Pass the manual, miners going high-tech with automatic systems drive

Major miners gear up as the push to greater automation gains traction in the resources sector.

IN a key early scene of James Cameron’s hit movie Avatar, huge mining trucks return worse for wear from their operations in jungles seething with hostile blue-skinned natives on the planet Pandora, which holds vast reserves of the energy rich mineral unobtainium.

While fly-in, fly-out mercenary soldiers to protect truck drivers and excavator operators might not be needed in Western Australia, many of the difficulties of such a remote interplanetary workplace would be familiar to miners based here.

However the writers of this science fiction film about the battle between indigenous people and a mining corporation largely missed one of the most important lessons that this genre can offer us – that mining’s future lies in increasing automation especially in big projects located in remote and inhospitable places.

Faced with challenges such as labour shortages and environmental extremes, mining companies are following other industries in using technology to overcome the limitations created by humans.

In the resources world, danger and depth have long driven the oil and gas industry towards operating remote vehicle and autonomous platforms.

Until the last few years, however, mining has been reliant on humans at nearly every level.

Blessed with some of the world’s richest iron ore deposits in its sparsely populated and isolated Pilbara region, Western Australia is becoming a proving ground and potentially a centre of excellence for the development of autonomous mining techniques.

Global giant Rio Tinto started the trend locally by establishing its Operations Centre at the Perth Airport in 2009 as part of its Mine of the Future strategy. That trial has been successful and it now plans to expand these operations in the Pilbara after signing a deal late last year to buy at least 150 driverless trucks from leading manufacturer, Komatsu, over the next four years.

Now, others are contesting Rio Tinto’s local lead.

BHP Billiton has announced its IROC (Integrated Remote Operations Centre) project, understood to have been dubbed ‘Elvis’, which is thought to be taking up space in its new Perth headquarters.

BHP backdates its IROC plan to 2008 with the commissioning of its 1st Generation Rail and Port Operations Centre in Port Hedland, but in documents released after a September analyst briefing it said it planned to go live with IROC in December this year and have full deployment in early 2013.

It explains IROC as offering full visibility across the supply chain, from mine to customer.

BHP is currently trialling autonomous Caterpillar haul trucks at a mine in the US. Caterpillar claims to have demonstrated the first autonomous truck in the mid-1990s.

Fortescue Metals Group is also in the race.

In July last year it announced a deal with the Kerry Stokes-controlled Westrac Caterpillar franchise to have 45 automated trucks operating on its Solomon project by 2015.

At the announcement, FMG CEO Nev Power pointed out that the company was already a big innovator in the operational field, having started out with surface miners – an adaptation of road building technology – which were unproven in iron ore.

“It is how we started in this business, through different exploration and mining practices,” Mr Power said in a statement.

“One of the key challenges we face is around availability of people and the need to best utilise this valuable resource.”

Hancock Prospecting is also understood to be looking at a high level of automation in its plant and equipment at the Roy Hill project.

Outside of WA, a host of other players are using automation in different forms. Codelco Chile’s El Teniente underground copper mine is a leader with a mixture of remote-controlled and autonomous vehicles – with one person operating three load haul dump trucks. In Sweden, LKAB’s Kiruna iron ore mine, located well above the Arctic Circle, has used driverless trains for decades and has a mixture of other autonomous and remote operations.

The mining drive to automation is driving a whole new sub-sector of the mining services field with a range of consultants and equipment suppliers looking for an opportunity to participate (see story this page).

IT consultancy Velrada CEO Rob Evans said that the market was swiftly moving in the direction of autonomous operations.

“If you started up a greenfields operation you would not do anything else because of the cost of doing things,” he said.

“At the operational level the big plant and equipment manufacturers are all geared up for that.

“You are already paying for it.”

This is especially the case at the big end of mining where others advising the sector say the real commitment to autonomy is taking place.

One player pointed out that Komatsu’s automation is exclusively in a haul track model with a 300-tonne payload, a vehicle size that was suited to large operations typically operated by the more mature mining houses.

While the people shortage is the key issue driving this investment, there are several other benefits in automation. A report by BAEconomics for Rio Tinto published recently highlights that ancillary human resources factors such as safety also benefit, as does the environment by reducing human activity and mistakes. Furthermore, automation leads to more predictable operations, increasing efficiencies.

Of course it is not all a smooth transition.

Automation brings its own problems. At an operational level, for instance, predictability is not always a good thing. Rio Tinto has found its driverless trucks so precise their lack of deviation from an assigned route meant massive wheel ruts created problems on the mine site – prompting a need to build in an error factor.

Automation can also lead to complacency, reduced situational awareness and operator boredom, which in turn can increase some risks.

There is also the fact that not everyone wants change, especially workers who feel threatened by the introduction of technology that might do away with their jobs.

At a transitional stage, employees may have significant bargaining power, which increases the cost of introducing new technology. There is also the issue of poor operator acceptance, which may mean the full benefit of automated machinery is missed.