Rio Tinto, under the leadership of Danie Burger, its Chief Advisor, Underground Technology, working with Dan Mead, Principal Advisor, Technical Productivity, is one of the global miners taking real and concerted action with collision avoidance technology outside of the activity legislated in South Africa recently.
The current journey of its CAS program commenced in 2020 when Rio Tinto developed and implemented its Underground Mobile Equipment Strategy. This strategy primarily focused on three critical safety areas: eliminating vehicle interactions with personnel, reducing diesel particulates, and minimising underground mobile equipment fires. An extensive Vehicle Interaction Control Effectiveness (VICE) assessment was carried out across all underground mine sites, revealing that each site would require some form of Engineering Controls in the shape of Vehicle Intervention Technology Solutions (VITS) to mitigate these incidents.
In 2021, a thorough market assessment was conducted, featuring benchmark discussions and site visits, to identify suitable and proven technology solutions that would effectively address the gaps in controls highlighted during the VICE assessments. At the close of August 2022, a decision was made to initiate a dedicated Research and Development project aimed at validating these systems within one of Rio Tinto’s underground operations, namely Kennecott Underground copper mine in Utah.
As part of this initiative, Nerospec SK’s NeroHUB – an agnostic Vehicle Intervention Controller (VIC) – would be installed on three different types of vehicles. Eric Pohlmann, CEO of Nerospec SK, remarked to IM: “In addition to enabling any mining vehicle to automatically halt during critical proximity events, the system also offers the advantage of having an onboard black box flight recorder that logs and transmits fleet information.”
Over a two-month period in 2023, each vehicle type was individually connected and tested with three different Proximity Detection System (PDS) vendors. This rigorous evaluation examined a diverse range of potential interaction scenarios relevant to Kennecott Underground, with systems assessed for their performance against these scenarios. The findings and observations were compiled into a comprehensive report, supported by video documentation. Nerospec spearheaded the testing in collaboration with Rio Tinto, ultimately leading to the selection of PBE Axell’s PDS system. PBE Axell is part of PBE Group.
The decisive factor was the detection reliability of the indication signal, as other PDS systems exhibited inconsistencies that caused vehicles to slow down and speed up unpredictably, or to stop momentarily before resuming movement. Such erratic behaviour is precisely what mining operations seek to eliminate; in the context of a Collision Avoidance System (CAS), consistency is paramount.
Following this successful testing phase, the Collision Avoidance System (CAS) project is currently advancing through its deployment phases at both the Kennecott Underground Operation in the USA and the Oyu Tolgoi copper mine in Mongolia, one of the world’s most significant block caving operations. As of November 2024, approximately 15 vehicles at Kennecott had been equipped with a full CAS, while Oyu Tolgoi was awaiting the delivery of installation test kits, with full installation expected to commence in 2025.
The rollout strategy prioritises installations into three distinct groups. The highest priority vehicles, including loaders and trucks – along with battery electric vehicles – are being equipped first. A subsequent group of over 50 medium-priority machines is slated to begin installation by the end of 2024. Overall, the CAS project aims to integrate around 120 vehicles at Kennecott and more than 450 at Oyu Tolgoi, and it represents a comprehensive approach to enhancing safety and operational efficiency at the operations. The diverse fleet encompasses Sandvik battery electric vehicles, conventional diesel primary equipment from Sandvik and Epiroc, and a variety of utility and ancillary machines from manufacturers such as Normet, as well as several light vehicles.
Back to the PDS provider, and Jason Stout, PBE Axell VP Corporate Development told IM: “Reliability, accuracy and interoperability is critical to any CAS solution and PBE’s global success is based on these factors, through EMESRT Levels 1-9. With a low cost of ownership, ‘PAS’, PBE’s CAS solution can be reconfigured to suite any vehicle types. Through the extensive testing program that Rio Tinto committed to, in operational environments, PBE was able to prove that the solution is industry leading and excelled against these fundamental requirements. In addition, the extended suite of technologies and offering such as Vehicle Test Station, Tag Issuing Station and a software solution that allows for accurate reporting and control of worksites, PAS was able to highlight the full value of a mine wide total solution. In addition, PBE can take full ownership of the solution during vehicle design, installation, commissioning and ongoing maintenance with our own on-site teams, 24×7, 365 days a year.”
He added: “What Level 9 EMESRT adaptation has provided is the emergence of a minimal number of credible solutions in a market that was initially driven by simply providing some form of protection to meet regulation. Over the 10 years that PBE’s PAS solution has been developed, the focus was always on maximum protection for seamless operation above and below ground, and Level 9 was at the forefront of our design. Our product was accepted by Rio Tinto due to our Level 9 performance and the fundamental requirements of reliability, accuracy, interoperability with no nuisance alarms in any mining environment with any type of vehicle or asset.”