Working in the mining industry in Australia is one of the toughest and most extreme careers in the world, the work is tough, temperatures high and staff are often isolated from the outside world for long periods of time. Ensuring they are properly looked after is something that Chinova Resources has gone to great lengths for; both during working hours and rest.

Their operation mines a variety of minerals and precious metal including copper, gold, molybdenum, rhenium, uranium, lead, zinc and silver in remote Queensland. With the nearest major city almost 3 and a half hours away by airplane, staff often spend their personal time on site and so providing them with some home from home comforts, including a good TV service, was something Chinova felt was necessary.

“We have a very remote camp at one of our mines and needed a solution that was very ‘hands-off’ and required limited support as, should something go wrong, it would be very difficult to get somebody physically on site in a timely manner,” comments Jon O’Brien, IT Manager at Chinova Resources.

Jon researched the IPTV industry and came across Tripleplay, a solution already deployed in a number of mines and the stand out solution that Chinova considered.

He added; “We needed a seamless IPTV solution that allowed us to deliver entertainment to all of our sites that was scalable and high quality; as the camp grew then the solution needed to grow too. When we saw Tripleplay we knew this was the right solution for us.”

Chinova selected TripleTV IPTV delivered via the TripleChoice Interactive TV Portal, giving them the opportunity to brand the television service with their own logos and photography and provide information services to staff through special pages in the TV system.

The Tripleplay solution delivers fourteen channels to staff including ABC1, Channel 9, Fox Sports 1, 2 and 3, Premiere Blockbuster, Action and Sky News, and provides each member of staff with the ability to record and store TV shows; meaning they never need to miss their favourite shows even when working unsociable shifts.

Starting small and grow in time

Initially the system would have to provide an IPTV services to just twelve staff at the camp, scaling to over 300 end points over the next eighteen months as the construction of the mine commenced and completed.

Prior to engaging with Tripleplay and, Tripleplay Authorised Partner, Streamvision, Chinova had been using an out-dated analogue TV infrastructure which was proving very cumbersome following broadcast’s move to digital distribution.

“We were having to patch a digital solution onto a very out-dated analogue system which was hugely time consuming, painful and was not easy to add new channels to our line-up. Using Tripleplay it is now much easier for us to manage our room costs as we can decrease or increase our user count as needed,” added Jon.

Unconventional but painless installation

The Tripleplay IPTV platform was installed into a shipping container and delivered to site before being connected to the existing Chinova IP network and managed remotely by an IT team located 40km away at another mining operation.

Implementation was simple and effective, scalability is in-line with the business’s plans for the future and the quality has been highly appreciated by the staff in the mine camps.

Jon added; “Our staff on site are rapt with the solution. The channels for both free-to-air and pay-TV are crystal clear and staff can record TV shows to watch back at another time. We’re delighted that it is giving our staff a greater home from home experience while they are with us.”

Chinova Resources feel they have made the right choice in implementing the Tripleplay solution and working with a knowledgeable partner, Streamvision, the project has been well executed.

Jon O’Brien summarised; “Streamvision know the technology and understand our industry so we were delighted to work with them on this project, their relationship with and knowledge of Tripleplay has helped ensure that any problems were quickly overcome and we have been able to make great progress in advancing the services at our camp.

“We’re delighted with the solution, feel we made the right choice and can look ahead to growing the camp in a stress free and simple manner in future.”