RCT announces it is helping Metal X increase productivity and safety at its Nifty copper mine in Western Australia following its success with RCT’s technology at Renison Bell Tin Mine in Tasmania over the past two years. Two of Metal X’s new CAT R2900G loaders have been fitted with RCT’s ControlMaster® Teleremote and Guidance Automation solutions to ensure operators can oversee the machines from a safe distance.

In addition to this, RCT Bridge has been installed to effectively facilitate all automation functions. “RCT Bridge is the upgrade path to digitisation, converting clients’ analogue network signals to digital, enabling large volumes of information to be transmitted and received promptly. It is an essential requirement to support the latest autonomous features and delivers further value to the customer with minimal investment or the need to move to a full-scale digital network in the work area. It will be integrated to Nifty’s existing analogue network.”

Underground mining is currently carried out using open stoping methods and backfill. This is a bulk mining method where stopes (25 m wide, 25 to 50 m long and 40 to 60 m high) are drilled and blasted and copper ore is loaded and hauled into to an underground crusher and conveying system. The conveying system transports the copper ore to the surface for processing by conventional flotation techniques.