Editor's Note: The following story is one of the features in AUVSI's new magazine, Mission Critical: Energy. For a look at the entire issue, click here.





Mine of the Future


Australian Mines Lead the World in Autonomous Mining

A Caterpillar truck outfitted with the company’s Proximity Awareness function, which tracks its location and the location of other trucks and obstacles. Photo courtesy Caterpillar.

By Kym Bergmann



Australia currently produces 40 percent of the world’s iron ore in an environment of increasing cost pressures on mining companies. This is a huge business — last year Australia exported 120 million tons of iron ore. The spot price fluctuates, but at an average of $150 per ton, this works out to $18 billion per year. So if companies can improve productivity even by a few percent, this translates into significant amounts of cash.



For this reason, Australian companies have been moving toward the use of autonomous mining equipment and systems for several years. The current leader is Rio Tinto, which has been investing heavily in the use of automated trucks, trains and drilling rigs. Rio has even gone so far as trademarking their “Mine of the Future” concept. After showing little public interest in moving down this path, Australia’s other major miner, BHP Billiton, is now also looking at similar technologies.



One of the principal elements of Mine of the Future is the use of Komatsu’s 930E FrontRunner series of trucks, with each one able to carry around 300 tons of ore. The vehicles have a diesel-electric drive, where — similar to a locomotive — a generator produces DC current that powers individual propulsion motors. This concept has existed for some time and, for example, was used in Germany’s World War II Ferdinand heavy assault guns.



FrontRunner is the brand name for the autonomous version of these trucks, five of which initially were being operated at Rio’s West Angelas mine in the East Pilbara region of Western Australia from 2008. Now the company has ordered an additional 150 units. The vehicles are controlled remotely on site and use a combination of sensors — principally onboard radar and GPS. Komatsu has included other items of mining equipment, including a bulldozer, a grader and a hydraulic excavator.



Control of the equipment takes place through an on-site supervisory computer, though in future operations will be conducted even further away in Rio’s Perth-based operations center. Through a process of mapping the environment of the mine, a GPS-equipped truck is able to navigate its way to a loader, which is also equipped with GPS, and then transport the ore to a predetermined location. While moving around the site, vehicles maintain a programmed safe minimum distance between each other and the onboard radar presumably warns of any new objects — such as people — that unexpectedly appear. In the case of doubt, the vehicle stops.



Rio Tinto says that the trial is progressing and vehicles are now located at the Yandicoogina mine in Western Australia, which has a fleet of 10 Komatsu driverless haul trucks. The trucks are used for all haulage requirements in the Junction South East (JSE) pit, moving high-grade, low-grade and waste material from multiple loading units. According to the company, the 10 trucks have traveled a total of 1,076,000 kilometers since trials began in 2008. The trucks have moved more than 84 million tons of material since the start of the project and are running above plan at JSE.



The Australian site seems to be the first — and certainly the largest — successful use of aboveground autonomous mining equipment. An earlier trial in Chile with the Komatsu vehicles had some teething difficulties that now appear to have been overcome. In Sweden — a world leader in many aspects of mining technology — autonomous systems have been used for several years in a very deep underground mine near Kiruna, above the Arctic Circle.

The Cape Lambert Port Expansion Update at Rio Tinto’s iron ore mine in Pilbara, Australia. Photo by Christian Spragoe, courtesy Rio Tinto.

Cost Savings

The Rio Mine of the Future has the potential to radically change the structure of the industry by moving to more reliable, safer and ultimately cheaper autonomous technologies. Quantifying these benefits is difficult from the outside, and, given the competitive nature of the industry and union nervousness about potential job losses, the company presents information only in broad detail.



However, the savings look to be substantial if and when the use of autonomous technologies becomes widespread. For example, to operate a truck for a continuous 24-hour period for seven days a week, a minimum of four drivers is required. They need to be housed and fed in a very remote and, therefore, extremely expensive location. 



Once support staff are taken into account, it is easy to see how each truck might need up to 10 people to keep it in operation. Each person is on a salary in excess of $100,000 per year and each individual needs accommodation, regular air transport to and from the site, access to medical care and so on. An autonomous truck controlled from a major city such as Perth has the potential to dramatically reduce costs if used in sufficient numbers.



In addition, autonomous trucks are more efficient to operate when controlled by computers rather than fallible human drivers. Just as a car uses 10 percent less fuel when on cruise control, the same is true for heavy earth-moving equipment.

Another view of Rio Tinto’s Pilbara mine area. Photo by Christian Spragoe, courtesy Rio Tinto.

Other Companies’ Approaches

While Rio and Komatsu have made a lot of progress, BHP Billiton are now also stirring from their slumber. They have formed an alliance with Komatsu’s main competitor Caterpillar, which is also introducing an autonomous truck and potentially other systems as well. Caterpillar has a strong pedigree in this field and in 2007 performed well in test and trial activities organized by DARPA. BHP Billiton plans to trial up to 15 Caterpillar vehicles, also in the Pilbara, at its Jimblebar iron ore mine.



The Caterpillar vehicle, marketed under the Cat Mine-Star trademark, is said to be more autonomous than its Komatsu competitor and possesses more onboard features. Caterpillar states that the equipment in the series has a number of control modes, from remote to semiautonomous and, finally, autonomous. Like Rio, the BHP Billiton fleet will be controlled from a center in Perth. A third large Australian iron ore mining company, Fortescue Metal, is similarly making use of these trucks and has plans to expand their number — to the obvious concern of unions, which are keen to preserve jobs.



The Australian iron ore mining industry looks to be on the cusp of a major structural change, where autonomous systems will become the norm, rather than a curiosity. As cost pressures increase through additional taxation, wage growth, skills shortages, fluctuating ore prices and intense international competition, the rise of the machines looks inevitable. 



Some analysts have concluded that by the year 2030 all major mining activities — not just in Australia — will be autonomous.



Kym Bergmann is editor of Asia Pacific Defence Reporter and Defence Review Asia.