Autonomous mining truck fleets and pilot projects  continue to grow in Chile and Peru with Chile copper mining giant the latest to commit. Cat dealer Finning said in its just released Q1 2021 results that its South American operation have received a notice of award from Chilean state-owned copper mining company, Codelco, to deliver new trucks, product support, and an autonomous technology pilot to its mining operations in northern Chile.

The Finning statement said: “In South America, we are very pleased to build on our long-term relationship with Codelco to deliver and support the new Caterpillar ultra-class truck fleet at its Radomiro Tomic mine and pilot Caterpillar’s autonomous solution at the Ministro Hales mine.”

In more detail, the award from Codelco is to supply 22 Caterpillar 797F off-highway trucks to the Radomiro Tomic open pit copper mine and support the fleet under a 5-year maintenance and repair contract. Finning expects to start delivering the trucks in the second half of 2021.

It goes on: “In addition, we have secured a 5-year extension of our existing product support contract with Codelco’s Ministro Hales copper mine, which operates 39 Caterpillar ultra-class trucks, 6 Caterpillar shovels, and a fleet of Caterpillar support equipment. We will also work closely with Caterpillar and Codelco’s Ministro Hales Division to pilot Caterpillar’s AHS (Autonomous Haulage System) to enable autonomous operations at the Ministro Hales copper mine.”