AUTONOMOUS SURFACE MINING
AHS for the masses
In this extensive look at fleet automation in open pit mines , Paul Moore reviews how fleet autonomy is diversifying in scope into smaller trucks & ancillary vehicles but with an eye on keeping it economically viable
Autonomy in surface mining is changing and it is changing fast . Up until now , and still today , the market more or less 100 % consists of automation of large primary rigid haul truck fleets , working with either Caterpillar or Komatsu and their Command for Hauling or FrontRunner systems respectively , with a couple of exceptions – Hitachi Construction Machinery ( HCM ) having its system running at one site in Australia , and ASI Mining close to handing over its solution that it has supplied to Roy Hill via an overall mine contract with Epiroc .
These systems are by nature expensive , and increasingly require the latest network infrastructure such as 4G LTE to function efficiently , depend on controller input in certain situations , plus with the exception of the Roy Hill project still lock the user into a particular fleet management system – Cat AHS still requires the use of MineStar and Komatsu requires use of Modular . But they are very well proven and the benefits have been enormous both from a safety and efficiency point of view . And it isn ’ t just about a few first mover operations today – Caterpillar told IM it now has 540 autonomous mining trucks operating ( this is an increase of 40 % from 2020 ). This is across 23 sites and with 13 separate customers . Komatsu ’ s numbers are similar .
But there is also a second market for autonomy – mines want the benefits of autonomy for mixed fleets , for ancillary machines and for smaller machines . There are several reasons . Some big miners are looking at using larger fleets of smaller trucks to reduce maintenance and other costs , including for longer hauls and not restricting trucks to the pit itself ; while Bell B30E fitted with xtonomy AHS kit smaller miners and quarry operators want a more flexible and open solution . Of course the big make AI-based decisions , such as how to react to OEMs are working on this , and some details are an unknown obstacle themselves . This is given later , but a raft of new autonomy players happening in two ways – Cat and Komatsu are are working on it too – companies like Wenco already making updates to their systems to allow with Oxbotica , ABD Solutions , Steer , SafeAI , machines to react on the fly , while the new Pronto , xtonomy and Auto-mate . players are aiming to embed these capabilities ASI ’ s technology is also aimed at a more open from the outset . solution , an example being it forming part of
Then the elephant in the room is how to marry Liebherr ’ s open autonomy offer , which includes autonomy with the transition away from diesel . interoperable autonomy products for mixed fleet Again this is being worked on – mainly by the big applications . Hexagon technology , including its OEMs currently as they know they have to get autonomous mission management system , will there to make the zero emissions solutions work also be used in the mine automation options in the first place , accounting for battery charge offered by Liebherr to customers . management . Even autonomous trucking under
The market is also changing from level 4 trolley is something not yet achieved in the automation to level 5 – where no controller market . interaction is needed at all and where the trucks So the mining truck market is becoming more
Autonomous Cat 793 and Hitachi EH5000 trucks at Roy Hill mine running on ASI Mining system
56 International Mining | SEPTEMBER 2022