MINE AUTOMATION
further enhance our safe operating environment , and also reduce operating costs . I ’ m very proud of what we have achieved to date with this program , and we continue to look at other potential opportunities to expand our autonomous concept to other areas of our mine fleet . This program reflects our commitment to safety , technology and innovation and becoming the lowest cost operator .”
The fleet is also making real contributions to production successes at Kearl . The mine ’ s production in the third quarter averaged 295,000 barrels per day gross , which was up 78,000 barrels per day versus the second quarter and up 24,000 barrels per day from the third quarter of last year . Corson : “ I ’ m excited to highlight that this represents another production record and the best ever quarterly performance at Kearl , surpassing the previous record , which was set in the fourth quarter of 2020 by 11,000 barrels per day gross , and there ’ s more . Kearl has also set a number of other production records in the quarter , including the highest ever single month production of 322,000 barrels per day in September .”
In the Q & A he added : “ We have been working on this now for several years , and to finally complete all of the conversion of the trucks allows us to really make a step change and all of those kind of beneficiary components that have been driving us . I mean , things around truck productivity , things around unit operating costs . And of course , there is this broader safety benefit that comes with it .”
Overall the higher production at Kearl was primarily driven by improved reliability as a result of the successful rollout of a winterisation strategy , the absence of extreme cold weather , increased plant capacity utilisation , and mine equipment productivity . On winterisation , this has included adding another shovel in the mine that has stronger capability in the colder temperatures , and ability to dig through the frozen ore . Kearl is also trialling grizzly bars on top of one of the crushers to better handle frozen lumps during the winter months .
The company said it has looked to minimise any headcount reduction as part of the autonomous haulage program . Simon Younger , SVP , Upstream : “ As we have autonomised the truck over years that there has been a headcount reduction , we have also , as Brad said , redeployed a number of truck drivers onto other mining equipment . Some of them have gone into the autonomous control room and are now delivering value that way .”
Younger added that it is already well into a remote control dozer trial focused on its tailings area and is seeing promising results . When Imperial Oil made the decision to implement autonomous haulage at its Kearl operation in the oil sands , the company pulled together a team of experts from Imperial , Finning and Caterpillar to apply the technology .
Finning has previously pointed out that Kearl was the first application of Cat MineStar Command for hauling in the oil sands , in a remote northern location with unpredictable weather and ground conditions . And it was the first time Command for hauling was used on a Cat 797F .
The team utilised a combination of the MineStar suite of software including Fleet which is the dispatch system , Terrain which is the loading and grading system , and Command , which allows the truck to haul autonomously .
” We had to leverage the expertise of Caterpillar and Finning and Imperial Oil and we had to come together as one team , I think that ’ s why we are successful ,” says Mansoor Hussain , Autonomous Project Manager for Imperial Oil . “ You can assemble the world ’ s smartest people and they won ’ t be able to accomplish what we have if they ’ re not working together as one team . We ’ ve broken down the barriers between the different companies . It doesn ’ t matter if you ’ re an Imperial person , a Caterpillar person or a Finning person , you have the right to speak up , you have the right to call out things that aren ’ t safe , you have the right to be emboldened to come up with new ideas , new ways of doing things and I think that ’ s what made us successful , that one team approach .”
The smarts behind Cat ’ s auto drilling milestone at Mt Arthur South
In April , Caterpillar , Thiess and WesTrac officials gathered at the Mt Arthur South coal mine in New South Wales , Australia , to celebrate a major autonomous milestone three years in the making . Leading global mining services provider ,
In April , Caterpillar , Thiess and WesTrac officials gathered at the Mt Arthur South coal mine to celebrate over 1 million metres drilled autonomously
Thiess surpassed 1 million metres autonomously drilled using Cat MineStar technologies installed on a Cat MD6250 and two Cat MD6310 drills .
Currently with Thiess at its mining operations at Mt . Arthur South mine in NSW , the three fully autonomous drills are managed by a single operator sitting in a remote operating station ( ROS ) using Cat MineStar Command for drilling . However , the journey toward autonomous drilling at the mine didn ’ t happen overnight .
A multistep evolution toward automation saw the three companies implementing a building block approach beginning with the MD6250 drill . This required close collaboration between Thiess , WesTrac and Caterpillar , not only to implement technology but also to develop processes specific to autonomous operations , work through change management and develop new training programs for site personnel . These processes helped Thiess move from staffed to autonomous owning and operating procedures for the drills , including safe work procedures .
“ Thiess ’ s commitment to this project and openness for deep collaboration has been a driving force behind its success ,” commented Sean McGinnis , Vice President and General Manager of Technology and Global Sales Support for Cat MineStar Solutions . “ We worked closely with Thiess and WesTrac to ensure our autonomous solution would meet their key performance indicator goals along the way .”
Thiess ’ s Head of Autonomy and Operations Technology , Trent Smith , added : “ At Thiess , we are proud to be a leader in automation and autonomy for mining services . WesTrac did an outstanding job managing the project and
28 International Mining | SEPTEMBER 2024