Rio Tinto to step up automation in iron ore operations

<p>Rio Tinto plans to use more automation and remote control in its Pilbara iron ore operations.</p> <p>Chief executive Tom Albanese outlined today (Friday, January 18) his vision of the "mine of the future" that the company has begun working on:</p> <p>&#8226 Pilbara mine operations will be controlled from a new centre 1,300 miles away in Perth.</p> <p>&#8226 Driverless trains will carry iron ore on most of the 1,200 km of track this year </p> <p>&#8226 Driverless "intelligent" 320-tonne trucks will haul ore out of the mines and</p> <p>&#8226 Remote control "intelligent" drills will do the digging.</p> <p> "Rio Tinto is changing the face of mining," Mr Albanese said in Perth.</p> <p>"We have at least a three-year start on the rest of the industry, which has focused on discrete technologies rather than modernising the whole mine-to-port operation.</p> <p>"We’re aiming to be the global leaders in fully integrated, automated operations.</p> <p>"It will allow for more efficient operations and directly confront the escalating costs associated with basing employees at remote sites, giving us a competitive advantage as an employer along the way."</p> <p>Significant parts of the program are a partnership with the University of Sydney on mine automation formed last year and an alliance with Komatysu to develop and deploy autonomous haulage systems.</p> <p>Humans would no longer need to work "hands on" because all the new equipment would be "autonomous" &#8211 able to make decisions on what to do based on their environment and interaction with other machines &#8211 the company said.</p> <p>Operators will oversee the equipment from Perth, where more than 320 staff will be employed in the new centre.</p> <p>Autonomous drill technology is already in use.</p> <p>Mainline trials of driverless trains have been made with the Western Australian Office of Rail Safety and were ready to progress to the next stage.</p> <br />