Nominations received today have included three from Rio Tinto:David George, Chief Advisor, Processing, Mineral Technology Services, Peter Chittleborough, Supervisor of the Mine of The Future™, Autonomous Haulage Deployment (AHD) team and Northparkes Mines Mechanical Engineer, Matthew Betts. It would be nice to see more mining companies recognising their people – three working days left for those nominations.
Betts has led the implementation of the automated LHD operation at Northparkes Mines working with Sandvik to deliver a robust and reliable system that is changing how Rio Tinto plans large underground block cave mines worldwide. This loader automation system (AutoMine) has improved safety for the underground production team by reducing exposure in the underground environment; improved utilisation of the loader fleet as the machines can operate continuously across shift change and improved maintenance as the machines are operated within their design envelope. According to Sandvik Mining, thanks to Matthew’s vision and leadership, Northparkes has the most advanced automated LHD system in the world. Also, a Robotic Idler change out system (RIC) was Matthew’s vision for the future of a common and ergonomically difficult task around maintaining conveyors: changing idlers.
Chittleborough “has been an incredible leader on all fronts when it has come to educating new people about the AHD. He has an amazing understanding of the system, which is second to none, he fully understands all its advantages and disadvantages, how to get the best from the system from an efficiency, safety and production point of view. He has always led by example and is greatly respected by those who work with him. Peter has pushed for change, encouraged, insisted professionalism, and always been willing to share his experiences and discoveries with his colleagues, and other stakeholders to improve their knowledge, the system and everyone’s working experience. Without him the AHS system would not be what it is today and would not have managed to achieve what it has.”
David George is nominated for his contribution to the Double-flash copper smelting technology. “This technology has revolutionised copper smelting; setting the standard for sulphur dioxide capture, improving safety by eliminating molten matte transfer, and reducing the labour required to produce copper. This technology is recognised by the US Environmental Protection Agency as the best available current technology (BACT) in copper smelting. The technology was developed by combining Outotec’s flash-smelting with the Kennecott Utah Copper (KUC) flash-converting intellectual property, to which David was an instrumental contributor.