Asset monitoring for a mineral exploration operation — fuel, power, water, and plant hours across two remote camps in Mid-West Western Australia, fully visible from the Perth operations office.
Background
A mineral exploration company operates two remote drill camps in the Mid-West region of Western Australia, approximately 600 km from Perth. Both camps are self-contained — running on diesel generators, drawing water from on-site storage tanks filled by periodic tanker delivery, and running a rotating roster of drilling and support plant.
With no mains power, no reticulated water, and limited connectivity, the camps had historically been managed with a combination of daily satellite phone check-ins, paper fuel logs maintained by site supervisors, and periodic inspection visits from the Perth operations office. The arrangement worked — until it didn't. A generator fault at one camp went undetected over a long weekend when the site supervisor failed to call in. By Monday morning, the camp had lost a freezer full of consumables and the camp's primary generator had suffered a partial seizure from running with low oil pressure.
The operations manager wanted remote visibility without having to rely on personnel remembering to check in. The two camps ran on separate satellite internet connections — bandwidth was limited, but always-on connectivity was available.
The Challenge
The Solution
Eleven Fieldmouse devices were deployed across both camps, integrated with existing generator control panels, tank level sensors, and plant hour meters. All data is transmitted over the existing satellite internet connection — Fieldmouse's low-bandwidth design adds less than 5 MB per day per site.
The Outcome
Fuel orders are now placed on a predictable schedule based on real consumption rates. Emergency top-up freight — which averaged $4,200 per event — has not been required since deployment.
Within the first month of operation, a generator at Camp B triggered a high coolant temperature alert overnight. The Perth operations manager called the site supervisor, who confirmed a coolant hose had worked loose. The genset was shut down and swapped to the backup unit before any damage occurred. Under the previous system, this fault would not have been discovered until morning.
Hour-based service alerts have eliminated two cases of overdue servicing that would previously have been missed. The maintenance coordinator now receives a weekly summary report of all plant hours across both sites.
A low-water alert showed unexpected drawdown at Camp A, prompting a delivery truck to be rerouted to prioritise the site. No camp has run dry since deployment; three low-water alerts have been raised and acted on.
The operations team now monitors site conditions from Perth throughout the day. Calls to site are made to act on alerts, not to gather status updates. The daily satellite phone check-in, which had been the only source of operational truth, has been largely retired.
The first generator fault detected by the system occurred outside business hours, validating the core reason for the deployment. Continuous monitoring has replaced the scheduled check-in model entirely.
Whether your site has satellite, 4G, or limited connectivity, Fieldmouse is designed to work reliably in remote environments. Get in touch to discuss your operation.
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