SURFACE AUTOMATION_proof 23/08/2016 15:49 Page 4
SURFACE AUTOMATION
An autonomous Atlas
Copco Pit Viper 271 at a
BHP Billiton operation
we are fast approaching our initial balance sheet
targets and will continue to apply cash flows to
further reduce debt.”
In a report coinciding with the results in
newspaper The West Australian, Power was
further quoted: “We now
have 47 autonomous
trucks and have shifted
over 200 Mt. We are very
pleased with the
productivity
improvements we are
getting. We are getting
around 20% over and
above what we would
get from a regular fleet
of trucks of the same
type.” The fleet now
consists of 47 Caterpillar
Command for Hauling
793F CMD autonomous
trucks, supplied through
Cat dealer WesTrac.
“These trucks don’t
need to stop to change
drivers, clean
windscreens and do
those sorts of things,”
Power said. “The big
gain in them is that they
can drive at higher
speeds in all conditions and that they only need
to be stopped when they are being maintained or
refuelled. We can do more work with fewer trucks
so there is a saving in terms of capital. A key part
of this has been developing that relationship with
Caterpillar and WesTrac because it does take a
lot of work from the vendor and the dealer to do
this.”
Caterpillar’s Global Head of Mining Denise
Johnson was also quoted, saying the Caterpillar
793 had proved to be very productive for remote
operations. “We started with that model because
we felt it was the sweet spot but we do have
intentions of expanding that size truck,” she said.
“It’s not the largest but it is one that is very
heavily used and is in many remote fleets. The
trend is fewer people, less interactions between
people and machines, but there are certain
elements of site management where human
intervention won’t go away completely.”
The other Cat autonomous truck customer,
BHP Billiton, has been trialling 12 Command for
Hauling 793F CMD driverless haul trucks at its
Jimblebar iron ore mine. WA Iron Ore Asset
President Edgar Basto Basto said in The West
Australian that the truck program was making
good progress but that the project would be
assessed by the end of the year. However, BHP
Billiton is moving ahead rapidly with its blasthole
drill automation program. Atlas Copco recently
won an order from BHPB for autonomous drill rig
upgrades to be used at iron ore mines in Western
Australia. The order, which follows a two-year
trial, is for upgrade packages to 18 drill rigs. It
also includes two machines already operating
autonomously. The 20 Pit Viper 271 autonomous