All posts by Paul Moore

Valmet signs a two-year tailings filter cloths deal with Karara Mining

Mineral processing, Mining consumables, Mining services, Steel and iron ore, Water management

Valmet and Karara Mining Ltd have signed a two-year service agreement for the delivery of filter cloths for tailings filtration to Karara’s mine in Western Australia. The agreement is effective as of November 1, 2022. The statement says the agreement ensures that Karara Mining has filter cloths for tailings filtration always available and provides support in maximizing the reliability of the process.

“We have been cooperating with Valmet for years and have run several trials with their cloths. We trust their product quality, expertise, and excellent customer service. Tailings management today is at the core of our operations. In order to be sustainable in the mining sector, there are no compromises in respect to tailings,” says Gavin Kelly, Production Manager atKarara Mining.

“It has been a privilege to work closely with Karara to find the right filter cloths for their process. With Valmet Press Filter Fabrics, both the cloth lifetime and the productivity of their tailings plant have increased significantly. I’m happy to see that we have been able to support Karara in reaching their sustainability targets,” says Michael Murphy, Product Sales Manager, Australia, Asia Pacific, Valmet.

In addition to a continuous stock holding of Valmet Press Filter Fabrics in Perth corresponding to a four months’ usage, the agreement includes regular technical, R&D and continuous improvement service site visits by a Valmet filtration expert. There is also potential for including Smart Cloth Monitoring – a Valmet Industrial Internet application – to optimise filtration performance.

Karara is the largest mining operation and the first major magnetite mine in the Mid-West region of Western Australia. It produces a premium, high-grade concentrate product for export to steelmakers at a design production rate of 8 Mt/y. The operation includes a large open pit mine, complex ore processing, beneficiation plant, significant infrastructure and logistics networks.

Saudi Arabia – a hub for regional mining growth & sustainability

Base metals, Careers in mining, Communications in mining, Energy minerals, Environmental, High tech minerals, Industrial minerals, Mineral commodities, Mineral exploration, Mineral processing, Mineral project development, Mining events, Mining finance, Mining people, Mining policy, Mining services, Precious metals, Steel and iron ore, Sustainable mining, Water management

The 2023 Future Minerals Forum will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from 10-12 January, including a Ministerial Roundtable, followed by the Forum and Exhibition itself. The International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) President & CEO Rohitesh Dhawan spoke and participated at the first Forum in 2022 and will do so again at this second event. But what is Dhawan’s view of the progress made in Saudi Arabia and where the focus for the future needs to be? IM had the chance to have an in-depth interview recently with Dhawan to answer these and other questions.

Q How do you see Saudi’s new approach to mining and its importance for the region? What role is the Future Minerals Forum playing in this? 

Saudi Arabia has been thinking about mining becoming a much greater part of its economy for some time, and I am pleased to see that principles of sustainable and responsible mining are front and centre of that. Clearly with the 2022 Future of Minerals Forum and the imminent 2023 event there is fresh interest today. Their Vision 2030 is also not just a Saudi project, it is a regional project – and that is reflected in the broad participation of Ministers and business leaders from the region. At the 2022 Future Minerals Forum Ministerial Round Table there were 32 Ministers and Ambassadors from around the region present, and in 2023 there will be even more – over 50 at last count. This shows that it is a regional move for the Middle East and North and East Africa in particular. The Future Minerals Forum itself is a valuable gathering to bring governments, mining operators and others together to have high level conversations – if you think about it, the oil and gas industry has OPEC and several other forums where it comes together – mining has not really had that with significant ministerial and industry leadership level participation before, and for the MENA region and to some extent the wider world, it is now performing that function. The most important outcome from this is a shared commitment to the development of a responsible and sustainable mining industry that meets the needs of all stakeholders and leaves no one behind.

Rohitesh Dhawan, ICMM President and Chief Executive Officer

Q Why is this region important for mining development and mining best practice from an ICMM perspective? 

I would not be surprised if Saudi became a hub for all things mining related in this part of the world. That is attracting increased exploration dollars and other investments, particularly downstream. It is worth remembering that while the Middle East and North Africa, often referred to as MENA, represents about 23% of the global landmass and geologically rich and diverse, it only accounts for about 6% of global mineral exploration spending. Yet its mineral reserves are already estimated at over $1.6 trillion. This untapped potential is not just an attractive commercial proposition, but it provides a unique opportunity to make giant leaps in sustainable and responsible mining practices. Saudi Arabia and everyone who participates in its mining industry has the chance – and I would even go as far as to say the responsibility – to look at every sustainability challenge in the mining industry with a fresh set of eyes, and apply the same ambition and entrepreneurial spirit as on commercial aspects to those challenges, to find solutions that can be globally scaled. In that regard, I am very pleased that Saudi Arabia’s leaders have been proactive in reaching out to us quite early in their journey of thinking through how they want to build their mining industry.

Q What issues are important to the Saudi government when it comes the impact of mining and the right way to mine? How can the ICMM help? 

I have been really encouraged and impressed on the level of detail that both the Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources, His Excellency Bandar Al-Khorayef, and Vice Minister of Mining Affairs, His Excellency Khalid Saleh Al-Mudaifer, have spoken of on various occasions on the issues they are focussing on. To give one example – water. As you know, MENA is a water stressed region; and mining and processing of metals is water intensive, so Saudi Arabia needs to think very carefully about how it and its neighbours will manage already stretched water resources. The aspects of the new Saudi mining law that relate to water are actually drawn from the ICMM guidance on water which was updated extensively in 2021. This is an example of industry-led guidance that is being adapted appropriately into a national context by the Saudi government. Similarly, I have had lengthy discussions with the Ministry about how they align with other principles that are of major importance to our ICMM member companies. A good example is the managing of the relocation of local communities – and this is something we know from these talks that the Saudi government has already thought deeply about itself. These are just two examples of areas where we are working together on a substantive basis. Our interest from an ICMM point of view is quite straightforward – we want to raise the ESG standards of mining wherever it takes place. Saudi is still at quite an early stage of what looks like becoming quite an important mining jurisdiction. The closer our collaboration and cooperation with Saudi Arabia at this stage can be, can help ensure that best practices, both those that we have to share and that they may already have and that we at ICMM can learn from, that these then become the foundation of their industry. It is much easier to do it now than to try and ‘retrofit’ it once mining takes off in a big way.

His Excellency Bandar Al-Khorayef (right), Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources and His Excellency Khalid Saleh Al-Mudaifer (left), Vice Minister for Mining Affairs

Q What direct experience have you had of the Saudi mining industry?  

At the last Future Minerals Forum I had the opportunity to visit Ras al-Khair, known as the Minerals City, which is being built by the national mining company Ma’aden in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia on the coast, about 60 km north of Jubail. It has one of the world’s largest phosphate plants, one of the world’s largest integrated aluminium smelters plus already has a world class hybrid gas-fired power and desalination plant. That gave me an opportunity to see for myself what is happening on the ground in Saudi. Plus when NEOM and other Red Sea developments are up and running, these could potentially give Saudi Arabia new bases into which it can attract international companies who subscribe to high sustainability standards. I also spent a lot of time at the last Forum with the executive team at Ma’aden, including the CEO, hearing their views on sustainability in mining and sharing with them our key principles.

Q How are you working with Saudi Arabia’s mine operators and government on ESG and can you give any examples? 

I was pleased to hear Bob Wilt announce last month in London that Ma’aden is applying to join ICMM. Irrespective of that, I’ve been encouraged to hear the company’s leaders state numerous times in its Sustainability Reports and elsewhere, that it has adopted these principles throughout its operations and adopted them as the foundation of Ma’aden’s Sustainability Strategic Direction, under Ma’aden’s Strategy 2025. Areas we have discussed with them in detail include responsible mine closure, where they are very keen to get ahead on that from a financial, social and environmental point of view. We also have talked about water resources and their management, just as we have with the Ministry. The Minister and Vice Minister have both said that their approach to sustainability is to go beyond compliance which is very encouraging. One topic they want to look at is how to best measure the social and economic benefits that are generated from mining – where up until recently there was no consistent set of metrics to use. If I say to you I am going to mine and create 5,000 jobs, there was no consistent way to define if those are full or part time jobs or if they are permanent or temporary contracts and how those benefits flow to different people, particularly under-represented groups. In May 2022, the ICMM published a new Social and Economic Reporting Framework which was two years in the making and commits members to report against a set of social and economic indicators, empowering stakeholders such as communities, governments, and investors to assess the contribution of mining to social and economic development more easily. I have been encouraged by my discussions with the Saudi Ministry as to whether this could also form the basis of a Saudi framework for what would be expected of mining companies operating in the country. Localisation is an important part of their push – to ensure that it is local communities that are getting the major benefits in the areas where mines are located. The framework will help put the metrics in place to know if that is actually happening.

The ICMM is working closely with Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources, Ma’aden and others on sustainability principles and initiatives

Q What about tailings, is this also a subject you have discussed? 

Along with UNEP and PRI in 2020 the ICMM launched the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management and of course we have strongly advocated that Ma’aden and all operators in Saudi Arabia should adopt the Standard to manage existing tailings facilities. And if we are to take tailings seriously in all its respects, then what we would hope to see from Saudi operators would be to be among the first movers and adopters of tailings reduction technology. In September 2022, we published a new Tailings Reduction Roadmap which lays out innovative approaches and solutions capable of significantly reducing tailings from the mine life cycle, as part of a broader Tailings Innovation Initiative. sets out short and long-term technology options. These include mature solutions that can be implemented in the short-term, such as coarse particle flotation technology which enhances the recovery of coarser particles of ore that has traditionally been seen as waste, and solutions with the potential to reduce tailings in more significant quantities, but that will require further development over the next 10-15 years, such as higher precision mining and artificial intelligence. We have discussed the roadmap with key players in Saudi Arabia as we believe it is easier if you are relatively new operator or fast growing operator in a new mining region to plan for these technologies and in some cases retrofit these technologies to existing operations. There is actually an opportunity for Saudi to lead the way on tailings reduction.

Caterpillar adds the 90 t 777 to its autonomous truck line up with Luck Stone deployment

Automation, Bulk handling, Equipment maintenance, Industrial minerals, Mining equipment, Mining maintenance, Mining services

Caterpillar Inc has announced a collaboration with Luck Stone, the USA’s largest family-owned and operated producer of crushed stone, sand and gravel, to deploy Caterpillar’s autonomous solution to Luck Stone’s Bull Run Plant in Chantilly, Virginia. This will be Caterpillar’s first autonomous deployment in the aggregates industry and will expand the company’s autonomous truck fleet to include the 100-ton-class (90-tonne-class) Cat® 777.

Looking to accelerate autonomous solutions beyond the largest mines and into smaller mines and quarries, Caterpillar will implement its existing Cat® MineStar™ Command for Hauling system at the Bull Run quarry, on a fleet of 777G trucks. “This will allow Caterpillar to gain greater insights on quarry operations in order to tailor the next generation of autonomous solutions specific to quarry and aggregate applications. This project supports the acceleration of autonomous technology for operations with fewer mobile assets to allow a step change in safety and productivity, as currently experienced at large mining operations.”

“Luck Stone and Caterpillar’s partnership has been grounded in shared values for many years,” said Charlie Luck, President and CEO of Luck Companies. “Together we believe that safety, innovation and a commitment to people are critical, not only to propelling important projects like this, but to ensuring our focus on the future and all of the exciting possibilities technology affords our industry. Our collaboration will provide opportunities for associates to learn and grow, improve safety and result in production efficiencies. We are thrilled to partner with Caterpillar to achieve this ‘first’ for our industry.”

“Caterpillar has a long-standing relationship with Luck Stone, and we look forward to working together to bring the demonstrated benefits of increased safety and productivity to the quarry industry. We’re excited to get in the dirt and work alongside Luck Stone’s innovative team, so we can learn how to scale our already proven mining solution for another industry,” said Denise Johnson, Caterpillar Group President of Resource Industries.

The current autonomy solutions will be implemented in 2024. This project builds on Caterpillar’s long history in autonomy and automation. Caterpillar says it is recognised as the industry leader with the world’s largest fleet of autonomous haul trucks, now numbering more than 560 trucks. These trucks have travelled more than 187 million kilometres and autonomously moved more than 5.1 billion tonnes – most notably – all without a single zero lost-time injury.

AFRY awarded engineering contract for Jervois’ cobalt refinery expansion project in Finland

Base metals, Mineral commodities, Mineral processing, Mineral project development, Mining services, Sustainable mining

Jervois, a global supplier of cobalt products, has appointed AFRY to provide the basic engineering, lead environmental permitting and conduct a bankable feasibility study to expand its cobalt refinery capacity in Kokkola, Finland. The assignment is expected to be completed in Q3 2023.

To meet the increased demand, especially in the battery sector and particularly in electric vehicles), Jervois is now planning to expand its cobalt refinery production capacity at Kokkola Industrial Park, Finland. Jervois Finland Oy, a subsidiary of Australian Jervois Global Ltd, is a leading supplier of high-quality cobalt-based products, serving the EV battery market and other industries. The statement added: “With more than 50 years of experience in cobalt chemicals production, Jervois Finland Oy has a demonstrated track record in environmental stewardship, sustainability and responsible sourcing.”

The planned expansion would increase the annual refinery capacity access from 6,250 t to at least 12,250 t of refined cobalt. The expansion will be aligned with Jervois Finland Oy’s recently announced 2035 net-zero target for greenhouse gas emissions and will also enhance Jervois Finland’s important role in circular cobalt closed loop recycling, where used cobalt material is returned to Jervois for regeneration.

AFRY’s assignment covers complete basic engineering, environmental permitting, including a public Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) coordination and the compiling of the overall Bankable Feasibility Study (BFS). Basic engineering and the associated BFS provide the required information and investment value estimate for the final investment decision making. The assignment will provide the necessary information and investment value estimation in order for Jervois to make a final investment decision.

“Battery minerals, such as cobalt, underpin the required European energy transition to achieve climate goals. Jervois has strong ambitions to continue its support of Europe’s sustainability targets. Together with AFRY, we will be able to take advantage of the best-in-class local know-how and advanced sustainable operating footprint we have here in the Nordics,” says Sami Kallioinen, Managing Director of Jervois Finland.

“We are honoured to partner with Jervois in this project to expand the production of cobalt-based products in Finland. Together with Jervois, we are designing a modern refinery to secure the critical mineral supply chains, which underpins energy transition and climate goals. AFRY’s commitment to sustainable mining and metals industry principles and to using the best available technologies enables Jervois to reach their high environmental and sustainability standards,” says Kalle Rasinmäki, AFRY’s Head of Process Industries in Finland.

Mining equipment autonomy tech company SafeAI announces $38 million of new funding

Automation, Equipment maintenance, IoT, Mining equipment, Mining maintenance, Mining services, Mining software, Sustainable mining

SafeAI, a global leader in autonomous solutions for heavy equipment, has announced a $38 million Series B round of funding with key investors including Builders VC,  McKinley Management, George Kaiser Family Foundation, and Energy Innovation Capital. Additionally, Moog Inc joined the round as a strategic investor.

SafeAI retrofits construction and mining vehicles with aftermarket hardware and proprietary autonomy software that it says deliver significant gains in increased worksite productivity, safety and cost savings. The company will use the funding to accelerate their autonomous vehicle technology roadmap, and to scale operations globally to service and deploy their growing customer base.

SafeAI states: “Heavy industry is an enormous global market. Based on data from Australia Mining Consultancy and Parker Bay Mining, the mining equipment industry alone is valued at close over $18 billion and expected to grow at a 7% CAGR. But, the industry is threatened by productivity inefficiencies, safety issues and delays that derail project timelines and budgets. Autonomy addresses these issues head-on by delivering greater efficiency and 24/7 productivity – yet, less than 5% of mining vehicles worldwide are leveraging it. SafeAI is designed to meet this significant and increasing demand.”

They add: “With its scalable retrofit approach, SafeAI enables off-road heavy equipment owners to convert – not replace – aftermarket vehicles and fleets with autonomous technology, regardless of manufacturer or vehicle type. This scalable approach is critical to supporting accessibility and faster deployment of autonomous technology, and in reducing the barriers to entry to a wider swath of market participants.”

“There is a massive opportunity for autonomous technology within heavy industry; we believe SafeAI is the company to lead the charge,” said Mark Blackwell, General Partner at Builders VC. “SafeAI has developed their solution for scale and impact in a highly addressable off-road market that has an immediate need and proven traction. With a solution that is more broadly accessible to the industry, yet still powerful enough for the largest mining companies, SafeAI is set up to deliver industry transformation at scale.”

With the new capital, SafeAI is focused on scaling their global operations team to support their growing customer base and on delivering contractual milestones. In addition, the company will continue advancing development of its industry-leading autonomous technology solution and investing in its developer and engineering teams, with a particular focus on hiring top-tier talent within the autonomous vehicle engineering space, including a Chief Technology Officer to lead the efforts. SafeAI is also expanding its global footprint into new geographies to meet the growing demand for off-road autonomy.

“Moog Inc. is focused on enabling productivity, safety and sustainability when performance really matters. Our autonomy solutions transform equipment into high integrity robots, enabling autonomous operations in challenging environments,” said Joe Baldi, Director of Strategy and Partnerships for the construction sector of Moog Inc. “Through this investment in SafeAI, we can collaborate to accelerate the adoption of autonomy for heavy equipment and help companies across construction and mining realise the benefits to their operations.”

The funding comes on the heels of a year of momentous growth for SafeAI, including partnerships with MACA to deploy 100 mining trucks, Siemens on a collaboration for vehicle electrification and autonomy, and Obayashi Corporation on developing solutions for construction. SafeAI has also continued to expand its staff within the US, Australia, Japan and India, more than doubling its headcount in 2022 to over 90 people. Additionally, the company grew its executive team this year to spearhead the next chapter of growth with new hires Anil Rachakonda, Senior Vice President (SVP) of Strategy & Partnerships, Sudhanshu Singh, Senior Vice President (SVP) of Global Operations, and Rob Song, Chief Financial Officer.

“Autonomy has existed in mining for more than two decades – but its growth has stalled when it needed to skyrocket. I founded SafeAI to change that,” said Bibhrajit Halder, founder and CEO at SafeAI. “We’ve designed a flexible, interoperable, scalable retrofit model to enable companies across heavy industry to uplevel their operations. The mining industry has been successfully implementing Autonomy on a limited scale for years. Our approach is purpose-built to finally accelerate autonomous accessibility and deployment on a significant scale. This funding is just the beginning of our next chapter of expansion and growth.”

Existing investors Autotech Ventures, Brick & Mortar Ventures, Embark Ventures, Newlab, and Vimson Group also invested in the new round of funding.

MacLean’s new dedicated BEV elevated work platform

Equipment maintenance, Explosives and blasting, Mine shafts and equipment, Mine ventilation, Mining equipment, Mining maintenance, Mining safety, Mining services, Power supply for mines

At the IMARC show in Sydney in early November 2022, IM met with MacLean Engineering’s Dan Stern, Senior Product Manager and Peter Black, Technical Sales Manager, to talk about one of its latest battery electric innovations – the ML5 BEV Multi Lift  – which has been developed specifically for the Australian market initially and will be the next addition to the company’s extensive EV Series.

This is an all electric, certified elevated work platform (EWP) for installation of services in tunnel headings up to 6.5 m high and is fully equipped for the multi-tasking required in today’s underground trackless environment. MacLean says it represents a new take on the industry accepted integrated tool carrier (ITC) with additional features better suited to underground mining. These EWPs are extensively used for explosives charging plus building vent walls and fans.

MacLean Engineering’s Dan Stern (left) and Peter Black (right) at IMARC 2022

It is mounted on a self propelled, 4 wheel drive carrier with a 4.5 m deck height and 6.5 m working height with payload up to 4.5 t. It offers a remote drive system (RDS) from the basket and is available with a ROPS/FOPS enclosed cab with heat and A/C.

Stern told IM: “We have been working closely with Australian mine operators over the past few years to meet a really evident requirement for a certified man lift device for underground mining. Today, the equipment being used is a surface construction wheel loader from say John Deere, Caterpillar or Volvo which is sent to a third party company to be modified as an Integrated Tool Carrier for underground including a man lift device along with the required certification, which involves a lot of cost and complexity. Mining owner operators and contractors came to us asking if we could offer a factory-built machine, certified for this task from the outset.”

The ML5 Multi Lift also has a two person cab unlike the wheel loaders with one person cabs. Currently the second worker has to follow the wheel loader in a light vehicle. With the MacLean machine, if they are using two workers, they can travel together to the working site in the same vehicle.

Black added: “We developed this as a dedicated EWP for the mining industry. But it will also fit a standard set of Volvo fork and jib attachments so it can meet underground utility and materials handling needs as well. This allows you to get a high level of utilisation out of the equipment. Another unique feature we have put into the design of this machine includes boom swing, which instead of being fixed, can be slewed from side to side by the operator. This means the whole face can be covered for service or charging work from one point in the centre of the drive without having to reposition the machine. In addition, the basket itself will slew, which allows you to maintain parallel face coverage as well as parallel coverage to the side of the drive when moving up and down.”

Another feature cited by Black is that the controls for moving the machine up and down the drive are in the basket so you don’t need a second operator in the cab, saving on man hours required to do the job. Stern adds: “It is also a major safety improvement. One of the big challenges on using the modified wheel loaders is communication between the person in the loader cab and the person in the basket. Miscommunications have occurred where the operator has mistakenly moved the basket and pinched the person in the basket up against the back or ventilation fan they have been working on. With our machine all the controls are also in the basket so the operator can even tram the machine forwards and backwards.”

Plus of course the machine is battery powered. Black states: “These machines are often going to install ventilation infrastructure in areas that don’t have adequate ventilation yet. If you can remove the diesel engine from that environment, all the better as you are reducing emissions and particulates.”

It uses best in class battery technology in terms of energy density and cycle life plus has smart battery management tech with active liquid cooling. The battery is a high performance Li-ion NMC for high density and long life cycle – in excess of 10,000 cycles. The 134 kWh capacity provides a large range of applications, and there are several charging options to keep the equipment running. It is compatible with existing mine electrical grids via on-board chargers and does not require additional charging infrastructure. It has down ramp regenerative braking capability of over 30% on well-maintained ramps.

MacLean told IM in November that the first machine was in early construction at the home factory in Collingwood, Ontario and was set to be shipped to Australia in Q2 2023 following testing, with commissioning with the launch customer in NSW likely by end-2023.

For now the units will continue to be assembled in Canada for the Australian market, but if the demand levels ramp up as expected, fabrication could move to MacLean’s Australian hub in Wangara, WA. And the demand is set to be significant – the first customer as an example operates over 40 modified Volvo wheel loaders. Stern concluded: “Every mine operator we show this to instantly gets it and wants it, which is very rewarding for us.”

Reutech wins Rock Hazard Identification and Safe Removal Innovation Challenge

Bulk handling, Explosives and blasting, Mine surveying, Mining safety, Mining services

The Mandela Mining Precinct, the Minerals Council South Africa, and champion mines Sibanye-Stillwater and Impala Platinum, have congratulated Reutech Mining as the winner of the Rock Hazard Identification and Safe Removal Innovation Challenge.

At the beginning of 2022, the Minerals Council South Africa and the Mandela Mining Precinct, in collaboration with Sibanye-Stillwater and Impala Platinum, set out to identify novel solutions in rock hazard identification and safe rock removal for further development, testing and piloting with the aforementioned partners’ mines with a focus on the reduction in falls of ground and improved worker safety.

A call for proposals in the Rock Hazard Identification category resulted in the submission of solutions featuring ground-penetrating radar technology, thermal and acoustic imaging, LiDAR-compatible drones and mmWave SAR imaging for real-time rock mass quality inspection, among others.

In November 2022, a panel of judges representing the Mandela Mining Precinct, Minerals Council South Africa, Sibanye-Stillwater and Impala Platinum shortlisted the top seven submissions by contestants. In December 2022, the shortlisted submissions underwent a final round of judging at a virtual “pitching den” event.

This culminated in the announcement of South African engineering company, Reutech Mining, as the challenge winner, with the CSIR Advanced Internet of Things Group, TCS Research and Flyability being named runners up. Other finalists in the challenge were Stratafy, Ramjack Technology Solutions and RockMass Technologies.

The Rock Hazard Identification and Safe Removal Innovation Challenge was undertaken as part of the Fall of Ground Action Plan (FOGAP), a programme developed and approved by the Minerals Council’s CEO Zero Harm Forum, in conjunction with the Mandela Mining Precinct’s Advanced Orebody Knowledge (AOK) programme. The FOGAP’s objective is to eliminate fall-of-ground fatalities, which have historically been cited as one of the leading causes of worker fatalities within the mining industry, while the AOK programme seeks to improve geological confidence at and beyond the rockface.

“We are incredibly encouraged by the significant reduction of fatalities due to Falls of Ground this year, and hope this is a great step toward reaching zero fatalities – but the work is not done,” said Lerato Tsele, Senior Policy Analyst for Safety and Sustainability at the Minerals Council.

Johan le Roux, Mandela Mining Precinct Director, said innovation has been shown to directly enhance performance in the environmental, social and governance (ESG) space – the clearest evidence of this being improvements in health and safety and the significant progress made to date towards “zero-harm” for the workforce.

Both Tsele and le Roux expressed hope that the collective effort between the Mandela Mining Precinct and the Minerals Council will uncover a fit-for-purpose solution that will provide tangible results of lives saved and a more efficient, productive workflow.

China’s EACON looks to electric and autonomous haulage future

Automation, Bulk handling, Coal technology, Communications in mining, Environmental, Equipment maintenance, IoT, Mining consumables, Mining equipment, Mining safety, Mining services, Power supply for mines, Sustainable mining

China represents one of the largest markets in the world for autonomous haulage – involving automation of both rigid mining trucks as well as so-called wide body trucks. TAGE Idriver and WAYTOUS are now quite well known in this market as key tech providers, but there are also other up and coming players with new technologies. One of these is EACON, official name Beijing Yikong Zhijia Technology, which has only been active for less than four years but is already making an impact. IM posed some questions to the company to get some insight into its particular approach to AHS.

Q When was EACON established as a company and how did you get into the autonomous mining vehicle market?

We were officially registered in May 2018. Our CEO, Wason Lan, is a successful serial entrepreneur. He has founded several companies, including the Egame company, which was acquired by Baotong Technology for a consideration of 1 billion yuan in cash and 1 billion yuan in stock. In 2016, Wason began to look for a new start-up idea, and finally decided to work on driverless solution for mining trucks. This decision he took mainly due to the following reasons. First, unmanned driving can effectively eliminate the risks of safety in mining, which is of great social value; he was also aware that Komatsu and Caterpillar already had successful autonomous haulage projects running in Australia, confirming that the feasibility of the technology is very high. Finally, the main business of Baotong Technology is mining conveyor equipment and through Baotong, Wason got familiar with the ecosystem of mining, as well as the market pain points and needs. In 2017, Wason began to look for co-founders. After talking with more than ten teams, he got to know Zhang Lei’s team. Zhang Lei now EACON Chairman used to be the head of the self driving R&D project at Yutong Bus, with more than 10 years of experience in unmanned driving R&D and mine equipment automation. Wason and Lei both recognised the direction of unmanned driving for mining trucks, and finally confirmed the cooperation and jointly founded EACON in 2018.

Q How would you differentiate your approach and technology to that of other autonomy tech players in China such as TAGE Idriver and WAYTOUS?

The founders of TAGE Idriver and WAYTOUS are Professors from universities. Our Founder Wason is a serial entrepreneur, who we believe has more advantages in the management and operation of the company, and has also figured out the business model at the starting point of EACON. Zhang Lei and our R&D team work in remote mines for most of the year, so they have a deep understanding of the technical requirements and mining scenarios. Our team does not only have autonomous vehicle professionals from leading enterprises, but also has senior experts with years of experience in the mining industry. In addition, we built a vehicle engineering team in October 2021 to deepen our R&D in drive-by-wire control chassis plus the VCU of BEV/FCEV etc. And they have a deeper understanding of wide body trucks, especially BEV/FCEV variants. We have already realised autonomous haulage with four fleets in one mine, including four excavators and 24 driverless trucks. And we believe that we are one of the only solution providers in China that can carry out normal autonomous haulage operation without safety drivers. Moreover, our driverless trip mileage and hauled overburden tonnages are also ahead of other companies. Our system is a four-in-one mine unmanned driving technology that integrates the dispatching command platform and supporting dispatching centre, single vehicle unmanned driving system, network communication system and collaborative operation system.

Q Where is your main equpiment focus and who has invested in EACON to date?

We are currently focusing on wide body trucks. China’s supply chain and OEMs have more technical advantages in this area and this type of truck is easier to electrify. TAGE Idriver and WAYTOUS mainly focus on large rigid mining trucks and partnered up with Chinese rigid truck OEMs. They also have self-driving wide body trucks, but we feel our technology in this area is more mature. We have obtained investment from Zijin Mining, and we are one of the only players in this field that has received investment directly from mining enterprises. In addition, other investors include Eight Roads, a global venture capital firm backed by Fidelity plus Neo Capital, a US fund. Finally, we own an earthworks contracting company which operates a non-autonomous driving haulage business which helps us cultivate on-site operators for self-driving and understand the needs of mining haulage.

Q Are you mainly working with the mines directly or with the OEMs of the smaller trucks directly like XCMG/Yutong/Liugong/Tonly/LGMG/Sany etc? Are there any of the OEMs that you have been working with more closely?

Yes, we cooperate directly with OEMs, and have a deep relationship with Tonly, LGMG and Yutong. We forward our own designs and suggestions on the drive-by-wire systems, automated driving system, and battery, motor and electric control system to them. They carry out factory design, verification, installation and mass-production according to our requirements, so as to meet the stability and consistency requirements required by unmanned driving.

Q Can you give any specific examples of these cooperation relationships with the OEMs?

On November 15, a signing ceremony marking a strategic cooperation between Yutong Mining Equipment and EACON and our first batch of battery trucks was held in Zhengzhou. The signing represented an official start of the strategic cooperation between the two companies, and it will accelerate the intelligent and low-carbon development of China’s mines. Zhang Lei spoke highly of the strength of Yutong mining trucks: “Yutong Mining Equipment is one of the earliest OEMs focused on the R&D and sales of wide-body mining trucks. Its products are superior in technology, material selection, workmanship, quality control and service, which can bring great value to partners. Powered by Yutong’s marketing of the mining truck and its advantages of three e-systems, EACON will leverage its full stack of driver-less technical solutions and operation services to provide users with first-class driver-less mine products and services.”

Q How does the structure of the wide body trucks differ to rigid trucks and how does this influence the cost?

The notable parts of a rigid mining truck include welded frame, hydro pneumatic spring and usually today an electric-drive wheel. The traditional wide body truck is based on the road heavy-duty truck. The frame, cargo box, axle, tyres and other parts have been modified and enhanced according to mining working conditions. The main components of a wide body truck are mainly a riveted frame, leaf spring and gearbox ie mechanical transmission. However, with the emergence of larger tonnage wide body vehicles, the boundary between these two types of trucks will gradually blur. The 90 t class wide body truck on which we have cooperated with an OEM has also adopted a welded frame and hydro pneumatic spring. The mass utilisation coefficient (payload/machine weight) of small rigid trucks is very low, while that of wide body truck is higher. The price of a small rigid truck is also much higher than that of wide body vehicles. For example, the price of a small rigid truck is about 11-20 times the payload, (a 70 t payload rigid truck will cost around US$783,000-1,468,000) while that of a wide body truck is only 1.3-2 times (a 70 t payload wide body truck will cost around US$98,000-147,000). Thanks to these advantages, wide body trucks are much more widely used in China.

Q You mentioned that one of the reasons you are working with the smaller trucks is that it is easier to electrify those trucks – does that mean that automating fleets of electric trucks is your main focus – does that include automating the vehicle journeys to the charger or battery swap areas?

Because our previous projects started some years back, they are all conventional diesel trucks. With the maturity of electric mining trucks in recent years and the founding of our EV R&D team, we have established in-depth R&D cooperation with OEMs on green energy mining trucks regarding all battery and hybrid power types. So our next driverless fleets will focus on the green energy mining trucks, but at the same time, our fuel truck solutions will also keep optimising in parallel with them, and our autonomous haulage solution will move from V2.0 to V3.0. In terms of green energy self-driving, our current trucks in development are rechargeable in type. Automated driving will cover the journey to the charger, but the charging operation will still be manual. In the future, we will also adopt trucks with integrated charging and battery swap functions.

Q Can you give any examples of autonomous fleets you have running in China?

We have deployed in two large open-pit coal mines, both with  prodution capacities of over 35 Mt/y. One of these is Tianchi Energy South open pit coal mine where we are providing driverless overburden stripping and haulage services. The project started in November 2020, and by June 2022, we began 24/7 continuous operation of four fleets, including four excavators and 24 unmanned diesel trucks. By the end of October 2022, the accumulated volume of overburden hauled by the driverless trucks was 4.212 million cubic metres while they had travelled 767,000 kilometres and made 198,000 trips. The other mine is Zhundong open pit coal mine. Both mines are located in the Xinjiang region.

Nokia with Rohde & Schwarz enabling drones to measure mine network quality in real time

Automation, Communications in mining, IoT, Mine surveying, Mining services, Mining software

Nokia has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with leading network measurement technology provider, Rohde & Schwarz, to embed QualiPoc 4.9G/LTE and 5G network measurement capabilities into the Nokia Drone Networks platform. This first software-embedded solution of its kind it says will expand the use cases for drones to provide communication service providers (CPS), private wireless partners and enterprises with deeper knowledge around their wireless network coverage and performance for more efficient utilisation.

Nokia and Rohde & Schwarz will jointly work on a prototype that integrates mobile network measurement and troubleshooting QualiPoc capabilities using QualiPoc software from Rohde & Schwarz, embedded directly into the Nokia drone, connected to the MX Industrial Edge (MXIE) over the Digital Automated Cloud (DAC). This will enable early trials for customers such as in the mining industry to collect data and measure the outdoor or underground network experience and quality in real time.

Currently this information can be accessed by using a QualiPoc Android empowered smartphone device attached to a drone as payload. With a software-embedded solution, Nokia and Rohde & Schwarz aim at reducing the drone weight for these activities, resulting in lower power consumption and longer flight times, for more efficient and sustainable operations.

Enterprises currently leverage unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) such as drones for activities like remote site inspections, and to enhance security at remote or large campuses. By exploring the feasibility to embed QualiPoc capabilities as a software application into Nokia drones and MXIE, Nokia and Rohde & Schwarz will enable enterprises to use their site inspection drones also to collect performance data about their private networks even in Beyond-line-of-sight (BLOS) scenarios. This will facilitate decision-making about future use cases in Industry 4.0, ports, mines and others such as network planning optimisation of connected assets, safety, or surveillance.

Massimiliano Mannelli, Senior Director of Product Management & Portfolio Strategy at Rohde & Schwarz mobile network testing, said: “We are excited to cooperate with Nokia, a leader in private wireless, to create the first software-embedded network measurement capabilities within a UAV. Using QualiPoc, our field-proven RF and performance testing software, as embedded solution will enable new use cases for CSPs, enterprises and private wireless indirect channel partners.”

Thomas Eder, Head of Embedded Wireless Solutions at Nokia, said: “Our work with Rohde & Schwarz demonstrates how, using Nokia Drone Networks, enterprises can leverage the reliability, security and low latency enabled by private wireless and the industrial Edge cloud. By consuming Rohde & Schwarz QualiPoc and SmartMonitor in this way, customers can increase the value of their existing Nokia Drone Network deployments and leverage a high level of automation to gain real-time data for tasks such as network performance assessments.”

Anglo American utilising latest digital twin technology at Quellaveco

Automation, Base metals, Bulk handling, Comminution of minerals, Equipment maintenance, Mineral processing, Mining maintenance, Mining services, Power supply for mines

Anglo American says it has implemented cutting-edge technology at the Quellaveco copper mine in Peru with which it is possible to create a virtual replica that simulates everything that happens in its process plant, and with this, digital mining specialists can carry out predictive tests that help reduce security risks, optimise the use of resources and improve the performance of production teams.

The digital twins allow virtual replicas of the equipment and infrastructure to be made, displaying information on technical characteristics and operation utilising IoT, with the same data as that provided by the sensors installed in the mine. The digital twins are controlled from the Integrated Operations Center (CIO), which is the brain of Quellaveco. There are twins of the grinding system, flotation, tailings management, water control, electrical system, among others. These are learning and provide recommendations to avoid failures in the equipment or real processes, optimising costs and time, through simulations of the different processes, using artificial intelligence (AI).

“Digital twins not only allow us to have better performance, but they increase safety by reducing error rates, which means a new standard of efficiency in the mining industry,” says Cinthya Lozano, Superintendent of the Integrated Operations Center of Anglo American. “For example, we can place a parameter in a pump and see how it behaves. If it doesn’t work properly, we change these parameters as many times as necessary, and when we have the correct data we just take it to the real world,” she adds.

Quellaveco is one of the first mines to implement digital twin technology to improve efficiency and safety in its mineral processing plant, taking advantage of the connectivity and sensorisation that have made it the first 100% digital mine in Peru.

Underpinning the Anglo American Quellaveco digital twin is the COMOS platform from Siemens which integrates Siemens’ own process control system Simatic PCS-7, which for example controls the gearless driven conveyors and grinding circuit, together with other systems. The integrated COMOS software solution makes it possible to consolidate automation data from the control systems of different providers.

Siemens states: “It guarantees the optimal collaboration, continuity, and consistency of all the disciplines involved in plant engineering and operation. The system accomplishes this by consolidating a variety of sources. Using the automation digital twin of the COMOS software solution, automation data can be read out of the process control system and imported to COMOS to be graphically displayed, consolidated, and made available for further engineering. COMOS uses this data to support the creation of the plant’s digital twin, a fast and reliable migration, and updates to the process control system – all with one single solution.”