SURFACE MINING TRUCKS
For this BEV project , MACA is collaborating with world leaders – namely energy and resources focused Japanese trading major Mitsui & Co Ltd , e-mobility group AVL and innovative battery technologies and battery management systems company Forsee Power on its BEV project . MACA CEO Mike Sutton commented : “ It ’ s important to MACA Ltd to be able to bring industry leaders into our fleet electrification project and create a solution that is sufficient for the demands of our operating environment . In partnership with AVL , Mitsui & Co Ltd and Forsee Power , we ’ ve been able to create a modular battery solution , which we can tailor to our client ’ s existing site infrastructure .”
David Greig , MACA Chief Development Officer stated : “ The International Council for Mining & Metals are responsible for one third of the world ’ s resources , used in decarbonisation and sustainable development . They ’ ve aligned themselves to net zero targets in 2021 . In doing so they hope to encourage their suppliers to decarbonise their value chain .” Grieg adds : “ The battery electric vehicle project at MACA is our response to the energy transition challenge . Its important that our solution is not only suitable to the ICMM members but also our customers , regardless of the project size , life or commodity .”
Greig concludes : “ MACA ’ s strategic vision of creating sustainable futures has enabled us to build a high quality teams to service the international mining and construction markets . These markets exist to deliver the products and services that mankind will depend on to survive well into the future . A firm belief is by advancing the efficiency of mineral extraction and construction , we will become more sustainable into the future . The successful completion of our proof of concept , applying on-road haulage technology into a productive mining application is a really exciting development for our business . This is the start of a new chapter , and MACA remains focused on putting our knowledge , and the knowedge of our suppliers , into action .”
From autonomy to xtonomy
New company xtonomy transforms large mobile machines to work autonomously in the roughest mining and industrial environments – it provides autonomy everywhere . MD Christian Riedel told IM : “ Our Autonomous Haulage System ( AHS ) for trucks finds application in mining environments , autonomously hauling material and interacting with ( semi- ) automated shovels , loaders and crushers , while utilising a robust radar-based perception systems for GNNS-denied and rough environments . In industrial environments like steel plants , we automate various material handling and haulage tasks with large mobile machines . Within our automation ecosystem we also provide starting points towards full autonomy , like operator assistance , teleoperation and collision avoidance systems .”
The company was founded in 2011 as a R & D subsidiary of indurad GmbH - the industrial radar company . The full xtonomy spin-off from indurad has recently been launched with the longstanding experience of the robotics team . “ The objective of this new venture is to bring our unique and proven autonomy ecosystem to market as a stand-alone company that has envisioned to provide autonomy everywhere .”
Riedel adds : “ We have extensive experience in mobile machine automation based on radar perception , applied in underground and surface mining as well as industrial applications . We work in a consultative and solution-oriented manner in close cooperation with our customers . xtonomy prides itself for its multi-national and interdisciplinary team working hands-on at challenging projects worldwide . It is certain that the future of material haulage in mining and construction is autonomous electric . While Tier 1 mining companies paved the way towards autonomous haulage for large trucks years ago , most of the mining , quarrying and construction operations are far away from switching to autonomy . This is mainly due to system cost and flexibility that would eventually make it feasible to operate smaller trucks on smaller and especially more dynamic sites . So far , the mine plan is mainly set for autonomous operation , which is obviously not sustainable for most operations . This ultimately means that autonomous haulage systems ( AHS ) must evolve into a next generation with highest degree of autonomy . For this reason , we have developed and successfully piloted our autonomy platform that is able to cope with the ever-changing environments as part of a de-centralised system .”
Usability is key for acceptance of autonomy especially in small to medium sized mining and industrial applications . For this purpose , xtonomy has designed a simple user interface which
xtonomy AHS supervision screen
allows the shovel operator to orchestrate the entire autonomous machine fleet at his fingertips . “ Other impediments to autonomy are commissioning time and infrastructure requirements . This is especially due to extensive comms network and high-precision GNSS requirements , autonomous operating zone preparation , mapping , etc . Our autonomy platform is designed to safely operate even with network or GNSS interruptions . Due to its high degree of autonomy the trucks do not frequently require connection . Furthermore , it encompasses smart radar-based localisation for GNSSchallenged environments . Finally , our advanced radar-perception enables safe operation in even the toughest conditions like snowstorms in the alpine mountains . This is how we envision autonomy everywhere .”
Auto-mate ’ s AHS coming to Australia
Australia-headquartered Auto-mate , which has successfully completed trials of its autonomous solution on a 65 t payload ( 70 ton ) Caterpillar 775 in Israel at a major quarrying operation ( see p . 58 ). The trials , initially planned for Australia , were rescheduled after widespread travel restrictions were put in place at the start of the COVID-19 outbreak over two years ago . Automate is a JV between innovative haulage , materials handling and automation group Bis Industries , and IAI ( Israel Aerospace Industries ).
IAI ’ s proven automation technology for operating in heavy off-road vehicles in remote and harsh environments has been in use since the early 2000s so starting Auto-mate ’ s system trials for mining there was seen an opportunity rather than a setback . The trials were designed to test a range of key scenarios all previously completed in a simulation environment . This included loading and dumping at predetermined locations , a range of haulage scenarios , obstacle and void detection , and performing load and
International Mining | MAY 2022