Case Study: Site Station and Tanker Automation at a Mining Operation (IST Maden A.Ş.)
A 125-vehicle mixed fleet was consuming ~12,000 liters a day from one site station and a single tanker — all of it logged on paper. Here is the automation built with RFID key fobs, biometric driver identification and an odometer reading at every fill.
In mining, fuel is one of the largest operating cost lines after equipment and labor. Field conditions also make it the hardest to control: supply points are limited, vehicles are constantly on the move, and some machines are measured in operating hours rather than kilometers. This case study covers how the fuel processes of a mixed fleet at IST Maden A.Ş. were put on record.
Project profile
The fleet on site spans four vehicle classes:
| Vehicle class | Count |
|---|---|
| Machines | 20 |
| Trucks | 55 |
| Tractor units | 12 |
| Cars | 38 |
| Total | 125 |
Fuel is supplied from two points: the site station and a fuel tanker that refuels vehicles out in the field.
Operation scale in numbers
| Period | Volume |
|---|---|
| Daily average | ~12,000 liters |
| Monthly (30 days) | ~360,000 liters |
| Yearly (365 days) | ~4.4 million liters |
Roughly 4.4 million liters a year are distributed to 125 vehicles from two supply points. At this scale, even a small recording gap per vehicle turns into serious uncertainty by year end.
Before automation
Despite that volume, fuel processes were run entirely by hand:
- Fills were logged on paper slips. Accuracy depended on the attention of whoever performed the fill.
- When the tanker refuelled machines in the field, there was no reliable record of which machine received how much.
- Consumption could not be compared. Liters-per-hour for machines and liters-per-100 km for trucks and tractor units never appeared in the same view, so abnormal consumption and losses went unnoticed.
- Stock reconciliation lagged. The gap between the drop in tank level and total fills could only be compared roughly, at period end.
The solution installed
Three components were installed on site:
1. Site station automation
The station tank was placed under level monitoring and the pump was automated through a control unit. Every fill is now recorded automatically with vehicle, driver, quantity and time.
2. Tanker automation
The tanker used for field refuelling was brought into the same structure. A fill in the middle of the site and a fill at the station now feed a single record stream. This is the most commonly skipped part of an automation project: when the tanker stays off the record, the picture the system sees is incomplete.
3. Central management system
Data from both supply points is collected centrally. The drop in tank level is continuously reconciled with total fills, so a growing discrepancy becomes visible without waiting for period end.
Identification: RFID + biometrics
Every vehicle in the fleet was fitted with an RFID key fob. Drivers were enrolled on a biometric reader and paired with their vehicles. Each fill now shows which vehicle, which driver and how much — in a single record. Unregistered vehicles and unauthorized users cannot draw fuel.
Installing both matters: with RFID alone, a fob can change hands; with biometrics alone, which vehicle received the fuel stays unclear. Pairing the two ties the record to both the vehicle and the person.
Odometer reading and consumption averages
The RFID reader also captures the vehicle odometer at every fill. Because distance and volume arrive in the same record:
- liters/100 km for trucks and tractor units,
- liters/hour for machines
are calculated automatically. For the first time, a fleet spanning four classes became comparable within itself. The per-vehicle consumption average is the site's real benchmark: a vehicle deviating from its own average signals a fault, a driving habit or a loss — and once the deviation is visible, it can be investigated.
Value delivered
- 125 vehicles and two supply points merged into a single record stream,
- Every fill tied to a verified vehicle–driver pair,
- A physical barrier against unregistered vehicles and unauthorized users,
- Error-free per-vehicle liters/100 km and liters/hour averages,
- Continuous reconciliation of tank level against total fills.
Note: This case study is based on verified scope and scale data. Savings and efficiency ratios measured after installation will be added as they are confirmed with the customer.
Conclusion
Fuel control on mining sites is not achieved with a single device, but by building every supply point, identification and consumption measurement together. The IST Maden A.Ş. project is a concrete example: when the site station, the tanker and the central management system work as one, a ~12,000-liter-a-day operation becomes transparent, reconciled and auditable.
