Chile’s copper mining major Codelco has the distinction of the longest running autonomous mining truck fleet, consisting of 930E-AT haulers at Gabriela Mistral (Gaby) that have been operating since 2008. Now the company is taking its AHS program into a new phase – four new Caterpillar AHS trucks are being deployed at Division Ministro Hales (DMH), working with Cat dealer Finning, while another four AHS trucks, but this time from Komatsu, will be deployed at the Radomiro Tomic operation.

Both divisions are currently fine-tuning engineering for the start of tests in 2022. The AHS truck types have not yet been specified but both mines are currently mainly using conventionally operated 320 ton and 400 ton class trucks including Cat 797, Liebherr T282 and Komatsu 930E models. “We will have two of the largest providers running, in parallel, autonomous truck pilots that will operate on an LTE network in these divisions, which brings important benefits in quality and coverage,” said José Ramón Abatte, Codelco Manager of Technology and Automation Projects.

Automation is also being applied on blasthole drill rigs at the Andina mine, which will operate in higher rockfall risk highwall areas. Radomiro and Gaby are also set to automate electric blasthole drills. These projects are to get up and running in mid-2022. Lastly, looking at underground autonomy, after successful industrial pilots, autonomous LHDs are currently operating in Chuqui Subte and in different mines at El Teniente, where Codelco also operates autonomous underground trucks and autonomous trains that transport ore from inside the mine.