AUTOMATION
Other automated drilling news
Goldcorp says it is seeing the multiple benefits of
autonomous drilling at its Peñasquito gold mine
in Mexico, with the company set to ramp up the
use of this technology in the next few years. In a
site visit presentation, the company said using a
fully-autonomous drill solution – where the drill
is given instructions that it carries out
automatically supervised by an operator in a safe
and climate-controlled area – has been beneficial
to the amount of metres drilled, the quality of
drill holes and safety.
In 2017, Peñasquito pursued the use of
automation by fitting two drill rigs with
autonomous technology for a trial as it looked to
reduce its workforce’s exposure to potential
hazards associated with drilling in the open pit.
The company now has multiple rigs installed
with this technology. In 2018, it retrofitted two
Epiroc Pit Viper PV-351 rigs with autonomous
features and it is set to retrofit another two this
year, according to the site visit presentation. In
2019, it also intends to bring in two automation-
ready Pit Viper PV-271s, and has another
scheduled for delivery in 2020.
The application of autonomous drilling
solutions at mine sites is resulting in more than
just productivity improvements, Matthew Inge,
Business Line Manager, Drilling Solutions for
Epiroc, told IM at an SME Annual Conference &
Expo press briefing in February 2019. Inge said
the customer feedback the mining OEM had
received from the 30 or so automated rigs it had
at mine sites, which had drilled close to 7.5
million metres autonomously, had included
significant cost savings on maintenance.
“When you talk to most customers, operators
and mines they will tell you that autonomous
drilling is a productivity resource,” Inge said.
“One of the by-products we have seen is reduced
cost of maintenance.”
He said some of the company’s biggest
customers had estimated “some very large
figures” for maintenance cost savings linked to,
for example, reduced operator abuse of the rig
and improved drill string component life.
Such savings were lowering the total cost of
ownership that came with operating these
machines, while also strengthening the business
case for further automation on mine sites.
The first autonomous Epiroc Pit Viper 271 drill
rig has broken ground at BHP’s South Flank iron
ore project in Western Australia, the mining
major recently confirmed.
This is the first of five autonomous drill rigs to
operate at the mine, all of which will be
controlled remotely from the BHP Integrated
Remote Operations Centre in Perth.
Upping the ante at experienced
autohaulage mines
Moving on to autonomous trucks, BHP CEO,
Andrew Mackenzie, says the diversified miner is
looking at a phased roll out of autonomous
haulage technology across its Western Australia
Iron Ore operations following success at its
Jimblebar mine.
BHP opened Jimblebar, located 40 km east of
Newman in the Pilbara, back in 2014 and soon
Paul Moore spoke to Caterpillar’s Michael Murphy, Chief Engineer, Mining & Technology Enabled Solutions, and
Craig Watkins, Mining Technology Commercial Manager, for a unique insight into its very latest autonomy views
and news
Q The focus has moved from the Pilbara to a range of other sites, is it fair
to say that each type of mine comes with new challenges for automation?
As an example does the oil sands throw up any new challenges in terms
of climatic changes etc?
A When Caterpillar designed Command for hauling, we designed our
hardware to be used in the majority of worldwide applications. For
example, our electronic systems are based on many years of experience
in working in the heat of the Pilbara Western Australia to the cold of the
oil sands in Canada. The software has been designed to be very
configurable for various applications. The oil sands do pose a unique
challenge compared to other mines worldwide; there are very soft
underfoot conditions as the ground thaws after the winter freeze.
Caterpillar engineers have developed innovative software that leverages
the large volumes of data generated by the autonomous truck. The
software creates an optimised path through the poor underfoot
conditions and so far, feedback has been that it provides superior
performance in these conditions when compared to manually operated
truck performance.
Q Can you quantify how many Caterpillar truck models are now available
with automation as a new truck and how many you can work with on
retrofits?
A We offer retrofit kits for the 789D, 793F, 793F Tier4, 797F, Komatsu
930E, and are developing the 797F Tier 4, 794, 793D, 796, 798. Factory
availability is as follows:
793F T2 CMD – Already in production
793F T4 CMD – November 2019
797F T2 CMD – September 2019
797F T4 CMD – September 2019
794 T2/T4 CMD – October 2019
796 T2/T4 CMD – October 2019
798 T2/T4 (low horsepower only) CMD – Oct 2019
12 International Mining | APRIL 2019
Q Are you seeing more automation interest from smaller operators?
A Yes, in addition to the strong global miner pull, there is interest from
regional mining companies. They experience many similar challenges to
global mining companies including; safety, process consistency,
optimised productivity, and higher asset utilisation. Automation creates a
wide array of business benefits above and beyond personnel availability
and costs.
Q Are you also seeing more automation interest for smaller classes of
trucks?
A Yes, there is interest in smaller classes of trucks, especially for water
cart applications. Many mining companies also are evaluating the
economic size of their mining trucks for automated greenfield operations.
Over the past thirty years, many mines have moved to larger trucks due
to the cost and number of operators required. However, automation is
creating the opportunity for mining companies to review criteria behind
truck class selection. This analysis varies from mine to mine but may
include optimum loading tools, drill and bench heights, haul road widths,
traffic congestion, workshop space, maintenance personnel, and more.
One size does not fit all; we offer a broad range of solutions based on
site, application, and customer requirements to maximize their return on
their investment.
Q Are there any standout statistics from your automation sites that have
been running for a number of years now that show just how much
potential the technology has to increase productivity and safety?
A One of our customers has made claims of 30% productivity
improvements over best-in-class manually operated systems, and we are
consistently experiencing 2 to 2.5 hour increase in daily operational
hours across our automation portfolio.