument is equally concrete. Conventional underground drilling loses productive time at every crew changeover: the outgoing operator retreats, the incoming operator advances, and equipment sits idle. Wireless tele-remote control, where network reliability supports it, collapses that gap. The 17% productivity target Hindustan Zinc has attached to Rajpura Dariba implies the company views utilization improvement — not speed improvement — as the primary value driver.

For operations directors running multi-stope underground mines where drill availability constrains development or production rates, that framing matters. The question is not whether the rig drills faster, but whether it drills more continuously. If your operation is losing 10–15% of shift time to crew transitions and collar preparation, the utilization math is directly applicable — even if your orebody, ground conditions, and network infrastructure differ substantially from Rajasthan.

The Forward View

Hindustan Zinc’s technology pipeline gives a clear directional signal. LiDAR drone deployment for underground mapping, if integrated with tele-remote drilling, would create a feedback loop between stope geometry data and drill targeting — reducing dependence on physical survey crews underground and potentially improving drill-hole placement accuracy. That integration is not confirmed as a near-term program, but the technology components being assembled are directionally consistent with it.

The V Spark Deeptech Ventures vehicle — through which Hindustan Zinc is running more than 50 projects with over 20 startups — indicates the company is not waiting for OEM-led solutions. That model, using a captive venture structure to accelerate adoption, is worth watching as an organisational template. For operations directors whose capex approval process for automation technology is slow, an internal venture or co-development model may offer a faster path to deployment than the standard procurement cycle.

Whether the projected 17% productivity figure holds across a full production year, and whether it is replicable at mines with different orebody geometries or connectivity constraints, remains to be seen.

What We’re Uncertain About?

  • Actual versus projected productivity at earlier sites. Hindustan Zinc reports a 17% gain as a forward expectation at Rajpura Dariba, but has not published verified production data from Sindesar Khurd or Rampura Agucha post-deployment. Independent confirmation of those outcomes would significantly strengthen the replication case.

  • Network reliability in deep underground conditions. Wireless connectivity enabling continuous cross-shift drilling is the mechanism behind the productivity claim. The source does not disclose the network architecture, failure rates, or how the system performs as depth or lateral distance approaches or exceeds 600 metres. Resolving this would require vendor technical documentation or peer-reviewed operational data.

  • Applicability across different ground conditions and mine geometries. Rajpura Dariba, Sindesar Khurd, and Rampura Agucha are all within Hindustan Zinc’s Indian underground zinc portfolio. Whether equivalent utilization gains transfer to operations with different rock mass classifications, stope configurations, or workforce structures is not addressed by the source.

  • Scope of the 50% manual intervention reduction. The AI camera surveillance figure is reported as a company claim without definition of what constitutes “manual intervention” in this context, which activities were affected, or the time period over which the reduction was measured.

One Question to Bring to Your Team

If wireless connectivity is the single point of failure enabling continuous cross-shift drilling in our underground operation, what is our current network architecture’s reliability track record below 500 metres — and what would it cost to bring it to the standard required for tele-remote continuity?

Sources

  • Indiatimes — Hindustan Zinc deploys tele-remote drilling at Rajasthan mine, eyes 17% productivity gain (Link)

Tags