AUTOMATION
This image shows North Hauler’s 110 t capacity
NTE120AT autonomous truck leaving its Baotou
factory in January 2019, the model is equipped
with a drive system from CRRC and uses laser
and millimetre wave radars. NHL will deliver this
unit to a mine site for testing in the first half of
2019
started using it as one of the main testbeds for
autonomous trucking technology. The site went
fully autonomous at the end of 2017 using a fleet
of Caterpillar 793F trucks.
Mackenzie said in the company’s half-year (to
end-December 2018) results presentation that
Jimblebar’s fully autonomous trucks were now
“amongst our safest and most productive”. He
added: “This success will guide a phased roll out
across other operations.”
In terms of automation, the company also said
it was studying the use of autonomous drills at
its majority-owned Escondida copper mine in
Chile, in addition to carrying out further trial
integration and automation technologies at its
Eastern Ridge Innovation Mine.
Rio Tinto remains the world's largest owner
and operator of autonomous haulage system
trucks. It has more than 80 autonomous trucks in
operation at its Pilbara sites, with plans in place
to increase this to more than 140 by the end of
2019. This has been dominated by Komatsu
930E-AT trucks. But Rio has also taken the lead
in the retrofitting market. A total of 29 Komatsu
haul trucks are being retrofitted with
Autonomous Haulage System (AHS) technology.
The project at the Brockman 4 operation is
scheduled for completion by mid-2019, allowing
the mine to run entirely in AHS mode once fully
deployed.
Also in late 2017 Caterpillar and Rio Tinto
signed an agreement for retrofitting 19 Cat ® 793F
mining trucks for autonomous operation at the
Marandoo iron ore mine in Western Australia.
Caterpillar will also install Cat Command for
hauling software for operation of the
autonomous fleet. The result of the agreement
will be the first fleet of Cat autonomous trucks
deployed by Rio Tinto. The project will be
completed by the end of 2019. Beyond
installation and startup, both Caterpillar and the
regional Cat dealer, WesTrac, will play ongoing
14 International Mining | APRIL 2019
roles in managing and
supporting the autonomous
haulage system.
During a recent investor
tour of its operations,
Fortescue Metals Group had
some further interesting
insights into its autonomy
journey. One particularly
interesting statistic that
reflects how the
autonomous mining world
has changed, is that it
together with Caterpillar has cut conversion of
793F trucks to autonomous operation from 21 to
only 8 days. The company has also completed its
first conversion of a Komatsu 930E integrated to
the Caterpillar MineStar system.
FMG also said that it is now seeing 32%
productivity improvements with autonomous
trucking. Overall in its Chichester Hub
operations, it is now running 34 autonomous
793Fs at Christmas Creek, while retrofits are
commencing at Cloudbreak mine. Autonomy will
roll out across all its operations by end 2019.
With autonomous drills, FMG says it is
achieving 30% higher drill hours and consistent
penetration rates compared to manned
equivalent as well as a 20% reduction in the
number of drills required.
The big contractors are also getting
experience. Thiess last year secured a contract
from Fortescue Metals Group to install
autonomous haulage system technology at its
Christmas Creek operations in Western
Australia’s Pilbara region. Under the 18-month
contract, Thiess will convert a minimum of 65
conventional haul trucks to the system, along
with various sub-component installs of the
system on ancillary equipment to allow the
machinery to autonomously operate at
Fortescue’s Chichester Hubs.
The contracted work includes the installation
of the system onto Fortescue’s Komatsu 930E
and Caterpillar 789D trucks.
In the oil sands, in 2018, Suncor completed
the implementation of Komatsu’s Autonomous
Haulage System (AHS) at its North Steepbank
Extension Mine, which was deployed by
Komatsu and its dealer SMS Equipment. The
program is expected to include the deployment
of more than 150 autonomous haul trucks across
the business over approximately seven years.
Currently the fleet includes both the 930E-AT
and the new 980E-AT.
Teck, Kearl, South Arturo, Brucutu
Last year, 2018, was the year that autonomous
haulage really started moving out of Australia
and into the rest of the world. In its Q2 2018
results Teck stated that at Highland Valley
Copper in British Columbia “an autonomous
haulage pilot is on track to have six trucks
operational by the end of the year and after a
successful trial of shovel-based ore sorting
technology over the last six months, we are now
planning to fully operationalise the technology
with installations on the rest of the main shovel
fleet.” The Highland Valley Copper (HVC)
operations are located approximately 17 km west
of Logan Lake and about 50 km southwest of
Kamloops in British Columbia. Teck has a 100%
interest in HVC.
The autonomy project is with Caterpillar and
has been cited by Teck as the world’s first
autonomous fleet in a deep pit mine. For
Highland Valley Copper Teck estimates >C$20
million annual savings and Teck-wide there is
potential for >C$100 million annual savings.
Practically it brings in a deep mine the potential
to steepen pit walls and narrow road widths; this
reducing environmental footprint.
At South Arturo Mine in Nevada, a joint
venture operated by Barrick Gold Corporation
which owns 60% and co-owned 40% by Premier
Gold Mines, last year stripping of the Phase 1 pit
had proceeded to several benches utilising a
fully-autonomous trucking fleet. Stockpiling of
potential heap leach material has started. The
autonomous fleet currently consists of five
Komatsu 930E Ultra Class haul trucks retrofitted
to autonomous operation using technology from
ASI Mining.
Also in 2018, as part of an ongoing pilot,
Imperial Oil along with its development partners
(ExxonMobil owns 30%, Imperial Oil 70%) moved
the first payload at the Kearl oil sands mine in
Alberta using a fully autonomous 400 short ton
(363 t) Caterpillar 797F haul truck in June 2018.
According to the miner, this is the largest
autonomous truck put into a productive
operating environment. The company’s testing
program is targeted to ramp up to a fleet of
seven autonomous trucks by year-end. Imperial
has entered into a joint development agreement
with Caterpillar and Finning to test the use of
autonomous haul trucks in a segregated area.
Kearl uses Cat 7495 rope shovels for loading.
Vale began a trial with Cat 793F CMD
autonomous trucks in 2018 at the Brucutu iron
ore mine but following the Brumadinho tailings
disaster the project status is unclear.
Marking milestones of tonnes moved
Caterpillar mining trucks working within
MineStar™ Command for hauling in November
2018 reached a milestone of 1 billion tonnes
hauled. Caterpillar deployed the first six
commercial autonomous trucks in 2013, and the
fleet has now grown to more than 150 with six
different mining companies operating Command
for hauling in iron ore (Fortescue Metals, BHP,