McKinsey estimates that by 2035, the age of smart mining achieved through autonomous mining using data analysis and digital technologies like artificial intelligence will save between $290 billion and $390billion annually for mineral raw materials producers. As mines are becoming more interconnected, it has driven automation and digitalisation of key process controls.
Mining companies are increasingly turning to autonomous haulage systems to improve efficiency and productivity while increasing safety and sustainability. Historically, the mining industry lagged in the application of technology owing to the long lead times required to develop and commercialize new equipment in mining.
Global Road Technology has stepped up to the autonomous mining task at hand. Through continuous innovation and re-imagining mining, we have introduced GRT SMART Dosing Units for our dust suppression systems. We seek to improve mine productivity whilst saving lives from dust generated from pit to port activities. The automated dosing units are the key hardware component of GRT’s industry-leading dust suppression systems for autonomous mines offering the most effective haul road management and dust control. As enablers of autonomous mining operations in automated operating zones, our dosing units allow more efficient use of resources in the smart approach to autonomous mining.
Mines that seamlessly run on smart and intelligent mining technologies via an ecosystem of interoperable autonomous operations and programs are known as autonomous mines. Autonomous means a very controlled process that is all about reducing variability and making everything work as it should. Original equipment manufacturers provide autonomous mines with solutions that are used by the mining workforce operating remotely from the integrated operations remote center. The critical success factors to autonomous mines include:
Since the 1960s, there has been exponential progress in the automation of mining systems Chronologically, mine automation progress can be categorized into three stages. Stage one saw the deployment of the first unmanned mining rail carriages at General Blumenthal mine, Germany, in 1967. This was followed by the introduction of remote-controlled underground machines in the mid-1970s, and the final stage saw the introduction of remote-operated load and haul machines for surface mines in the mid-1990s. Currently, some major mining processes including drilling, excavation, hauling, crushing and milling, have been automated and teleoperated from centralized locations.
The target operations of autonomous mines utilize smart and intelligent mining technologies via an ecosystem of various autonomous operations and programs. The following table gives a representation of autonomous mine operations and their key points:
| Mine operation | Key points |
| Acquire/Explore | Autonomous mining as an investor pull-in factor |
| Design | Mine design with zero entry in mind |
| Plan/Engineering | Live mine planning |
| Development | Autonomous drones |
| Drill | Autonomous drilling systems |
| Blast | Autonomous blasting systems |
| Load/Haul | Autonomous excavators, autonomous mining trucks, autonomous shovels, autonomous wheel loader, autonomous water trucks, autonomous bulldozers, payload management systems, GRT SMART dosing units |
| Bulk Sorting | Autonomous conveyor systems, autonomous straddle carriers |
| Mine Tailings | Autonomous mine tailing dam monitoring systems |
| Rail | Autonomous road trains |
| Port | Autonomous ship loaders |
Central to the vision of autonomous mines and the concept of autonomy are mines that fundamentally change the way they operate:
From –
To –
Work from Daniel Sager in literature research from various sources resulted in the six pillars of autonomous mining technology. They are the main ingredients and all of them are very important.
Data – IT-OT data integration (on-premise and cloud) for company-wide access to data, interoperability and connection of operation systems with business planning.
Connectivity – IIoT, integrated platforms, wireless communication as a communication and navigation backbone for all autonomous equipment.
Decision making – Analytics, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence to leverage group-wide data, create insights and improve capabilities of autonomous operations.
Remote operation centres – Managing and actively controlling plant automation systems, fleet management systems, and remote-controlled machines.
Digitally enabled workforce – Wearables, tablets, and mobile to receive insights and provide real-time status updates.
Cyber security – Defense-in-depth-strategy suitable for Industry 4.0 control and business information system architecture.
There are several companies across the world that run autonomous mines although bulk of these autonomous mines are in Australia. The following companies run autonomous mines:
Autonomous mine haul trucks, also known as driverless or robot haul trucks, have gained a lot of popularity in recent years. In the 2020/2021 mining calendar there were 855 autonomous mining trucks in the mining industry. Given in the table below companies driving the autonomy, their fleet management systems and the number of autonomous mining trucks:
| Autonomy | Fleet management system | Number of trucks |
| CAT | MineStar | 97 |
| CAT | MineStar | 70 |
| Komatsu | Dispatch | 20 |
| ASI | Mobius | 15 |
| CAT | MineStar | 183 |
| ASI | Mobius | 77 |
| CAT | MineStar | 5 |
| Komatsu | Dispatch | 179 |
| Komatsu | Dispatch | 46 |
| Komatsu | Dispatch | 11 |
| CAT | MineStar | 10 |
| CAT | MineStar | 60 |
| Hitachi | Wenco | 6 |
| CAT | MineStar | 30 |
| Hitachi | Wenco | 41 |
| Komatsu | MineStar | 5 |
There are several documented benefits of autonomous mining in different mines around the world and some of them include:
Ineffective haul road maintenance will result in slow or stop events of the Autonomous Mining Trucks (AMT). To improve the haul road maintenance, we first need to look at the contributing factors to these slow or stop events:
With the increase in autonomous mining operations, GRT approaches autonomous mining dust suppression as key to the mine’s success. We at GRT believe that Dust suppression systems must evolve to meet the needs of autonomous mining applications.
Global Road Technology recently introduced GRT SMART Dosing Units as part of our shift to autonomy. Designed and assembled by GRT’s engineers, these Australian Made SMART Dosing Units consist of a central control & communication module combined with electrical and mechanical hardware that provides the ability to remotely control and automate product dosage, error detection, flow rates, and more.
These Australian made dosing units are the core of our dust suppression system in delivering innovative solutions to our mining clientele. Hence it is important for us to understand autonomous mines in delivering our dust suppression systems as a progressive step in autonomous operating zones. They allow mines to capture and use robust data to improve your water cart fleet management while cost-effectively eliminating dust.
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