AUTOMATION
IM spoke to Ulla Korsman-Kopra, Global Business Manager, Automation and Information Management, at Epiroc
Q In surface mining the focus is now retrofit
autonomy, is this trend being repeated
underground?
A To some extent. Retrofitting advanced OEM
technology will certainly increase safety and
productivity and can be the first step in
increasing autonomous capability. Third party
retrofit solutions can also provide value in basic
control and monitoring; however they don’t have
the capability to utilise the full functionality of
the later generations of underground machines.
For example, you can certainly retrofit a modern
production drill rig and operate it from a more
safe location; however its functionality won’t
include the onboard execution management
system. It will no longer have the capability to
autonomously drill a complete fan, changing
drill bits as required. And it certainly won’t
continue to operate over shift changes. The
appeal of retrofit solutions is its cost and ease
of implementation. For some mining operations,
it might indeed act as a first step of a
technology roadmap.
Q Is Epiroc set up to respond to this trend and
is this an area of the market you are exploring
with ASI?
A At this stage, Epiroc’s partnership with ASI is
focused on optimising surface operations. For
underground operations, retrofit solutions
simply won’t provide the step-change in
productivity that our customers are expecting
from us. Epiroc’s ambition is on leading the
development of fully autonomous machines
that precisely execute production plans.
Q Why have more underground mines not gone
fully autonomous by now, as predictions 10-15
years ago would have expected?
A Often these estimates only consider the R&D
and engineering effort from the technology
perspective. They don’t consider the
collaboration agreement to validate and
improve underground hard rock mining vehicle
automation technology. The initial focus of the
collaborative effort is Command for
underground, the Cat ® system for semi-
autonomous and remote operation of
underground loaders. Command for
underground is a technology within Cat
MineStar™. Newmont is the largest user of Cat
underground vehicle automation technology in
the western hemisphere. The company
currently operates underground loaders using
Command for loading in its Carlin gold mines
located in northern Nevada. The collaboration
agreement leverages and builds on this
28 International Mining | APRIL 2019
interdependent work and associated
timeframes of working with clients in way that
enables all research to be tested and verified in
real world operations. There are significant
considerations in terms of new operating
models, workforce impacts, change
management, commercials and liabilities with
respect to accountabilities and new regulations
for autonomous mines. Further, interoperability
standards for automated information exchange
are required to enable integration between all
mining systems from geological modelling,
mine design, mine planning and scheduling,
material tracking, fleet management and
process control to make this possible. A lot of
critical work has been done from a standards
perspective (ISO 23725, OPAF, ISA-95, GMG)
but this is yet to find its way into mining
systems on scale. This is likely to happen in the
next 2 to 3 years, which will make possible to
have these automated mine factories as you
describe and Epiroc’s strategy is to be at the
forefront of this work.
Q That said with the market picking up and with
many companies now having had some
experience at least with advanced tele-remote
or at least “automation lite” that some are now
ready again to look at automating all or at least
a significant part of their fleets?
A There is certainly an increased interest. The
number of ‘innovator’ companies is growing and
we are seeing more actively partnering with
OEMs and technology vendors to develop
autonomous solutions for specific operational
challenges. It’s exciting that this now includes
multiple equipment classes working together
autonomously. Epiroc and its customers are
looking to drive efficiencies by equipment
automation, as well as leveraging information
to improve processes and increase the actual
effectiveness of the equipment.
experience to take underground vehicle
automation to the next level of performance.
“Automating underground loaders enables
machine operators to work safely and efficiently
from a control room on the surface,” said Graden
Colby, Underground Operations Manager, Leeville
mine. “In addition to enhancing safety, the semi-
autonomous system increases loader utilisation,
improves productivity and allows one operator to
control two or more machines.”
The collaboration agreement seeks to improve
existing technology and accelerate validation and
deployment of new features. Newmont,
Caterpillar and Cashman share objectives and
align to ensure Command technology delivers
Q Are there any flagship underground
automation sites from Epiroc where you have
been able to gather significant data proving the
safety and productivity advantages that you can
share publicly?
A Epiroc has several such projects currently in
development, which will provide world-first
autonomous solutions. We will also increase
customer value with better production
information and reporting production actuals
against what was scheduled. Over the next 12
to 18 months, Epiroc will be publishing details
as to the innovations, case studies and realised
customer value.
Q Do you think today’s market has a better
understanding of automation benefits and
maybe more importantly, how to integrate
automation into their existing operations with
the right approach to tying in automation with
their mine planning and mine development?
A The market’s understanding of the value of
equipment automation has certainly advanced.
Automation solutions are in response to
specific customer problems and the miners
have been actively involved in the development.
This includes innovation in ways of working to
allow autonomous equipment operation to
safely co-exist with people and other
equipment. Epiroc is firmly in the camp that
believes that the ‘future mine’ cannot be
achieved without designing open systems,
processes and information exchange to work
together to achieve operational end-to-end
objectives. Fortunately, most of the major
miners are in agreement. Mining companies
that wish to select ‘best of breed’ equipment
and technology and have ‘plug n play’
integration would do well to ensure its OEMs
and technology vendors genuinely share their
vision of interoperability and not just pay it lip
service.
the desired benefits now and meets
expectations for the future. The agreement also
provides for sharing information to help guide
strategic and tactical decision-making related to
automation.
The agreement also creates a basis for rapid
replication across Newmont’s business. “Through
Caterpillar’s global business model and dealer
network, our Command for underground
operating model can be deployed relatively easily
at other Newmont mines and generate additional
value from the use of common and consistent
operating technology,” said Mike Wundenberg,
Newmont’s Vice President of Operational
Technology and Innovation. IM