Eramet has implemented several AI-enabled solutions with automation service provider Capgemini that have boosted productivity improvement, commercial performance and metal recovery, the company said.

"We have put digital transformation and digital intelligence at the heart of our performance. The first results are visible in the productivity of our mines and plants," said Ludovic Donati, Eramet group's digital transformation director. "In concrete terms, we have progressed every part of Eramet.

Metallurgists at Eramet's high-temperature furnaces in Norway and New Caledonia have used AI to analyse predictive information on production quality and economic performance, with the aim of increasing the production of manganese and nickel alloys.

The company's Swedish subsidiary Erasteel is deploying an AI application to optimise the time it takes to make high-performance steels available to customers.

Eramet's rail transport subsidiary in Gabon is using AI to predict track wear and tear in order to optimize maintenance, while in Senegal, activities are underway to improve the mining process in order to make it more agile using data science approaches.

The AI deployments are part of a digital transformation programme that covers Eramet's entire value chain: real time industrial risks prediction, energy mix of industrial facilities optimisation, and selective extraction of ore to ensure sustainable exploitation of resources, added the firm.

"At Eramet, our digital transformation roadmap is defined in three axes," says Donati." First: we want to connect geology to the economy. Second: we want to optimize our processes using data and AI.  Finally, we need to ensure the traceability and quality of the products from production to delivery."

Mathieu Dougados, executive director of Capgemini Invent in France, added: "We are proud to support the Eramet Group in this ambitious program to transform its mining and metallurgical activities."