Although progress has been slow, mining automation has been a long-term trend in the mining industry. Proponents argue that automation of vehicles, RIGS, and mineral processing can increase efficiency and productivity, improve safety, and reduce overall costs. While these claims are not untrue, automation may not have transformed the mining industry as much as its advocates hoped, as it remains a traditional industry focused on labour-intensive processes.
But mining companies, which typically have little control over the revenue side of their operations, are increasingly recognising the importance of automation as mines move deeper and lower in grade. The uncertainty of the global economy caused by the global commodity crisis in 2014-2015 and the COVID-19 pandemic reflected the vulnerability of the mining industry. Participants should pay more attention to automation to better control the three major costs of wages, energy consumption and materials, while improving productivity to guarantee supply.
Mining analysts at EY noted that mining companies that were already using automated and remotely operated centres before 2020 fared better during the pandemic. Companies are clearly not going to ignore this result; All mining companies plan to increase investment in digitization and automation, with robotic process automation a top priority, according to a recent Ernst & Young survey. In fact, digital and innovation dropped from number one in 2018 to number seven in 2022 on EY's risk list as acceptance increased, raising the question of whether the age of automation has finally arrived.
Large scale development
Industry leaders in automation adoption, backed by large capital expenditure budgets, include Rio Tinto Group, Vale, BHP Billiton and Anglo American, which have invested in driverless trains, trucks and conveyor belt systems. Now, other mining companies are rapidly moving forward with plans to automate mining and operate remotely.
Chile's state-owned copper miner, Chile National Copper, is a case in point. The company has been operating Komatsu 930E driverless trucks at its Gaby mine since 2008 and will introduce Sandvik Mine and Rock Solutions' Toro TH663i trucks and LH514 scrapers this year -- part of a $43 million order from the company, For a massive expansion of the El Teniente underground copper mine in Chile. Chile's National Copper will also deploy Sandvik's AutoMine Fleet Dispatch system, a remote operations management system that will share underground loaders and trucks within the same automated production area. When the expansion is completed in 2023, the mine will be producing about 500,000 tonnes of copper a year, making it one of the world's top five copper miners.
From 2023 to 2027, Sandvik will provide additional trucks and scrapers to be incorporated into the AutoMine Fleet system. Meanwhile, Chile's national Copper industry is applying automation to drilling platforms with perforated RIGS at mines such as Andina, Radomiro and Gaby, which is expected to be completed by mid-2022.
Improve workflow through automation
Chile's National Copper industry is automating the upgrading of its vast mining assets in an effort to improve production efficiency, reduce the cost of mining older mines and extend mine life.
With the continuous accumulation of operating time of driverless technology, mining enterprises' investment confidence is also increasing. Caterpillar said in May 2021 that its driverless mine cards had cumulatively shipped more than 3 billion tons of ore through the Cat MineStar Command dispatching system. Technavio reports that the global mining trucks market is expected to grow steadily by USD 991.95 million (CAGR 4.86%) between 2020 and 2025.
Mining companies are also choosing cheaper ways to upgrade mining areas according to local conditions. At the end of 2021, China Jiangtong Group signed an agreement with Tage Zhixing to transform Komatsu electric mining cards in service without human transformation. The revamped card will be able to work in tandem with the mine's other manned machines, such as Komatsu P&H 2300XPC electric shovel and Komatsu bulldozer for production operations, Tage said.
BHP also announced in January a driverless upgrade of its $3.6 billion Pilbara South 7.5% iron ore deposit in Western Australia, with five driverless operations phased in. The project will begin in June 2022 and is expected to complete the unmanned upgrading of 41 Komatsu 930E mine cards and about 180 mining machinery and auxiliary equipment including excavators, bulldozers, front-end loaders, sprinklers and field vehicles by September 2023 for the entire mine card fleet.
At the same time, Rio Tinto is working to automate all aspects of production at its Gudai-Darri iron mine, also in the Pilbara, making it the most advanced mine in the world. In addition to the driverless transport fleet, the mine is expected to introduce the world's first driverless sprinkler and automated drilling system.
Mining automation challenges
Despite the increase in mining automation projects, achieving automation remains challenging, not least because it faces strong opposition from unions, which see the move as a threat to jobs. The transformation also requires significant investment, planning and staff training, which is a challenge that major mining companies will need to address.
Resolute Mining's Syama underground gold mine in Mali, however, has bucked that trend and provided a blueprint for other mining companies to follow, with a fully unmanned operation that includes automated drilling, loading and unloading, transportation and truck navigation.
Advice, guidance and standards on how to make this major shift are emerging to inform mining companies as they attempt to upgrade. For example, the Global Mining Steering Group (GMG) has released a white paper titled "System Safety in Unmanned Mining", which aims to provide a general opinion on the "system safety approach" for mining enterprises to deploy and use unmanned mining systems.
Currently, next-generation networks such as 5G, which support high-speed connectivity, the use of millions of devices in one area, and the ability to deploy secure private networks anywhere, will further support the deployment of driverless vehicles in mining areas. Chile's national copper industry has already piloted 5G technology, but still needs to reduce costs and provide more solid use cases for the technology.
This may be why, according to digital solutions company Axora in its latest Innovation Forecast report, key players in the mining industry believe the industry has not fully embraced innovation so far. However, it believes the COVID-19 outbreak may change that attitude. Of the 150 senior industry leaders surveyed, 99 per cent said upgrading technology was the only way to ensure the survival of their organisations.
Due to the uncertainty caused by the pandemic, the metals and mining industry needs to improve operational efficiency across the value chain while reducing expenditure, which can only be solved through digital transformation. As the green energy transition drives demand for resources such as copper, lithium and cobalt, digitization can help companies make the most of the next supercycle.
