Today Newmont published its Beyond the Mine 2017 Sustainability Report. Part of this focussed on safety. “With large, heavy equipment and vast, complex facilities operating around the clock, the mining environment has many safety hazards. Through automation and other technologies, Newmont is working to reduce, or in some cases altogether eliminate, some of these safety risks by removing personnel from the so-called ‘line of fire.'”

“At our Northwest Exodus expansion project, which extends the mine life of Newmont’s underground Exodus mine in Nevada, we designed the expansion to accommodate autonomous muckers and stope drills. Instead of a sitting behind the controls of a mucker used to shovel and haul ore and rock through underground tunnels, operators will control the autonomous equipment remotely, reducing his or her risks related to interaction with large vehicles and equipment, dust exposure, noise, and injury from repeatedly entering and exiting the mucker.”

Autonomous stope drills – which are used to drill blast holes in underground stopes, or areas where ore is extracted – will improve safety by moving the drill operator into an enclosed cab. The operation of drill rods will also be automated, eliminating the injury risks associated with moving the rods manually. These drills are Atlas Copco (Epiroc) Simba machines. The automated muckers (LHDs) are supplied by Caterpillar through dealer Cashman and utilise its Command for Underground system, similar to that already used by Newmont at Leeville.

The company also gave a number of examples of other technologies and innovations supporting its safety goals:

• “Drones are now being used by some of our operations to conduct surveys and inspect blast zones, haul truck roads and mining infrastructure, such as piping that is located at height. We also use drones – along with autonomous dozers – to clean and maintain catch benches (ie the geometric benches in surface mines that play a crucial role in preventing rock falls from upper levels of the pit slope). At Mt Leyshon – one of our decommissioned mines in Australia – a drone was used to conduct environmental sampling of the pit lake. This was the first time since 2011 that sampling could be done due to safety issues with accessing the lake by boat.”
• “At a number of our operations, we use advanced, real-time tyre pressure monitoring systems that have not only improved tyre life and provided immediate alerts when tyre temperatures rise to dangerous levels, they also eliminated the need for someone to manually run this test in close proximity to the truck.”
• “Long Canyon’s leach crew in Nevada developed a system that not only speeds up the process for laying leaching solution lines on new leach pad production cells, it also eliminates the need for someone to pull the line while walking across the pad. Crews no longer have to walk on uneven ground, and the system is especially beneficial on outer slopes and in the winter when snow conceals ground conditions.”