Sandvik’s underground automation system AutoMine® has been on the market since 2004 with the first installation at Codelco’s El Teniente underground copper mine in Chile where semi-autonomous loading was achieved in the Pipa Norte area. More than 15 years have passed since then, and today more than 65 mining companies around the world use AutoMine to improve mining productivity and safety with both trucks and LHDs. But in 2021, Russia has finally joined the list. The first enterprise to use the automation system is the Skalisty nickel-copper-PGM mine, part of PJSC MMC Norilsk Nickel.

The Skalisty mine is a fast growing mine at Nornickel’s Polar Division. Launched in 1986, the mine’s construction was implemented in phases. Its ore field includes the Talnakhskoye and Oktyabrskoye deposits and contains reserves of about 60 Mt of nickel-rich ore in approved projects. The mine’s current production capacity is 2.1 Mt/y of ore. With gradual ramp-up to the design capacity of 2.4 Mt/y, its reserves will last for about 40-45 years. Skalisty also has over 20 Mt of copper-rich ore as well as reserves of disseminated ore.

In 2019, Nornickel contacted Sandvik with a desire to test the AutoMine automation system on its underground dump trucks. The Skalisty mine was chosen as the testing ground. The company intended to test how efficiently the automation system would work in the difficult mining and geological conditions of the mine, and at the same time to make sure that the laid technological data transmission network would be able to ensure the proper signal quality.

The project was fully supported by Sandvik experts from Finland, who have extensive experience in running similar systems around the world. During preliminary testing, Sandvik teams went to site several times to test the truck’s performance. The main problem faced during the tests was the data network: when the truck was moving using the AutoMine system, there was no smooth switching from one Wi-Fi access point to another, and the truck often stopped. After several stages of testing, the network contractor was able to establish seamless roaming. From that point on, the network allowed the full potential of the AutoMine system to be realised.

Going foward, with greater planned automation rollout at Skalisty, Nornickel has already tested a private LTE/5G network in cooperation with Nokia, Ericsson, Huawei, MTS, and MegaFon. Tele2 Russia also provided frequencies for the pilot project. Skalisty is one of the deepest mines in Eurasia, and the testing was conducted at a a depth of 875 m using 1.8-2.6GHz frequencies for LTE and 28 MHz for 5G. The private LTE/5G technology has proved effective in ensuring robust and safe high-speed data transmission and communications in difficult mining conditions underground.

Having made sure that there are no more obstacles to modernisation, the management of Norilsk Nickel gave the go-ahead for the full-scale implementation of automation on two dump trucks. On the part of the customer, a project team was formed, headed by Andrey Nikolaevich Dyshlyuk. The project was supervised by Vladimir Alexandrovich Trapezin, Director for Automation and Information Transformation of Production of the Industrial Assets Department.

Norilsk Nickel chose the AutoMine Multi-Lite system, which allows simultaneous automation of several pieces of equipment. The two dump trucks automated are a Sandvik TH540 and a TH545i. The transport horizon -850 m of the Skalisty mine was chosen as the automation zone. The project includes six local ore passes loading ore into the body of the dump trucks, two capital ore passes intended for receiving ore and unloading trucks, as well as many kilometres of mine workings. The -850 m horizon is one of the main transport arteries of the mine, along which a large number of self-propelled equipment units and workers move during shifts.

After assessing the use of dump trucks over time, the mine proposed extending the operating time of the dump trucks by a two-hour interval, during blasting when people cannot be underground and therefore equipment is idle. However, AutoMine equipped dump trucks can continue to move freely along the transport horizon, performing an important production task of moving rock mass without downtime.

The AutoMine system was hooked up in four steps. First of all, the control room was equipped by installing a control panel and an operator’s chair in the building of the administrative and household complex. After that, modernisation kits were installed on the dump trucks, allowing their autonomous operation. The next, longest stage was the installation of about 20 safety barriers in the mine workings.

The final stage was the launch of the system into operation, which consisted of scanning workings, drawing up routes for movement and running in the dump trucks. This stage also took quite a long time, partly due to the fact that the dump trucks were available during the shift changes, which last a maximum of two hours. For each section of the development, it was required to drive the dump truck several times, testing the built route and adjusting it if necessary. Finnish colleagues at Sandvik have been arranging routes so that the dump truck does not touch the sides of the mine, correcting turning radii, and fixing stopping places under ore passes for loading and unloading ore. Since the production is constantly changing, some of the routes had to be changed during the rollout of the system.

“Today the system is fully functioning on two dump trucks, and we are already seeing positive dynamics, but time will show how much we manage to increase the utilisation rate of equipment and increase the volume of transported rock mass,” said Trapezin.

“The first step has been taken. Thanks to Norilsk Nickel’s experience, other companies will be able to appreciate the benefits of underground machinery automation,” said Dmitry Minaev, CIS Automation Director, Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions. “There is no doubt that the implementation of the AutoMine® system will have a positive effect not only on safety, but also on the efficiency of the existing equipment. We wish Norilsk Nickel success in operating the system at the Skalisty mine, and we invite all mining companies in the region to consider the possibility of its implementation at their facilities.”