Orderliness in Mining 4.0

Abstract

Mining of minerals is an important part of the technical sciences, for which the certainty and unambiguity of terms and the correct application of definitions is an absolute requirement. At the same time, the expansion of Industry 4.0 technologies, both in practice and in scientific discussions, brings new terms to mining that are far from the original meaning. These terms include Data Mining and Mining 4.0, which, having a common digital core, refer to fundamentally different areas of human activity, and have the opposite meaning in relation to the use of resources (digital ones—endless, and the natural ones—finite). The indiscriminate use of the term “mining” is especially dangerous in the context of Mining 4.0, in which digital technologies allow the intensification of the exploitation of natural resources. This brief Perspective paper will show the role of terminology in Mining 4.0 and offer an interpretation of its relationship with Data Mining.