Anglo American in Peru’s first Caterpillar 794 AC autonomous mining trucks using Command for hauling are now up and running in tests at the advanced development Quellaveco copper mine in the Moquegua region, with the company stating: “We have achieved a new milestone for Peru, we will be the first mine with a fleet of autonomous trucks. Guided by our values, we reimagine mining to improve people’s lives, focusing on taking care of the health and safety of our equipment through automation.” But it also ticks other boxes – not only is it the first AHS fleet in Peru – it is also Caterpillar’s first 794 AC autonomous truck fleet, as well as Anglo American’s first autonomous truck fleet worldwide.

As reported by IM back in October 2019, the Caterpillar 297 t 794 AC truck fleet has been supplied by Cat dealer in Peru Ferreyros via a staged introduction as the project gathers momentum to first production in 2022 – the mine will produce 330,000 t of copper a year for the first five years. It was planned that seven trucks would run automated in the South pit with the North pit initially running driver operated trucks. The latest images show there are now at least eight 794 AC units onsite. The autonomous ramp up plans was to see the full fleet of 30 trucks automated by October 2022. The trucks will ultimately be loaded by the mine’s three 7495 Cat rope shovels as well as a Cat 6060 hydraulic shovel. Anglo is also deploying autonomous blasthole drills at Quellaveco in the form of Epiroc Pit Viper 351 and SmartROC D65 drill rigs.