MINING AUTOMATION
productivity benefits while jointly working towards their decarbonisation vision .”
Speeding up transition to autonomous mining
Alexey Yakovenko , CEO at Zyfra Robotics , outlined to IM its latest tech advancements and what factors may help the industry move towards autonomous mining . “ Not so long ago almost all mining processes were managed directly in the open pit . Later , when mining fleet
dispatching programs became available , the need for a dispatcher on site disappeared , and now – as a further step – autonomous and teleoperated dump trucks , drill rigs , bulldozers and other mining equipment are passing the ‘ early adopters ’ phase , enabling the industry to move people out of remote and / or dangerous zones and let them manage the respective processes from a safer place .”
Yakovenko said some principal factors are contributing to the speeding up of this process . “ First , the impact of autonomous vehicles on mine safety can change the game in the near future from being incremental to fundamental . While simply introducing autonomous trucks can lower the probabilities of operator error and subsequent accidents , arranging autonomous trucks in a pack with an unmanned shovel can create a zone where human presence is only occasional , potentially changing the safety requirements for the respective area .”
For example , at an eastern European minesite , Zyfra has deployed a fully unmanned loading zone : two autonomous dump trucks work in
COLLISION AVOIDANCE TECHNOLOGY
OmniPro ®
A . I . Collision Avoidance Camera Safety System
NIOSH 2020 award-winning VAI technology
See OmniPro at
Booth 2803 - North Hall
No wearable device or equipment tags required
Alexey Yakovenko , CEO at Zyfra Robotics
connection with a tele-operated wheel loader . “ Safety is an important question in the context of reducing expenditures on mine development . For the formation of a new pit , millions of tonnes of rock are moved out only to shape the pit to avoid landslides and rockfalls . No doubt , if only autonomous machines work in a mine , it will still be designed to protect the equipment against landslides and rockfall , but the risk level can be
www . matrixteam . com sales @ MatrixTeam . com different and hence safety requirements can be lower . This may lead to significantly smaller volumes of waste to build the mine and hence lower expenditures .” Next up is productivity of autonomous solutions , which has been a talking point as initially autonomous machines were slower than human operators . “ Now the technology has
reached a higher
level of productivity in many processes . Our autonomous drill rig can show an availability increase of up to 13 %, and it also features typically a 4 % increase of drilling speed over conventional drills . Another example is an operation with multiple autonomous haul trucks showing approximately 7 % increase of cruise speed at night – as LiDAR and radar sensing are independent of light conditions while human operators tend to drive slower at night .”
Yakovenko says the increase of productivity can be utilised in different ways : the mine may choose to increase volume or keep the pace and reduce the number of equipment , lowering expenses and carbon footprint .
Thirdly , the industry trend towards carbonneutrality in mining operations is driving leading OEMs to accelerate the development of carbon emission-free equipment . In combination with autonomous technology , they can make a significant contribution to decarbonisation . “ However , as our experience shows , mining operators can achieve good results already by using autonomous solutions for existing machines on traditional fuel . As an example , at a coal mine in Khakassia our autonomous dump trucks typically save 13 % fuel per mass hauled as compared to trucks with human operators ”.
Another factor already apparent is that autonomous technology can reduce strain on machinery and therefore extend equipment life . “ While avoiding strain peaks , average productivity can even be increased : algorithms managing the acceleration of a truck or the process of a drill rig can optimise process efficiency while monitoring the streams of data with more scrutiny than is possible even for an experienced human operator . Less strain means lower repair costs and less downtime .” For instance , Zyfra ’ s ZR RoboDrill features a realtime safety protocol which monitors drilling pressure and engine load . Telemetry comparison shows that in multiple occasions the automated system reacts faster to strain peaks than trained drill operators , keeping the equipment within acceptable limits .
Falling costs for hardware are also having a positive automation impact . “ Zyfra Robotics develops autonomous solutions for mining processes such as drilling , excavation , loading , and haulage for use with most OEM equipment . When we speak about buying an autonomousready machine which costs millions of US dollars , a robotics kit for it can include expensive sensors and other hardware , and still pay off . However , many clients are interested in retrofitting their existing equipment , and there the cost of every component matters . LiDARs , radars , on-board computers , edge computing devices and equipment for wireless communication are becoming more affordable , and this means faster payback . For example ,
78 International Mining | SEPTEMBER 2021