WORLD PROSPECTS
SafeAI AHS solution gets runout at Karlawinda
Autonomous haulage technology company SafeAI has taken a big step forward in mining after Australian contract mining major , MACA Mining , announced in its results for the six months ending December 31 , 2021 that it had completed a six-month proof of concept trial at client Capricorn Metals ’ Karlawinda gold operation , 65 km southeast of Newman in the Pilbara region of Western Australia .
The trial involved retrofit of a next-generation SafeAI autonomous operating system to a 181-t class Hitachi EH3500AC-3 haul truck and completion of an operational trial including a series of load-haul-dump cycles with a manned loader . MACA provides open-cut mining services at the Karlawinda gold project including drill and blast , load and haul , provision and maintenance of all plant and equipment .
The project now has approval to advance to the next stage with multiple autonomous haul trucks set to operate at Karlawinda . MACA said : “ Important safety and efficiency gains can reduce operating costs and facilitate a reduction in fleet size to achieve the same total material movements .”
It added that it brings the opportunity to upskill its workforce to support autonomy rollout and operation and a contractor market opportunity across its entire client base from large iron ore miners through to smaller gold , base metal and battery metal producers .
MACA Managing Director and CEO , Mike Sutton , said on the results conference call : “ Autonomy technology has only previously been available to the large iron ore miners in Australia . We will be taking strides to bring this technology to the next tier of base metals , precious metals and battery metals producers . We are setting
MACA up for the next 20 years in our 20th year .”
The presentation also highlighted some of the benefits of SafeAI ’ s AHS offering – processing power on-board for decision making with less reliance on server communication and human interaction ; agnostic to haul truck manufacturer and FMS ; plus an intuitive task based assignment system . It includes V2X technology which is embedded for personnel and vehicle safety , delivering next generation collision avoidance capability ; plus it has an advanced perception system from camera , LiDAR and radar analysed on board to detect / avoid obstacles and dynamically map the environment . Finally , it mentioned other benefits including 75 % less upfront capital per vehicle , lower operating costs and subscription , it accounting for a fraction of network infrastructure spend , plus it brings a pathway to autonomy of other vehicles , while machine learning further enhances safety benefits .
Capricorn Metals , in its December 2021 quarterly activities summary said construction of Karlawinda was completed in the June 2021 quarter with the successful commissioning of the processing plant culminating in first gold poured at the end of June 2021 . The project was completed in line with time and cost guidance . During the September 2021 quarter commissioning and optimisation activities were completed , including the ramp up in processing plant availability and throughput to guidance rates on a steady state basis by the end of the quarter . These throughput capacities are expected to produce a long-term gold production range of 110,000-125,000 oz / y .
Mining continued in the Bibra open pit with total movement of 2.5 million bank cubic metres ( Mbcm ) during the quarter . Approximately 1.5
Cat makes longwall coal divestment moves
Contractor MACA ' s successful trial of an independent AHS technology solution from SafeAI represents an exciting step forward for the industry
Mbcm of waste material was mined and used primarily for the construction of the second lift of the tailings storage facility . Ore mining transitioned from primarily laterite to a blend of oxide and laterite zones as additional oxide ore has become accessible in the Bibra pit . The mining reconciliation to date is in line with the reserve for tonnes and grade . A total of 1.98 Mt of ore was mined during the quarter , with ore stocks increasing significantly by 848,000 t to 1.7 Mt at an estimated grade of 0.62 g / t for 38,000 oz . The strip ratio for the quarter was 1.8 ( w : o ), below the life of mine average of 3.6 , as mining focused on accessing oxide ore in stage 1 and 2 of the Bibra pit . The third excavator and truck fleet were mobilised to site at the end of the December 2021 quarter with mining activities scheduled to increase in the March 2022 quarter . www . safeai . ai ; www . maca . net . au ; https :// capmetals . com . au
Caterpillar has been making some major strategic moves of late to focus on its core surface mining and underground hard-rock |
Luenen , Germany underground coal longwall ( and plow ) mining equipment factory with production moved to Asia . |
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mining equipment products , technologies and |
Caterpillar Inc is now set to effectively withdraw |
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systems . This has included a licensing and IP |
completely from underground coal and soft-rock |
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agreement with India ’ s Gainwell Technologies , first |
mining through the divestment of its longwall |
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for Gainwell to manufacture surface highwall |
business to Germany ’ s Hauhinco Maschinenfabrik |
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miners in India , then more recently extending |
GmbH & Co KG , based in Sprockhövel , North |
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these agreements to include underground medium and high seam continuous miners and other room and pillar products including face haulers , roof support carriers , scoops / multi utility vehicles and |
Rhine-Westphalia . There is a history of cooperation between Hauhinco and Caterpillar – notably Hauhinco working with the Caterpillar facility in Luenen to design complete water |
Caterpillar ' s longwall mining journey with its roots in what was DBT looks set to come to an end this year with an agreement to divest the product line to Germany ' s Hauhinco |
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feeder breakers . |
hydraulic systems for Caterpillar underground |
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On February 23 , a similar deal was announced |
longwall mining systems . Hauhinco , a company |
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with Simmons Equipment Co in Virginia , USA , for |
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with over 111 years of history , has a focus in mining |
longwalls as well as water spray pump stations |
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low seam room and pillar lines . In addition , |
in designing customer-specific high pressure |
supplying the shearer water spray or the coal plow |
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Caterpillar , in 2020 , confirmed it was closing its |
emulsion pump stations for roof supports in |
water spray and the cooling systems for the drive |
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4 International Mining | MARCH 2022 |
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