Opportunities for research to achieve the vision of the Smart Mine

The mining industry is being shaped by ongoing digital transformation, leading to the Smart Mine. This article aims to clarify this concept for underground extraction operations as expressed by mining practitioners and compare this vision with recent academic work. Based on an industry-focused literature review, this paper categorizes the vision of the Smart Mine in terms of objectives, solutions, and business management processes. The framework is then used to analyze academic papers selected from a systematic literature review. Results show that mining practitioners and academics are aligned in terms of the financial, operational, business, safety, and environmental objectives of the underground Smart Mine. Multiple solutions to achieve a Smart Mine are proposed and involve infrastructure, technology, people, culture, management systems, processes, and equipment. Both academics and mining practitioners focus on equipment and technology initiatives, while people and culture are underestimated. These solutions involve various business management processes, with a greater emphasis from practitioners on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) and information and data management. However, the academic literature on business management processes is relatively sparse and mainly focuses on education and training, automation management, and ESG management. Asset management, change management, and risk and safety management should be further developed.