“Whatever it takes!” were the words Remote Control Technologies’ Managing Director, Bob Muirhead, used to get his company to reduce its normal deployment lead time from 10 to just three weeks, to deliver a remote control solution to Bingham Canyon copper mine after the massive pit slope failure (see IM September, Modern open pits article). The mine knew it was coming thanks to its slope stability monitoring and prepared accordingly. However, while the clearing of the 128 million yd3 of rock and dirt was an unprecedented challenge for the mine, fortunately, it was achievable through technology developed by RCT and installed on the mine’s Cat dozers supplied by Wheeler Machinery.
What really emphasises the significance of the RCT achievement, however, was that the project was on the other side of the world, in Utah USA, from Western Australian based RCT.
The safety of the employees was of utmost importance to Kennecott Utah Copper, and dozer operators could not safely work in the disaster area. Remote control of their dozers was the logical option. RCT was able to design and manufacture three dozer remote interfaces and four remote kits to suit the Caterpillar D8T dozers used at the mine, together with spare remotes and support parts, prepare the necessary documentation and ship the equipment, all in a very short time frame.
“This is what we do,” said Phil Goode, Senior Business Development Manager, “we help our clients. Whether it is to solve a particular problem or to improve safety and efficiencies generally, we are quick to react with the right solution.”
Once on site, installation, commissioning and training were completed in three weeks by the two-man RCT team. The purpose of the training was to equip Wheeler and the mine’s dozer operators with the skills necessary to clear the landslide in the safest manner possible so they could resume normal mining operations and staff could get back to their work.
“It was easy to work with the RCT team, the implementation went seamlessly and they were keen to share their knowledge and experience during the training, making us feel confident with the operation of the equipment,” said Greg Evans (General Manager, Wheeler Construction and Mining Technology).