HIGH PROFILE example on how many ASI people we could bring into Australia from the US . That also was a major hurdle we needed to overcome .
Q What are ASI Mining ’ s big differentiators and why ? A The big ASI Mining value proposition of its Mobius autonomy platform to the mining industry is that it is OEM agnostic . We can fit it on any brand or model and on any type of mixed fleet , even where there are different sized trucks in one fleet . It also can be retrofitted to older truck models quite easily . And these were key reasons why Roy Hill wanted to work with ASI Mining – any fleet replacement or acquisition decisions for them now and in the future remain completely independent from the technology stack . The onboard hardware and systems is also relatively simple to work with – it has been designed purposely that way as it is retrofitted not factory fitted . The capabilities of the Mobius traffic management system are also a big advantage as it allows all the truck variations mentioned but also can control autonomous dozers and drills for example , from the same platform and again is OEM agnostic for those . This is a key differentiator as it allows mining companies to automate dozers , drills , blast trucks for example into one single automation platform . Other OEM solutions are not capable of doing that as they do not make all these machines and rarely are all these from one manufacturer in a mine site . I would say the graphical user interface of Mobius is also more intuitive and visually appealing .
Q How important was your work and collaboration with Wenco and Epiroc at Roy Hill ? A Wenco had their part to play as the Mobius platform needs to work with the incumbent FMS . Wencomine is what Roy Hill had so we worked closely with them and built an interface with them . In the future we are open to work with any FMS that will work with us and this project with Wenco was a good exercise towards that and provided us with some key learnings . Epiroc plays two important roles for ASI Mining – one is that they own 34 % of the company and being such a respected , long standing and well known global player that brings confidence to customers . They are also our global distributor and we work very close with their customer centres in key mining countries to bring our product to market . Epiroc has a global presence and has customer centres in all of the main mining hubs including in Perth . They provide a lot of the sales functions as well as support on the ground for the customer .
Currently Epiroc have around 100 people on site at Roy Hill converting trucks as we speak , and they provide the bulk of the tier 1 and 2 support , backed up by tier 3 support from ASI Mining , especially for any highly technical issues . We are
Diederik Lugtigheid , ASI Mining President
in the final stages also of opening an ASI Mining office in Perth which will support Epiroc and Roy Hill 24 / 7 but of course also any future customers in that part of the world . On the solution side we developed Mobius for Drills closely with Epiroc , which uses embedded artificial intelligence to enable multi-drill command , control and monitoring to maximise productivity and safety . And we continue to actively collaborate with other companies to create a very flexible and open autonomy platform that can connect the major mining equipment into one single platform .
Q From a personal perspective why did you opt to join ASI Mining at this point in your career ? A When we finally got the approval for the full fleet rollout at Roy Hill , the opportunity to also lead ASI Mining came up , but with me retaining the AHS Project Director role in Roy Hill . I saw the potential in helping ASI Mining prepare for the future and for significant expansion . To be part of the initial stage of this in the world ’ s newest commercial mining AHS system and the only OEM agnostic one was a unique opportunity . I think ASI Mining has all the right attributes to make it a really successful mining automation company and I am now able in this role to help shape and form that future which is very exciting . We are the market leader in the OEM agnostic segment but of course we know others are coming but they have huge hurdles to cross that we have already crossed in bringing a mature and proven product to market .
My mission at ASI Mining is to continue to deliver at Roy Hill which will be the world ’ s only agnostic AHS fleet but also the world ’ s largest single AHS fleet of any kind . For Roy Hill , it is important that ASI Mining is successful and expands its customer base . And it is critical we go through the transformation phase of going from a technology company to a product company whilst maintaining our agility . This means we need to work on all the instrumental things that are critical when delivering a product to market , like warranty systems , support systems , manufacturing operations and quality control , relationships with suppliers and simplifying the
supply chain . Many of these things are taken for granted in big OEMs but it ’ s a learning curve for tech companies . We want to be ready to deliver AHS at scale with multiple customers and very much acknowledge the mining industry is a 24 / 7 , production critical global business .
Q Does ASI Mining have other main focus markets outside of Australia ? A Aside from Australia , South America , especially Chile and Peru , is probably our next main focus and in fact we just had a major customer workshop prior to the Expomin show where we met with many of the major mining houses in Chile as well as consultants and other mining entities such as thinktanks to present our offering and experience to date plus explain our story and OEM agnostic value offering . AHS was actually born in Chile with Komatsu fleets at Radomiro Tomic in 2006 and later at Gaby so they are familiar with autonomy but it didn ’ t take off as the focus then moved to Australia . However , interest and activity has ramped up again with active programs at major mines like Escondida , QB2 , Centinela , Los Bronces and elsewhere . So it ’ s a huge potential market for ASI Mining . Plus I myself lived there for over 10 years so I know what is possible there and have many contacts . That said we are still the new kid on the block so we need to keep proving ourselves project by project .
Q Finally , how do you see battery electric fleets evolving with AHS and why ? A Electrification and zero emissions or at least cutting emissions to meet interim targets is a huge challenge for the industry . Some fundamental changes need to happen . Whether its trolley or flash charging or something else , its clear that in order to run an electric fleet and orchestrating the batteries and the charging , requires a lot of discipline in the operations ; and for that automation is more than anything needed to execute that well . And also from a safety perspective . I have talked to a lot of the OEMs over the years and they all feel the same - that to manage an electric mine effectively including not just the fleet and traffic management but orchestrating the whole electric draw on the mine and the scheduling of the charging - is much easier to do if the trucks and other machines are automated . So in that sense , yes electrification of mining fleets is a huge opportunity for ASI Mining too as here we can also bring that OEM agnostic power to customers . Finally , a lot of development is still required in this field and whilst all OEM have roadmaps and are actively working on electrification , the exact solutions they will bring to market and when is still very much unknown . Therefore , remaining flexible and using an OEM agnostic automation platform is important as it keeps options open for mining customers in future which electrification solution and / or brand to work with . IM
MAY 2023 | International Mining 61