Engineering and Mining Journal - Whether the market is copper, gold, nickel, iron ore, lead/zinc, PGM, diamonds or other commodities, E&MJ takes the lead in projecting trends, following development and reporting on the most efficient operating pr
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AUTONOMOUS MINING manufacturer of surveying equipment, Topcon, there are several cutting-edge technologies, including high-precision GPS navigation systems, milliwave radar and opticfiber gyro that could potentially accomplish the unmanned truck system. However, it claims to be the only Japanese manufacturer of high-precision GPS receivers. "We are proud to provide our GPS technology, one of our core competencies, to Komatsu and will continue to support their efforts to improve the safe and efficient operation of autonomous dump trucks," said Satoshi Hirano, the company's managing executive officer. Current Projects In April 2013, Rio Tinto announced that the autonomous truck systems at its Pilbara iron-ore mines had reached the significant milestone of moving a cumulative 100 million mt of rock. The total included material at West Angelas, where the technology was first trialed, at Yandicoogina, which then had a 13-strong autonomous truck fleet, and at Nammuldi, where six trucks had begun working the month before and had already moved more than 2 million mt. The company is also commissioning a further 19 Komatsu 830E-AT trucks at Hope Downs 4 during 2013/2014. 36 E&MJ; ¥ JANUARY 2014 The West Angelas trial began in 2008 and involved five Komatsu 930E haulers. Having used the trucks initially on waste, in July 2012 Rio Tinto commissioned 10 autonomous haulers at the Junction South East (JSE) pit at Yandi, marking the first time they had been used for moving highgrade ore as well as low-grade and waste. Speaking at the official opening Sam Walsh, then head of Rio Tinto's iron-ore operations and now the company's CEO said, "The deployment of these trucks at Yandocoogina is the next step in our program to introduce more than 150 driverless trucks to our Pilbara operations, making us the world's largest owner and operator of these vehicles. They will be a critical part of our drive to outstanding safety and production efficiency." Meanwhile, Caterpillar told E&MJ; that the continued evolution of its MineStar system and the successful trial of Command for hauling in New Mexico has driven a larger project with BHP Billiton— the launch of a fleet of 12 793F autonomous trucks at the company's Jimblebar iron-ore mine, also in the Pilbara. "The Jimblebar installation offers the opportunity to more fully integrate autonomy with the mining operation and, in turn, to max- imize the value that autonomy can deliver," said mining solutions manager Dan Hellige. "Optimizing mining operations requires a systems approach." The introduction of the trucks at Jimblebar followed Caterpillar's agreement in 2012 with the third major player in the Pilbara, Fortescue Metals Group, to supply a complete MineStar system for Fortescue's Solomon project. An initial fleet of six 793F trucks is being built up to 45 by the end of 2015. At the time, Caterpillar noted that the Solomon project will be the first to use all of its MineStar system surface-mining capability sets, and will manage both manned and autonomous machines. Fortescue's CEO Nev Power added: "Autonomous haulage provides a highly efficient, productive and safe environment where it complements manned operations," he said. "It also provides new opportunities for people with different skill sets and enhances safety through collision-avoidance technology and through reduced interaction between heavy equipment and people in mining areas." Across at Meandu in Queensland, Hitachi's first foray into autonomous truck systems began last April with the start of the three-year trial using three EH5000- www.e-mj.com