FLEET AUTOMATION
The proposed alternative would leverage the expertise of MinRes’ in-house Engineering and Construction division to lead the design and development of a dedicated private haul road from pit to port, servicing a fleet of CSI jumbo road trains operating around the clock. A planned transition to fully autonomous operations would then deliver the ultimate road haulage solution and support improved safety, efficiency and productivity from mine site to port.
In developing a bespoke road transport solution for Onslow Iron, MinRes engineers and third party designers needed to overcome one of the project’ s most pressing challenges: unprecedented loads and trip frequencies of its jumbo road trains.
Importantly, each MinRes road train boasts a 20 t axle weight, significantly heavier than the standard eight-tonne axle weight for trucks running on typical Western Australian roads. At nameplate capacity of 35 Mt / y, the road will facilitate a vehicle movement every 2.9 minutes.
MinRes Chief Executive Engineering and Construction Darren Killeen said an initial challenge was developing a haul road unlike any conventional thoroughfare in Australia.
“ We worked closely with Main Roads WA( MRWA) on the design and they have prescriptive guidelines for road pavement design detailing what you do and how you do it,” Killeen said.
Alongside MRWA, MinRes engaged worldwide road pavement experts Tetra Tech Coffey to provide the design, with the final design resembling a combination of airport runway and port terminal standards.
To create a long-life transport asset, MinRes developed the haul road with five layers, starting with the in-situ foundation.
Safety has also remained at the fore with the haul road designed two metres wider than typical public roads used for heavy haulage in the Pilbara, spanning 11 sealed metres from edge to edge. The lanes themselves each measure 4.2m wide, with a further 500 mm of asphalted shoulder and plus 800 mm of sealed shoulder on either side.
Each MinRes road train travels in the centre of its lane, ensuring passing trucks remain 1.65 m apart thanks to a clearance of 830 mm on each side. By comparison, two standard 2.5 m wide road trains travelling on a typical public road would pass each other just one metre apart with 500 mm to each side.
MinRes’ planned transition to world-first autonomous haulage would not be possible without several critical technological components within the Onslow Iron haul road.
The company partnered with autonomy specialists Hexagon to deliver autonomous
technology which will guide road trains 150 km from Ken’ s Bore to the Port of Ashburton.
Features include roadside monitoring bases with thermal imaging cameras using artificial intelligence to support early identification of potential issues with wheels, brakes and flat tyres.
Service bays are also located one kilometre from monitoring systems, providing trucks with ample time to pull into the bay if needed.
Data from the roadside monitoring bases and the trucks themselves are fed to a control room at MinRes’ Truck Maintenance Facility, just outside of Onslow, which is overseen by experienced operators 24 hours a day.
A focus on communication and safety will be supported throughout the 150 km journey by private 4G mobile communication systems using fibre networks.
Komatsu formalises collaboration with Pronto
Komatsu, a global leader in mining and construction equipment, and Pronto, the Silicon Valley-based off-road autonomy pioneer, in August announced a strategic collaboration to deploy Pronto’ s autonomous haulage technologies to quarry operations in the North American market.
The partnership centres on the launch of Komatsu Smart Quarry Autonomous, powered by Pronto, a system that integrates Pronto’ s autonomy technologies into quarrysized haul trucks and ties into Komatsu’ s Smart Quarry solutions. This‘ visionary’
Solutions.“ We have decades of experience with autonomous haulage in large-scale mining. Now we’ re bringing that expertise to quarries of all sizes. It’ s a solution that helps drive productivity beyond what was previously possible and can support efforts to enhance safety by facilitating the removal of workers from areas of potential hazard.”
“ Partnering with an industry leader like Komatsu is about more than technology, it’ s about accelerating the future of heavy industry. Previously, the most advanced autonomy was reserved for the largest mines,” said Anthony Levandowski, CEO of Pronto.“ Today, by combining Komatsu’ s trusted hardware and vast support network with Pronto’ s scalable, intelligent autonomous platform, we are fundamentally changing the game. We’ re enabling a future of enhanced safety and incredible productivity that is now accessible to quarries of all sizes.”
The new OEM-agnostic solution will allow quarry operators to retrofit existing Komatsu vehicles or purchase new trucks equipped with Pronto’ s self-driving system, enabling 24 / 7 operation with minimal human intervention. The result is a stepchange in operations: promoting safety by removing drivers from the immediate quarry environment, facilitating consistent cycle times with better fuel efficiency and providing data-driven insights via the Smart Quarry platform designed to optimise the overall operation of quarries.
Pronto’ s autonomous technologies utilise advanced artificial intelligence and
Komatsu and Pronto in August announced a strategic collaboration to deploy Pronto’ s autonomous haulage technologies to quarry operations in the North American market
alliance further positions both companies as leaders in transforming the quarry industry through cutting-edge autonomous technologies.
“ This collaboration with Pronto accelerates our vision of smart, automated quarry operations,” said Jason Anetsberger, Komatsu’ s Senior Director for Customer an array of rugged sensors to perceive the environment and navigate haul roads. This streamlined approach is designed to significantly lower the cost and complexity of deploying autonomy for quarries of all sizes. Combined with Komatsu’ s Smart Quarry Site fleet management and analytics suite, operators will be equipped with an
38 International Mining | SEPTEMBER 2025