Digital Twin Applications in the Extractive Industry—A Short Review

Introduction: The technological development brought up by Industry 4.0 has wholly revolutionised the industrial sector, promptly opening doors to improving operational efficiency and occupational safety. Trying to understand where the extractive industry stands, this short review aimed to find evidence of the sector’s digital twin and digitalisation applications and their integration level. Methodology: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and MetaAnalyses (PRISMA) Statement was used as guidelines to conduct and report the research. Three multidisciplinary databases were selected (Scopus, Web of Science and Science Direct). The research combinations comprised “digital twin” and the varied expressions one might use for the mining sector. The selected works were qualitatively assessed regarding technical context, working methodology and main results. Results and discussion: From the initial 1,590 identified articles, only 23 were found eligible and included in this short review. The results show that occupational safety is not even on the list of priorities of the sector. However, it is indirectly addressed while trying to ensure operation optimisation. Conclusions: Though the results express the use of digital twins, it does not go beyond a digital model in most cases.